King Beaumont roared, sweeping everything in front of him off the table. Goblets and plates clattered on the cold stone floor as he raged. The servants that were cleaning the mess scattered like rats the moment he looked at them, but he paid them no mind. He was too furious. What in the Seven hells was that magic?
The scrying orb revealed that not only did Giselle not successfully slay the source of that energy, but actually got repelled by one of those Ravenclast weaklings, and one of them even managed to cut his control over the bitch off, severing his ability to see anything temporarily. Had he known such trickery could throw his prized adventurer off so easily, he might as well have sent his own Hunters to investigate it!
Cold rationality seized him by the throat. He couldn’t be angry and hasty— he could not use his own troops to provoke the Ravenclasts directly yet. No, it was not all failures. He turned back to the scrying orb’s magical display and replayed the moment Giselle lost the link.
The little Hunter pair that managed to stop Giselle was the source of the energy. He was certain of it. He checked it again and again.
“[Ravenclast Slash]!” The pink-haired one screamed. The sight of that weakling was enough to catch Giselle off guard.
That Skill was not it, he mused. The slash, wreathed in gold, was their Bearer’s so-called blessing they’re so proud of. Though it pained him to admit, that technique was able to cause trouble for his own parties when he tested Ravenclast’s borders. No, it was the other scared little girl huddling behind that one.
Dark-haired, frail, controllable. And the little creature seemed to not possess any fighting power of her own, totally unlike the usual brutes of House Ravenclast. She was not like the other Hunters Giselle cut down before running into them. That magic was something King Beaumont had never seen. It was something he had to possess for himself. The Ravenclasts finally had something to offer.
But first, there was the failure of his little bird. She had managed to escape the Rift after its collapse, but it cost him a Tongue and a Seal. Therefore, she must feel his wrath for not even managing to kill two weaklings. He activated his own Skill and connected it to Giselle, sending waves upon waves of psychic energy directly to her brain.
Failure, failure, failure! You will kill every last Hunter that escapes the Rift!
-X-
The first thing I heard after the heat and static washed off of me was the sound of metal crunching and hacking away at something. Then screaming. Cold wind cooled me down. Fresh air. But the scent of blood lingered in the air. My nose didn’t even wrinkle. It was most likely always going to be this way.
A smelly world. And a particularly loud one. I was surrounded by trees and standing on a dirt path. The sky was blue, but it wasn’t any less cold. I recognized this place. I was standing in the camp area set up in front of the Rift, except now it was day and everything was either on fire or in ruins. Another roar interrupted me before I could open my Plus Menu. The swinging of a heavy metal object cutting the air bothered my ears.
I scanned the woods for the noisy troublemaker, only to see a disheveled figure wildly hacking away at the remains of a corpse. In fact, bodies were strewn about everywhere. They were the batchlings that managed to get out of the Rift before the minotaur blocked it off, only to run into a lunatic. How unfortunate, I supposed. As for the figure swinging away at their bodies and having a grand time, I realized it was the Invader that gave us trouble in there.
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Giselle Flametongue [Wounded]
Knight, level 10
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Still level 10 after all that killing, huh? She was now weaker than I was and still didn’t level up. My scoff and silent judgment must have been too loud, because Giselle’s blade stopped in the middle of swinging. She turned and faced me. Her helmet was damaged, the guard covering her mouth was gone. That’s when I saw the cause of her [Wounded] status. A glowing black and orange sphere burned in the center of her torso, bursting with magic visible to my eye without anything activated. I folded my arms, unafraid of her despite the mess around her.
“Y-You!” Giselle gasped through ragged breaths. “You look like you’ve rolled out of a hog pen! Wait, I remember your deadpan eyes and your silly little stick! Hmm,—” she looked around me, though she was twitching in pain, “— you're all alone, huh. Your friend didn’t make it. Ha!”
My eye twitched and a cold fury ignited in me. “Ever the bully, aren’t you? Killing the little guys. Does it make you feel big?”
"Does it matter?" Giselle snapped at me. “You’re the one who got me in this mess!”
“Me?” I frowned. “Lady, I just got here.”
Giselle tore at the burning core in her chest and let out a pained roar. It looked like she was resisting something or someone’s magic, though ripping at it didn’t seem to help.
“‘Ey, stick girl,” she pointed a finger at my nose. “C-Can’t you help a girl out, eh? You’re a healer aren’t you? Where’s your staff?”
“Oh, this?” I casually withdrew the Basic Warped Staff out of the Item Box. Giselle’s eyes flashed with confusion as she saw the Item Box’s bright white screen materialize in front of her, confirming that some of the Plus Menu can be seen by others in the world. “Why should I help you?”
“Otherwise, I’ll have to kill—“ She screamed again. The pain amplifying in her chest sent her into a rage, making her swing that sword of hers around a lot. “Fucking shite! Blasted Hunters, you’re all dead! Once I, Giselle Flametongue, find a way to break this curse... I’ll— I will find you all, I’ll fucking deliver you all to the Seven Princes myself!”
I watched her as she snarled and flailed around, slashing at bodies and trees. From what she said, it appeared that she wasn’t a Hunter. How interesting, I mused. How did she manage to invade the Rift if she was not one herself? I dodged a severed limb that flicked towards me. Such barbarism! She seemed fine as is, despite the glowing wound blooming on her chest. It was getting more severe.
“Are you crazy? Seriously standing there? Run if you don’t want to help me!” The Knight stopped speaking. “R-Run!”
The aura around her intensified as the pupils in her blue eyes constricted to reptilian slits. Oh? I ignored the dangerous shift in her stance and her urgency. This Knight was truly interesting. It was making sense as to why I could heal her: She wasn’t human at all. What an odd concept!
I considered my options quickly. First, my Plus Menu gave no indication on what to do with her, other than saying she was quickly succumbing to a new unknown Status Effect. Killing this wild card seemed like an a viable solution in getting some peace and quiet, but where would I go in this world afterwards? A level 10 character seemed better than any of the “batchlings” that were probably crawling around in this Ravenclast territory.
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The glint of a sword flashed in my eyes. The time was up. Giselle let out a loud roar. The Status Effect tag above her head read something my basic spells couldn’t heal.
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— Giselle Flametongue has acquired the effects of a Skill: [Beaumont Decree: Capture or Kill]
———————————————
“You should have run when you still could!” Giselle screamed. Her voice was loaded with a hint of feigned regret and arrogance. She wanted to fight me. “Show me what you got, O Hunter!”
I remained still in a defensive position as the strange knight let out a menacing growl. I must have looked unflappable because her step delayed for a split second, but my mind was racing. I’ve never fought anyone before. Sure, I had the level advantage, but it’s just a number, right? I didn’t have enough time to doubt anymore.
A shadow loomed over me, arms held high. Giselle had wasted no time and was already over her hesitation, her blade falling upon me like a thunderbolt. I raised my staff to block the strike. The furious pressure from her sword striking wood never came, instead, a fist swung into me. I staggered back, out of sheer surprise that I wasn’t dead instead of just feeling pain. The staff clattered on the floor as I looked at Giselle, who was already making her move again.
What a light strike, I mused.
The big woman growled, swinging her sword down on me. The glint of her sword reflected the grey light of dawn as it was once again crashing down upon my head. Plus Menu, don’t fail me now! I grunted and moved. My hands caught her wrists as she swung, stopping her attack in its track. Giselle yelped, unable to extricate herself from my grasp. I smirked as I felt her desperately try to pull away, but I was an unshakable pillar. Shock twisted her eyes beneath her helmet’s visor. So this is E rank Attack Power, huh?
“What the—“ she stood in the bind temporarily, but her fighting instincts took over. Her leg snapped up to kick my stomach, but I had already squeezed her wrists, hearing the savage crunch she deserved.
Her bones snapped like twigs in my grasp and the sword clattered to the ground. Giselle’s bravado and arrogant face finally morphed into fear as she screamed in pain. Her kick froze halfway, bucking in retreat from my counter attack. I let her go and kicked the sword away from her, selecting [Store] on the Item Box. Her eyes widened as it vanished into a bright light, but I didn’t stop there. I planted my foot in the ground and backhanded her with my full strength. She crumpled to the floor, trying to crawl away from me with her useless arms. I secretly admitted seeing her in that state felt pretty good.
“Yeah, how about that?” I laughed, my voice turning ice cold and vicious. “You or whoever sent you likes to pick on the weak, but look who’s crawling around on the ground like a dog the second someone tough shows up.”
I casually picked up my staff and advanced on her. Whatever look that was on my face made Giselle tremble with fear. I must have looked like a demon, since even her breathing nearly stopped. I was about to bring my staff down on her head to shut her up for good, but she screamed again, making no attempt to block it. My vision shifted as I saw the wound on her chest glow with malevolent power. Giselle ignored her broken arms and instinctively clutched at it.
“K-Kill me quickly, before he— he… Oh, gods, no! Please, spare me!” Giselle begged. “M-Master, I beg of ye!”
I realized she wasn’t asking me to spare her. She was staring, wide eyed and distant at something that I couldn’t see. Then a light flared in the center of her chest and began to glow white. She screamed, begging whoever was burning her alive from the inside to stop. Her broken hands rose against her will to her neck. The adrenaline inside of me washed away the second I saw true fear overwhelm her pain in her eyes.
I should kill her and put her out of her misery. But something called a conscience stopped me since the fight was already over. Healing her would give me more status points, I weakly justified to myself. Why could I not bring myself to do it? My eyes swept over her body for a moment, and the desire to beat her stopped.
“Dammit,” I muttered. “You think you can just kill yourself and that will solve the problem?”
I rose my staff, mentally tapping the magic inside of me. The staff aimed a handspan above Giselle’s body. Like the minotaur’s gaping wound, her black spiraling wound was now practically a glowstick of red and orange lights. I felt my magic core light me up from the inside as a torrent of power shot through my arms. The wound festered, raging like a fire getting hit by ice water.
”[Healing],” I hissed.
Giselle let out a howling scream, flailing her useless arms around and hitting my ankles. I didn’t budge an inch or pull back. Instead, I stomped on her arm, pinning it in place and continued my work. I lowered the staff, and the mark on her body recoiled and snarled. I exhaled, letting the magic feel its way through my skin. I was beginning to understand that this body was the canal in which the cerulean light flowed through. When the second ring of magic fell like a water droplet from my staff onto the black coiling flame, it hissed.
Her free hand clawed the ground, despite being bent at an unnatural angle. Her back arched. Her screams were rendered noiseless. A flick of burning midnight spiraled out of the Knight’s chest, striking me with a vision.
A furious old man with a bejeweled crown atop his head was glaring right back at me, surrounded by quivering servants. Ah, this must be the puppeteer. Can he see me? Is he afraid that I am taking his toy away? He raised a hand cloaked in green magic, channeling another Skill to assert his claim, but I knew the enormous mass of magic inside of me could turn into a tidal wave if need be. He waved his hand, raking the air, and at the same time Giselle’s black mark shrieked like a glass shattering.
Fool. This is mine to destroy or keep alive, I hummed. I drove the staff down on her sternum like a flag in the dirt, and unleashed more of my magic. A thin line of blue light sliced down the staff’s wood, severing the licks of fire and black tendrils completely as it filled the wound. The vision vanished, leaving me with the man’s horrified face.
Giselle dragged in an enormous, desperate gasp, before going completely limp beneath my feet. Her broken arms were also healed, but she was unconscious. I debated on leaving her there for a split second, but thought the better of it. I could always break her again if she was ungrateful. For now, I checked my Plus Menu. Despite using what I considered an enormous amount of magic to outheal that guy’s attack, I was feeling suspiciously well.
The notifications served me well. I have indeed leveled up.
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> Status [+45]
> Notifications [3]
> Item Box
> Database [Level 20 Required]
> Item Shop [Conditions Not Met]
> Unknown [Conditions Not Met]
> Skill Points [+45]
> Skills
> Exit
———————————————
———————————————
Notifications
> Wrist breaker! You have delivered a devastating counterattack on Giselle Flametongue! Host has gained 5 status points.
> You have healed Giselle Flametongue! Host has gained 40 status points.
> Host has leveled up! [Level 15]
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An Item Shop and a level up? The Plus Menu is continuing to surprise me every time I look at it. The caveat of Conditions not met, however, implied that I cannot simply level up to acquire it. There were a number of other things to worry about. For example, if others had a Plus Menu like me, then this world was far more dangerous than the unconscious idiot beneath me. Perhaps when I reach level 20, that little Data Tab will actually explain what is going on.
For now, I glanced at Giselle. Now that there wasn’t a blazing fireball covering most of her features, it was the first time I got to look at this creature. It sure resembled a Human, but my Plus Menu conspicuously left that tag out of her bio. Blonde hair peeked beneath her helmet, and she had a noticeable amount of shiny things pinned to her armor. Jewels, brooches and pins like that woman in the Laboratory had on her uniform dangled like ornaments, gleaming even in the daylight. Most importantly, a necklace that the Plus Menu identified as an Adventurer tag wrapped around her neck like a snake coiling to feed.
Perhaps, I should find one of those little Guild buildings around and learn more about this world in the process. Whatever the Bearer wants from me, I’m sure as hell not giving it! My eyes scrolled through the Plus Menu. I dumped the points into Magical Power in honor of healing Giselle, and moved on to my Skill List. [Stabilization] caught my attention.
Holding my staff and tapping into my newly upgraded magic, I examined the test subject again. She glowed a sickly green hue. Of course, I could use this on her. Well, there’s no better time than this, huh. It’s time to wake up, my little Knight. And if you try anything I can always use the stick again. I hovered my hand above her face and spoke the name.
“[Stabilization].”