Chapter 7

Shaken

Margaux

The correct Brewer’s Portal, this time, brought me at last back to my crystal mansion. I arrived in the upstairs main hall where amethyst light bounced around. Every bone in my body was shaking. I trembled so hard that some bones rattled. Shreds of hair fell from my head. I could only see through one eye. The other was swollen. On the same side of my body, my hand was missing a finger. Blood poured from the open wound, spilling like a full bottle set on its side. Still on the same side of my body, my side bled from a gash.

I had a few seconds to make sense of the damage that I had accrued. I unleashed a scream. I heard footsteps click on the crystal floors around me. My butlers rushed to me in a panic.

I rifled for healing ales and mana ales in my inventory. I selected each one, and snapped my fingers to use my Ingest From Inventory skill. The bottles broke one by one as the effects took place. My mana became replenished. The gash in my side closed like ripped fabric mending in reverse time. But my finger did not grow back. My skin simply healed over the stump.

I unleashed another scream and said, “lock the doors!”

Butlers rushed to lock the doors and windows to my mansion. Others knelt to tend to me. My clothes were being mended by one with a Tailor skill. They coordinated their efforts to bring me back to shape. But their tone conveyed shock and horror.

A moment later, I felt a relief of pain and pressure in my swollen eye. In a matter of seconds, I could see through it once more. I was able to better see my reflection in the crystal flooring at my feet. My hair looked like a pitchfork of hay. I looked no better than a peasant farmer!

“This is Hawkin’s fault! I’m going to torture him!”

But I couldn’t go after Hawkin until I dealt with Thrush—who else could that monster be? Although I’d ingested many healing ales and enough mana ales, my body took on a tremble once more. I couldn’t remember the last time I had drained my mana to near zero. Must have been when I was back in silver rank. How could a monster press on so hard, so constantly? What magic did he possess to follow me after I used Brewer’s Portals? How could he find me when I was disguised by wind? How did Slow Time not affect him? I was quickly going through my collection of Brewer’s Portals. I was relying on them faster than I could pick out the correct ones! Twice now I’d found out the hard way that I’d used the wrong one. Both mistakes had put me off guard and almost cost me my life.

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“Fetch mana ales! Healing ales! Brewer’s Portals!”

One butler said, “Which ones my-”

“Any of them, imbecile!”

Out of breath, shaking so hard, I fell to all fours. I heaved. My fingers rattled on the crystal floor.

Thrush was a formidable foe. I should have been on my toes; should have been prepared. That’s all it was, a matter of being caught off guard. It cost me my beautiful hair and a finger. I let loose my rage in a scream.

“That monster will pay for this!”

However formidable Thrush was, I needed to get myself together and quickly. With a fresh collection of supplies, I could take him on. He was persistent, and until now, I had been evading him with great difficulty. I had the chance to move on the offensive. I had to take it.

But how? How was he doing it? How was he chasing me from one location to another? And he wasn’t stopping!

He had chased me through Hawkin’s Mist Hidden barrier. Despite the use of Speed Attributes, he’d gotten ahead of me and I ran straight into him. He appeared through thin air, as though he’d been behind an invisible curtain.

And he didn’t stop there. He then chased me out to sea. While I sprinted over the waves, He flew overhead like a fat albatross. On his first dive, he landed an attack on me.

What did I do wrong after that? I had raced back to land, but he was there when I arrived. I evaded his ambush and rode on a tidal wave of earth. It wasn’t often that I resorted to using diamond rank attributes. And though the tidal wave of earth brought me quickly out to the plateaus between Hawkin’s camp and Lunstad, Thrush appeared out of thin air again! I only barely escaped that attack.

I had hoped to get far enough away from Hawkin’s camp that Thrush would pursue me no longer, but that wasn’t the case. He persisted. When I dashed to the rural farms of Lunstad, Thrush was only one deafening footstep behind me. He chased me through pastures filled with cows and sheep.

That was when I afforded a break from the chase. Something happened to Thrush. His eyes became small. His jaw fell so far that it dragged in the earth. He went ballistic as if governed by insanity. His mouth began snapping open and snapping shut in a perfect metronome. He ate the earth and he stopped to eat the cows and sheep around us. It was as if I suddenly didn’t exist to him—as if he’d forgotten all about me.

My butlers arrived with armfuls of beer. I stowed them all at once into my private inventory. I brewed an Anti-gravity ale and gulped it down in the same second.

Then I rolled onto my back and stared at the amethyst ceiling. My breathing was beginning to even and my strength was returning.

Shouts rose from my butlers. A monster was emerging from a thin slice of air mere feet away from me.

First came Thrush’s leg with a hoof instead of a paw and claws. His fur was colored blacker than it had been. Then his other leg stepped through. Then came his belly with a white stripe across it like a belted cow. He stepped through entirely. He had patches of fur that was textured like curly wool. His nose had stretched out like a cow’s. Two small bull horns had emerged on his crown. But his mouth was still split open in half. His fangs were thick as tusks.

I fled. He charged after me like an enraged bull. His thunderous footsteps cracked my crystal mansion from floor to ceiling.