Once Hazel, Astrid, and Nycteris were refreshed from their break, the trio left the tavern and resumed their hunting fest. Their current objective was to stay here for at least two weeks or so. Of course, they would only stay that long if they hadn’t exterminated the entire town of fractured monsters by then.

Walking down an empty street, the trip maintained a fixed formation to where their surroundings were covered, and each was performing their specific roles. Nycteris was positioned at the front, Astrid was located in the rear watching their six, and Hazel was in the middle, being protected by both of them.

With this formation, the group stalked through the city, looking for more fractured humans. Luckily enough, they found some.

Nycteris’s ears perked up as he picked up a nearby sound. His head twitched to the side, listening closely to whatever he was hearing.

“What is it, Nycteris?” Hazel asked, gripping her staff.

“I…hear groaning.” The Nightwing let out a low screech while keeping his attention trained on the sound. “They’re…over there.” He pointed his clawed finger at an entrance with a clothed roof used by food stalls.

Feeling curious and courageous, the trio made their way over to the entrance. Getting there, they realized that the entrance led them into a large marketplace. There were dozens of vacant stalls lined up against one another with boxes, crates, various broken items, and colorful clothes blanketing the stone ground.

Before entering the marketplace, Astrid stepped in front of the group and scanned the area, likely using her [Hawk Eyes]. Taking a good look, the dark elf backed away before facing Hazel and Nycteris.

“I can see slight movement in some of the stalls. I can’t see much other than that, but we should still be cautious when moving through this marketplace.”

Hazel nodded. “Then we’ll stay in our current formation and move through the area while killing any monsters we spot.”

Declaring their next move, the trip resumed their previous positions and traversed through the marketplace area. Their steps could be heard as they reverberated around them.

Taking a couple more steps, Hazel instantly heard distant groaning from their left. All three turned their heads toward the sound while preparing themselves for battle. Just then, four fractured humans emerged from one of the market stalls and shambled their way over to the group.

Quickly identifying them, Hazel confirmed that they were barely past level three, making them extremely weak. She readied her staff and fired a couple of mana bolts at the zombie-like monsters. Instead of killing them instantly, she aimed for their legs and easily incapacitated them, leaving their fates to her familiar.

Wasting no time, the Nightwing blurred toward the fractured humans and tore them to shreds. He clawed at their husk-like vessels and ripped one of their heads off with his teeth. Nycteris then spit the head out as Hazel and Astrid watched it roll and tumble across the ground. A moment later, its decapitated head burst into bright violet fragments.

The player pair turned back to Nycteris as he ripped into the other Fractured humans. Hazel thought about helping but held off from doing that since not only did her familiar need to level up. That and she felt a little intimidated by Nycteris’s savage behavior.

Hazel’s attention was soon pulled away when more Fractured humans appeared around them. They crawled out of more market stalls and shuffled their way to the players.

Astrid soon took action and fired several arrows at the horde, each shot striking them in their hollow skulls. Firing a few more projectiles, Astrid furrowed her brows.

“These guys are really weak…” The dark elf grumbled. “A good majority of them were either level one or two. Just how many of these things are there in this city?”

“Good question,” Hazel said before launching a mana bolt at the closest Fractured human. “Considering that this is a human city, or at least that’s my guess, I would say…quite a lot.”

Astrid shifted her attention to Hazel, giving her a nasty glare. But the novice mage simply shrugged her shoulders with a sly smile. At this point, she got used to her partner’s glares. If anything, she found them more amusing now.

“Not helping, Hazel,” Astrid scolded before loosing another arrow.

“Come on, you saw the city when we were flying above it. This place is massive. I think it’s as big as New York City.”

“New York what?”

“Forget it. It’s a place from my world. You wouldn’t know it.”

Hazel briefly forgot that Astrid was from another world. Any earth terms she used wouldn’t make sense to the dark elf. Which made it very difficult for the mage to make any references to pop culture since she would be the only person who understood it.

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“Nycteris!” Hazel called out to her familiar. “Sic ‘em!”

“Yes…!”

The Nightwing made a deafening screech before charging at the Fractured humans coming their way. He blurred past Hazel and Astrid and tackled two monsters. They were slammed into the ground as Nycteris dug his claws into their skulls.

And without hesitation, he ripped them off their shoulders and tossed the heads aside, setting his sights on the remaining Fractured. Just before he could lung at them, Hazel noticed that the Nightwing froze on the spot.

Its body tensed up as its back arched like a cat being cautious of something. A moment later, Nycteris dove to the side, dodging a volley of arrows as they struck the ground where he previously was.

Hazel and Astrid immediately darted their eyes, searching for the Fractured that nearly riddled the Nightwing with holes. Astrid was the first to spot the culprit and pointed in their direction.

“Over there!”

Hazel followed the dark elf’s direction, glancing over at a nearby building roof. That was when she caught a glimpse of a humanoid figure. It was wearing a green hood and wielded a makeshift bow.

Spotting the enemy, Hazel immediately realized what it was. But just to be safe, she quickly tried to identify it.

Level 8

A former human that once lived the life of a Ranger, but is now a corrupted, Fractured monster that will shoot down anything it sees as prey.

“Of course…” Hazel mumbled, staring at the new enemy. “It just had to be a Fractured Class type.”

“That’s a Fractured Class?” Astrid questioned, notching an arrow at the Fractured human in question.

“Pretty much. Try and incapacitate it, so Nycteris can take it down.”

While Hazel and Astrid were keeping an eye on the Fractured ranger, they heard a distant roar ahead of them. A roar so familiar that the novice mage recognized it immediately.

“Oh, come on…!” Taking her eyes off the Fractured Ranger, she glared deeper into the marketplace as another monster bulldozed its way toward them.

It was a Fractured human wearing armor and wielded a slightly worn-down broadsword that was riddled with purple cracks. Hazel knew exactly what this Fractured was. It was another Fractured warrior.

The Purple-cracked warrior charged at Hazel and Astrid, threatening to tackle them to the ground. But, before it could get close, Nycteris jumped in and crashed into the warrior, sending it tumbling across the stone ground.

The warrior pulled itself up with the help of its sword. Instead of turning its attention to the player pair, its menacing purple eyes were locked on to Nycteris. A growl escaped its lips as it continued to glare at the Nightwing, realizing who its true prey was.

Nycteris responded by letting out a loud screech as if making a battle cry. With its sword at hand, the Fractured warrior bolted toward its enemy, determined to cut him down. Little did the warrior know, Nycteris was far faster as it closed the distance between them with a devastating tackle.

The sheer momentum of the Nightwing’s attack sent both of them crashing into a market stall, sending wood chips and dust flying everywhere. Hazel watched the scene unfold before her eyes, pondering if she should assist her familiar.

She shifted her attention over to the Fractured Ranger, wondering what it was doing, only to witness it notching several arrows in the direction of Nycteris and the warrior. Hazel panicked while whipping out her staff to cast a spell.

But Astrid was quicker and swiftly fired several arrows at the Ranger on the roof. The Fractured archer moved from its spot to avoid the arrow assault. However, the dark elf seemed to have predicted this and loosed a lone arrow in the archer’s new location.

The projectile struck true and pierced its ankle. Sadly, the Fractured ranger was barely fazed by the arrow in its leg. Thankfully, Hazel knew what to do and fired a small barrage of mana bolts at their enemy.

The bolts zipped through the air one after another, but instead of hitting the Ranger, they hit the edge of the roof instead. The fractured ranger looked confused as it looked down at where Hazel fired, almost as if believing that she missed her target.

That was its mistake as cracks formed along the edge. The ranger didn’t even have enough time to move away as a piece of the roof edge gave way and broke down, sending it falling into a nearby market stall.

The sound of fabric tearing could be heard along with an audible thud from the Ranger’s collision with the ground. A cloud of dust burst from the stall, blanketing the nearby area.

Thankfully, Hazel and Astrid were far enough away and avoided getting caught in the dust cloud. There was no time to relax, however, as several arrows emerged from the dust and zipped over to the pair.

Hazel conjured a mana shield while Astrid hid behind it for a brief moment. The projectile clashed against the barrier and then split in two from the force. The attack didn’t stop as more arrows were fired in their direction.

The mana shield was still erected, protecting Hazel with each shot that struck the barrier. The Fractured Ranger soon emerged from the dust and bolted toward the player duo, with an arrow already notched and ready to be loosed.

Hazel felt confident that she was safe until her shield began to dissipate as soon as time was up. Seeing the shield disappear, Astrid stepped in front of the mage and readied her bow. Prepared to initiate a standoff with the Fractured Ranger.

That was until the ranger was knocked to the side when the Fractured Warrior crashed into it, sending both of them flying into another stall. Hazel and Astrid were wide-eyed after seeing that before Nycteris appeared and rushed toward the fractured monsters, completely ignoring the players.

The Nightwing left their sights in an instant. Despite not seeing the familiar, Hazel and Astrid could hear it finishing off the two fractured classes. The sounds of the growling fractured and screeching Nightwing blended together into an unholy noise.

It was so terrible to listen to that the players covered their ears and waited for the Nightwing to be done with the fractured monsters.

“Well, at least we have the chance to relax a little more…” Hazel said.

“What?!” Astrid yelled, clearly not hearing her comment.

Hazel didn’t bother to repeat herself and simply waited for her Nightwing’s little slaughter fest to be over. While waiting, she wondered how long they could endure hearing such disturbing sounds while hunting.