“If your attack is going too well, you’re walking into an ambush.” — Infantry Journal
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[ALERT! Danger approaching. Exercise extreme caution!]
“Jesus, I got woken up to this. Ugh… Let’s see what my tablet has to say.”
I slowly rose up as the blanket that was covering me slid to the floor of the carriage. Taking out her ‘Command Tablet,’ I immediately scanned the surroundings. On the screen, I saw one large red dot heading towards the three green dots. The green dots represent Eiki and her friends as friendlies and from the look of things, they made camp while I was out cold in the carriage. I also notice the other red dot was rapidly approaching the camp. My attempt to analyze the target resulted in failure and after a quick thinking, it was decided that I will confront the unknown target head on before it even makes it to here.
“Ruler set, it’s time for you to shine.”
I whispered as a M4A1-S Ruler materialized in my right hand. At first glance, the M4A1-S Ruler does not look like any ordinary M4A1-S. The rifle features a unique dragon-themed skin with yellow-red-green color scheme covering the entire gun. On the right side of the M4A1-S Ruler, a Glock 18C Ruler is attached to the side, above the magazine compartment which gives the wielder tactical close-range advantage. Getting off from the carriage, I quickly threw a quick glance to the camp where Eiki and the rest where resting. Making sure none of them were awake, Eliza stealthily slid away into the dark forest to intercept the unknown target.
After venturing into a clearing in the forest, I realized that this place offers a perfect ambush opportunity that I wasn’t going to pass up. Thinking back on my trek, it never occurred to me that the forest in this world was denser to the forest I was used to. Even with a full moon hovering over could not illuminate the densest part. I quickly shook my head to erase such thoughts as it was already giving me a sense of homesickness. Scanning the trees, I located one with a branch that is strong enough to hold my weight. I proceeded to approach the tree and started climbing it using my BC Axe as a climbing tool.
First, I went through the material section of my inventory to locate a rope, then tied the rope to the BC Axe. Making sure the rope was tightly fastened, I threw the axe as high and as hard up into the tree in front of me. I never fully inspected my strength that is until I heard a crack, looking up I saw the axe anchored deep within the tree. Yanking the rope twice to make sure the axe was firmly planted; I began climbing as I holstered my M4A1-S Ruler on my back. I finally reached the branch and positioned myself inside a hole inside the tree. Looking closely at the interior of the hole, I noticed that this was wasn’t a natural tree formed hole.
“This must have been made by something inhu-“
My voice trailed off as I noticed a silhouette figure of a person flying down from the sky. No, I wouldn’t call what I am seeing a person, more like a monster. One detail that caught my eye was that the figure was covered completely in black, even when the light from the moon that shines upon it the blackness didn’t disappear. The figure stopped halfway before touching the ground, spinning in a 360-degree manner, as if ‘it’ was looking for something or someone. A sudden realization hit me. There was no one here except me and ‘it’ but there was no way ‘it’ could’ve noticed.
“Unless it has intelligence.”
I whispered lightly as I raised my M4A1-S Ruler at the unknown entity. With the dragon head ornament covering the rail and the barrel protruding from within it with the attached silencer at the end, I saw the head of the figure look straight at me. My heart skipped a beat and without hesitation I pulled the trigger. Under the noise of the forest inhabitants, the sound of a body falling was heard and I immediately rappled down to the ground. I cautiously made my approach, gun aimed at the body and the beating of my heart increased. I slowly knelt as I used the dragon bayonet to poke at it. Before the bayonet made contact, I quickly somersaulted over the lifeless body. To my amazement, the body disappeared right before my eyes.
“Tsk, here I am hoping to catch you off guard. But somehow you saw through my trick.”
I heard a female voice that sounded seductive. After landing my somersault, I turned around with my whole body crouched and my gun pointed at ‘it’. Standing before me was a seductive beauty, she has long violet hair with matching eyes. There was not even a hint of imperfection throughout her body. However, my eyes caught sight of two bat like wings and a heart shaped tail on her back. I glanced at her hair one more time and I noticed two demonic horns that wasn’t there the first time. Next I scanned her attire; she wore some sort of animal skin material that covered her breast and crotch. Below her bellybutton, I caught sight of what looks like a heart tattoo that were semi-glowing. From what I can conclude, this being has low defense capabilities, but her peerless beauty makes up for it which can make her a perfect assassin.
“Like what you see? Hm? Why don’t you point that scary thing down so we can... Say, get to know each other better.”
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The entity casted a wink at me which my ‘Core’ system registered as an attack.
[WARNING! Hostile used ‘Charm’!]
[Hostile ‘Charm’ has no effect. User passive, ‘Adaption’ rendered attack inert]
“What? How come my ‘Charm’ didn’t work? Y-you. What… no… Who are you?”
The female entity casted a hostile glare at me while I was still sorting through her ‘Charm’ information. I gave her a light shrug.
“I’m Eliza, a ‘Saint’ and ‘Vetris Beloved Child’… Apparently.’
Her eyes widen with shock when she realized the identity of her prey. Thinking that I can be on the offensive I fired off a question of my own.
“Who are you and why do you look like a seductive demonic entity?”
“Wha? You never heard of demons? Particularly us, Succubus?”
The succubus replied with uncertainty.
Great, now I made a fool of myself by giving her the impression that I’m some sort of sheltered ‘Saint’ who weren’t thoroughly taught of the ways of this world.
Feeling a bit disappointed and a bit pissed off the succubus changed her entire atmosphere.
“Listen well ‘Saint’! I am the Succubus Queen, Lilith! I will one day reclaim what is rightfully mine!”
I raised an eyebrow at her declaration.
“So basically, you are like a demon king? A final boss?”
I guess my remark shock her core to the point she went up to my face.
“’Listen well, do not compare me to those warmongering buffoons. All they do is endless killings; they enslaved my sisters to do their biddings. And… I’m all that’s left. Grrr! Not like you can understand my pain!’
Lilith retracted her sharp nails back as she distanced herself from me.
“Lilith, I want you to answer me this. Truthfully, I may add. How were you able to detect me and why are you heading to my allies’ camp?”
Lilith laughed a little when she heard my question.
“Young ‘Saint’, surely, you must’ve known there are races with the ability to sense ‘auras’?”
I nodded in reply since ‘sensing aura’ is like the x-ray vision skill that I used back when I was running some hardcore ops with my crew in ‘Command and Conquer: War of the Worlds’
As if Lilith misheard something, she asked me the direction to my camp and I pointed towards the camp, my rifle still pointed at Lilith. She closed her eyes momentarily; I could tell she was trying her hardest to find something there. Unfortunately, she could not find whatever was tracking in the camp, so she slumped down feeling dejected. Noticing the change of her atmosphere I tried to cheer her up
“Hey, I know the events that had transpired before were all Misunderstandings. So how about we help each other out? Mutual benefit.”
Lilith stood up while recomposing her figure and face towards me.
“What is your suggestion that will benefit us both. Noted I could kill you anytime and anywhere.”
I gave a sarcastic laugh.
“As if, Lilith I could kill you in 125 different ways if I have to.”
Both of us stared at each other for a while before extending our hands out to seal the deal.
“Time is running short, so I will give you this book which contains everything you need to know. Demographics, maps, dungeons, towns, villages, and kingdoms.”
Lilith took out a big looking book that I had ever seen in my life. I extended both my hands to as she placed the book over them
“Also take this and be careful not to be seen with this in public. This is a ‘Succubus Queen’ pendant. Succubus and succubus sympathizers are looked down upon and heavily discriminated from both the demon and human continents.”
Lilith placed the pendant over my ‘Vetris necklace’. Her head snapped towards the west of the horizon as if she had sensed something dangerous coming from that direction. In a split second I saw her whole body disappearing into the shadow taking that as my cue to leave, I rushed towards the nearest tree and hid myself. In the next few minutes I heard loud roar that sounded like a dragon and a strong gust of wind impacted the surrounding trees. I wasn't going to stick around any longer to find out what landed in the clearings.
I made my way back to camp however I was greeted with a chaotic scene. On the floor I saw Natuxi being restrained by some sort of magical chains. She was trying to break free and just as I was about to step in, Eiki, Furuya and Syvis filled me in on what had transpired while I was gone. It would seem Natuxi was inflicted with some sort of corruption before she joined the party. It took her a month before revealing her circumstances and six days ago before they were caught. After telling the party the truth, everyone decided to travel around the world to find a cure for Natuxi to break the corruption running rampant within her.
“That sums about her circumstances, and we soon later learned from the slave traders that demon lords were the only ones capable of casting corruption skills however Natuxi doesn’t remember the name nor what the one that gave her this corruption even looks like.”
While thinking to myself, I made one solid conclusion about Natuxi. She is a liability, a ticking bomb that can detonate at any given time. I also thought it would be best to give her ‘Mercy’ however that would upset the other people in Eiki’s party. The only person in the entire world that knows about the corruption is the goddess, Vetris herself. With my mind set on one goal, I guess I’ll stick around with this party until we free Natuxi from her hell.
“Eiki, I decided. I will accompany with your party to help Natuxi. However, there are certain conditions which I will later explain when we find a inn in the village.”
Eiki’s face light up like a light bulb and threw her whole self onto me. I crashed back first onto the ground while Eiki was smoothing her fox ears and hair all over my face.
“Eiki, I get it, I get it. Can you please get off me please?”
I struggled trying to push her off, but it seemed this young fox is hiding a stronger power as a worrisome notification popped up.
[Eiki analysis complete!
Updating data…
Name: Eiki
Age: 100 Years old (Still acts like a child though)
Race: Celestial Fox
Level:50
Class: Miko]
Eliza:[Pull up detail on ‘Celestial Fox’]
[Pulling up data. Standby…
Celestial Fox: A race birthed by Vetris herself. Selected few with the class job of Miko are messenger of Vetris. Miko’s are immune to internal corruption, should a Miko fall. Their loyalty to Vetris remains unwavered.]
I quietly let out a groan of regret.
“Oh, what did I get myself into.”