Galene rushed ahead by herself. Once we saw the fire in the village, our mood became much darker.

  We didn’t know what was going on, but solving the situation was all Galene cared about. She pushed her gryphon to fly faster, determined to deal with what was going on whether we followed her or not.

  Abby chased her right away, while Sarasa and I… “Iroha…” We looked at each other. Sarasa looked determined, and we exchanged nods.

  “Let’s go.” We sped up after them.

  After everything we had been through today, it was starting to get dark. It wasn’t the sun but the fire from the village that illuminated our surroundings.

  We worried we’d find the village razed to the ground, but once we got closer… “This fire… It’s not from an attack…” Really? The flames weren’t as widespread as I expected. Some small flames on top of some houses. “Most likely, it’s just accidents from people panicking.”

  “Panicking? Why would they be panicking?” Just what’s going on here?

  Everything was supposed to be fine! I prevented Galene from committing a mistake, killing harmless animals like she does in the game, so why? Why is this happening now? Why did it change?

  “I’m not sure… I’ll tell you when we get closer.” Sarasa shook her head as we arrived at the village.

  We surveyed things from above before landing, and we saw the bodies of the villagers… It’s a massacre! No… No, it’s not… There are far too few of them. Were their deaths also caused by accidents?

  The answer to that came when we landed next to Galene. The village was actually being attacked. Not by people trying to raze it down, but by monsters. “Damn you!” Galene swung her sword and cut one of them in half.

  They’re wolves. Wolf monsters, completely different from the ones we saw. Their fur had missing spots, and they’re way more aggressive. These ones are actually monsters, and Galene’s not holding back. Why, though? Why are they here?

  “Galene! What’s going on?” Now wasn’t the time to be worrying about anything else, but I still asked.

  “Can’t you see? The village is being attacked. Take them all out! Don’t hold back!” Galene was under duress. She impulsively moved and swung at whichever monster was nearest, not even stopping to talk.

  She’s right… What matters now is saving what’s in front of us… What remains anyway… “Got it! We’ll handle the other side!”

  I turned away together with Sarasa, and we ran off. “Stay close to me.” There’s a lot we don’t know… I don’t wanna put Sarasa at risk.

  “Nyahahaha! I can handle myself!” Sarasa drew her daggers while running. “But I’ll come find you if I get in trouble.” With one last wink, she went after a group of wolves.

  Okay… “Hmmm…” There were dozens of them. They roamed between the sparsely built houses of the village. Most were loitering in small groups and gathering around the occasional corpse. With so many of them around… “Ahahaha… Don’t hold back, huh…?” With so many, this is exactly where I thrive!

  Agility Burst, Slash Flurry! I was in a wide street with more than ten wolves slowly realizing someone had arrived. Before they could move, I jumped from target to target, cutting them to pieces. Something felt different about those cuts. There was something off with their bodies… These are monsters. And they die easily… That’s all that matters…

  Agility Burst, Slash Flurry, Agility Burst, Slash Flurry, Agility Burst, Slash Flurry… Each enemy killed was another stack of Violence. One monster at a time, I got stronger and faster. “Yes… This is it…” Feeling my sword and legs getting lighter and lighter feels so good!

  From around the corners of the nearby houses, more groups of these strange wolves showed up. They immediately started running, trying to attack me from behind.

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  “Huh? I don’t feel like turning back…” Impact Round! They ran in small groups and created the perfect opportunity to try out this skill. With some MP, I could fire bullets that exploded on impact, so I managed to take out three with each shot. “Bang, bang, bang!” That’s another nine. “Now… who’s next?”

  At this point, the wolves were all aware of my existence. They moved to surround and attack me. No more easy surprise kills for me. “But that’s good… Let’s see if they can fight…”

  They sprinted, fangs and claws ready.

  “*Sigh…* That’s it?” I wiggle my body to dodge as they jump by and retaliate with simple attacks. “They’re still alive?” Singular cuts were not enough to take them out… Sturdier than they look.

  “Well… It’s my turn now.”

  The monsters landed from their failed attacks, and I got to work. Line them up, and… Heart Piercer! A few stacks of Violence give me the mobility and strength needed to skewer three in a single thrust. But let’s not stop here. Heart Piercer! Heart Piercer! Heart Piercer!

  “Whew… That’s the initial wave dealt with…”

  “There!” Sarasa ended up where I was while chasing one of her targets. She decapitated one with her daggers and finally noticed me when she raised her head. “Woah! You’ve killed that many already? I don’t know why, but these fuckers just don’t die with me. Need to cut their heads off.” She sighed.

  “Huh? What do you mean?” I did cut the first few into pieces, so I might not be one to talk, but… “Cutting their heads off? You don’t need to go that far…”

  But just as I said that, the ones whom I had stabbed started getting up. “What?”

  “See? Nyahahaha! Maybe you’re not doing that well either. Well… we’re dealing with undead, so you need to at least cut off their heads to kill them.” Sarasa casually shrugged after dropping that and ran towards her next target.

  “Undead…?” So that’s what’s going on… I knew something felt off…

  “Well…” If the ones I just killed didn’t actually die, that’s unfortunate… Means I didn’t get new stacks of Violence, and I don’t like that… The oldest stacks are starting to fade. That can’t be allowed. Gotta pick up the pace. And… “Finish what I started!”

  Agility Burst! If these guys are all there is, I can use MP as I please without worry. Slash Flurry! I can easily cut them to pieces without any expensive combos, so I’ll be fine.

  I quickly dispatched the ones I failed to kill, and the next wave moved up. “There really are a lot of them…” I wonder how fast I can get here…? “Agility Burst! Impact Round! Slash Flurry! Attacking in one direction while shooting in the other allowed me to cull their numbers incredibly fast.

  “There, there, there!” No skills anymore… I’ve gotten so fast that I can do what I was doing with skills just by moving my body. Amazing… But… I’m down to the last few… Five, four, three, two, one, and… “Done…”

  The dust settled. All the zombified wolves were dead.

  “Ehh?! No way that was your last one! How the hell did you do that so quickly!?” Sarasa returned just in time to see me finish off the last one. “Damn… You totally outdid me this time…” She sighed as she approached and rested her arm on my shoulder.

  “Ahahahahaha… Don’t mean to brag, but fighting lots of small enemies is my specialty.”

  “So is mine! You trying to pick a fight? I’ll kiss you and steal all your skills!” What a threat…

  “Ehh? Does that work?” My heart was still pumping, and I was feeling bold. “Well, wanna try? I’m willing to share them…”

  “Yep yep! Give me all your skills!” Sarasa leaned forward, as if going for the kiss, but stopped. “Just not here, though. It smells terrible…” True… She then got a bit serious. “Besides, we need to figure out what happened.”

  “Yeah…” It’s really not the time for being kissy-kissy… “Not to downplay anything, but don’t you think there are too few people dead? The wolves weren’t that strong, but that’s for us, not the villagers.”

  “You noticed too? I was thinking the same thing.” Sarasa nodded approvingly. “They didn’t run away during the attack either. You know why?”

  “Th- they didn’t? How do you know that? Where did everyone go then?”

  “No clue where they went, but I’m pretty sure they left the village before the wolves attacked. When a village runs while attacked by small, agile monsters, there are piles and piles of bodies outside the village. That’s where most deaths happen. However, when we saw things from above…”

  “There was no one dead outside.” Sarasa agreed with my conclusion. “Yeah… The only bodies we saw were the ones between the buildings. Did they evacuate beforehand? How did they know?”

  “I’m not a mind reader, so you’re gonna have to ask them that if you want. But yeah, I’m pretty sure they evacuated beforehand somehow. The bodies we see are probably from the few who chose to stay behind or something…. There are always heroes who think they’re the chosen ones.” Sarasa shrugged while shaking her head.

  “Hmm…” It may be just speculation, but it’s better than nothing. “Thanks, Sarasa. I hadn’t thought of that. Galene and Abby should be about done too. Let’s check how they’re doing.”

  “Lead the way!” Sarasa joined me, and we ran back to where Galene was fighting.

  We saw the full extent of the damage on the way back. Nearly every house was damaged, but only lightly. The streets were littered with bodies, though most of them were from the zombie wolves.

  It was unnatural… So few people dead from such a large horde of monsters…

  We finally found the other two, and we quickly slowed down. They cleared the monsters on their side, but the stakes for them were different than ours.

  Galene was kneeling in front of a body. Her sword was stabbed into the ground by her side. She hung her head with her long black hair covering her face. Abby stood a few steps behind her, unsure of how to comfort her.

  Dammit… This is exactly what I wanted to avoid… Seeing her suffer in the game was enough for me… “Sorry… I had no idea something like this would happen…”

  Was it destiny at play? Galene was supposed to get hurt by killing the wolves. I interfered, so fate found another way to hurt her. Was I too rash?

  That can’t be…

  That kind of fate is not real, is it? Miyuki’s predictions of the future have allowed me to change things for real… There’s no compensation mechanism, so… Did I just make the wrong choice…?

  Galene didn’t respond right after I apologized. She looked at the body for a while before finally saying anything. “It’s all my fault…” She forced the words out.

  “No… You didn’t do-” As I took a step forward, Galene stood up, turning her back toward us all.

  “It was my decision to trust you that led to this.” Her voice was flat, as if she was suppressing all emotion. “I was asked to exterminate monsters, not ask questions. Instead of following the words of the people who knew better and fulfilling my duty, I chose to trust you. Because of that, the people of this village died. I couldn’t protect them from the monsters…”

  M- my call might not have been the best, but… “Those are completely unrelated… It’s definitely not your fault! I- I…” Galene’s shoulders trembled with frustration.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about… My duty…” She shook her head. “Don’t say anything else. I made an emotional decision, and this… this is the price…” Shoulders dropped. Voice turned cold.

  “I should have never listened to you.”