Chapter 21: The adventure starts.
“Are you out of your fucking mind!?” Iso’s voice shattered the calm silence of the morning. “Why do you keep running away to the forest at night!?!?!”
The boy was screaming at Liz waving a little piece of paper in his hand. “I’m going to the forest to train, will be back soon.” He read the note out loud. “Do you realise how scared I was!?”
“Sorry…” Liz said.
“Don’t ‘sorry’ again, that might have worked last week, but if you think it will work twice-” Iso’s words were cut by Dere
“It’s fine, the girl is back, safe and sound, so don’t worry about it:” She said.
“But-”
“Besides, she was able to survive in the forest until I found her, so she definitely knows how to defend herself.” Dere added, smiling.
“Ok, but next time tell us before going to sleep, don't just leave a note and run away.” Iso finally gave in.
“Will do.” Liz responded.
“Now that that's settled, let's have breakfast, I’m starving.” Dere said as she jumped out of the bed.
“CLOTHES!!!” Iso and Liz yelled at her.
“Ehe…”
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The trio was happily walking through the village’s streets, Liz’s naked feet left small traces in the little sand that remained on the wooden runway. Her light blue dress swung in synchrony with her movements as she took a bite of bread.
Dere waved her hand at the two men who were getting ready to dive in the sand below the village. Her reddish brown leather jacket shined against the morning light. The two men smiled back at her, and one of them stared at the bandages that covered her breast, but quickly looked away after seeing her angered look.
Dere tried to raise her black shirt a bit, covering most of the bandages. Once she was done, she continued walking, the sound of her boots echoed in the wooden runaway.
“Morning Iso!” A woman greeted the boy from her window.
“Morning Miss!” Iso greeted her back with a smile.
He was wearing a loose brown shirt of the same colour as his hair and short grey pans. His leather shoes followed Dere’s boots closely. From behind them, a little blond girl approached him.
“What do you want, little girl?” Iso asked her.
“Pat.” The girl said as she stretched her arm, trying to reach his head.
Iso crouched a bit, letting the girl pat his head between his wolf ears, his face was slightly red.
Satisfied, the girl jumped backwards smiling, then, she made a confused face. “No tail?” She asked him.
“Only ears… sorry…” Iso reluctantly answered.
“Enough!” Dere stepped between Iso and the girl. “Do you want anything else?”
The girl just looked at her and then ran away, laughing.
“Who does she think she is, head patting you like that…” Dere mumbled, as she headpated him.
“...” Liz watched the scene in silence, trying to understand if she was annoyed or having fun.
The group continued to wander through the village, Iso was kindly greeting anyone they saw, Dere started running around like a kid, and Liz silently ate her bread as she stalked the couple of divers with her mana.
“Huh?” Liz’s eyes flickered as she detected something unusual with her mana.
She pretended to keep walking as if she hadn’t noticed anything, but her focus left the depths of the sand sea and shifted to the top of the village’s roofs.
There hidden behind everyone’s sight, four people wearing dark clothes stalked them. Liz couldn’t see her level without having direct line of sight, so she had to rely on the mana that leaked from their body.
They are probably assassins, and presence concealment probably masks your mana as well. She thought, as she tried to estimate their strength. Likely around level 20 or even level 25…
It wasn’t a good match, the assassins were likely almost triple her level, but that was mainly because she reverted to level one after evolving, something humans didn't do.
Human flesh is still fragile, a single well shot needle should be enough to kill them… She decided to follow her deceiving strategy once again, lure them to get their guard down and then kill them before they have time to react. Honour is only worth something if you are alive after all.
Once the trio left the more crowded part of the village, the assassins decided to make their move.
“Atack!” Dere screamed as the four cloaked figures leaped from the roofs.
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Dere rapidly jumped towards Iso, who was already casting a barrier, and took out a dagger from her jacket. Liz focused her attention on the man who rushed in her direction, determined to leave no witnesses.
She covered his face with her arms and crouched, appearing as nothing but a little girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The assassin's face turned into a dark grin. Easy xp. He thought.
But before he could even take out his dagger, two blue needles were already piercing his eyes, sinking deep into his skull, killing him in an instant.
Liz smiled internally as she heard the system announce the death of the assassin, but tried her best to ignore them. There will be time to think about the death once she survived the battle.
Liz rapidly turned around to the other three assassins who were surrounding the couple, Iso was doing his best to hold one off with his barrier, while Dere struggled blocking and dodging the attacks of two people at once.
They would probably lose even if there were only two of them, bringing four is just unfair… But that only applied if only Dere and Iso fought. she thought, as her mana formed another needle.
Another needle pierced one of the assassins neck, leaving a flabbergasted Iso free to help Dere. “How!?”
The other two assassins quickly realised that their two companions were already dead, but Liz left them no time to plan their next move, as two needles flew in their direction.
“Fck.” Liz cursed, watching the men effortlessly juke her atack.
“Iso cover me!” Dere ordered as she leaped towards the man on her right.
Liz didn’t expect to kill every assassin with the first shot, but it was still a beautiful dream. She clicked her tongue as she weighed her options, without her surprise factor gone, she would have a hard time landing her needles…
The human and the prey stared at each other, carefully analysing their stance, preparing to react to their next move, then, the human's knee bended.
A single needle flew to his left, forcing him to halt and juke towards his right. Liz didn’t waste these precious seconds and swiftly created five new needles, which flew in a narrow arch against the man.
He bended his back backwards and slided underneath the flying needles, losing almost no momentum as his right arm started to lag behind his body, preparing a devastating strike.
A small grin appeared in Liz's mouth as a tiny bit of blue light shined in her hand.
Too slow! The assassin thought as he raised his left arm, ready to block the needle he was sure she was creating.
But no needle began to appear in her hand, instead, the assassin’s ears were delighted by a beautiful voice, tainted by a subtle inhuman tone.
“Return.” His eyes opened wide as the air left his chest, he instantly lost all the strength in his body, and his body collapsed to the floor, five blue needles were nailed in his back.
At the same time, Dere, who had unsheathed a second dagger during her first moment of respite, threw herself on the remaining assassin.
His movements were slightly faster than her, his blows hitted harder, and his body was heavier. But she was still holding her ground, and the reason was rather simple.
“Barrier.”
One of the assassin’s knife stopped midair, clashing against the invisible wall the beast boy had created. Dere’s knife was already moving forward, as if she knew that the foe’s blow was going to be stopped before the spell was casted.
The assassin didn’t expect his attack to be stopped like this, so he was too slow to react to Dere’s strike. He only saved his life thanks to their difference in raw speed.
Dere jumped backwards to avoid his retaliation, leaving her right blade sticking out of his shoulder, and switched the place of her left one.
The man's face was full of pain and anger, as he took out the dagger that pierced his left shoulder and threw it to the floor.
This shouldn’t have gone this way! He cursed, as he weighed his options. Two of his companions were already dead, and his left arm was completely useless.
His tarjects turned out to be much better coordinated than what they had expected, and that little girl with silver hair and heterochromatic glowing eyes was nothing short of demonic.
My best shot is to wait till Daril deals with the little girl, and then try to take these two together… But a chilling sensation fell down his spine, it was nothing but instinct. Daril will not win his battle.
Listening to his instinct, he shaked his head and prepared his next move.
And he turned around trying to jump to the roof of a building and flee.
“Barrier.”
A transparent wall appeared before him, stopping him in his place preventing him from escaping, or avoiding Dere’s dagger, which pierced the back of his neck a second later.
Notice: You have killed a level 24 human.
Notice: Half of the awarded experience has been distributed to the human known as “Iso” honouring the contract.
Notice: You have levelled up to lvl 23
Dere ignored the system and grabbed her bloodied dagger, the one that the assassin removed from his shoulder, and turned around towards Liz.
I hope we are not too late! She thought, as she imagined the little girl’s beautiful eyes darkened, devoid of life.
But the scene in front of her was completely opposite. Instead of the little girl, it was the assassin’s body what laid on the wooden floor, with five blue needles sticking out of its back.
In that moment, Dere finally understood one thing she knew all along, something she had subconsciously tried to ignore since she found the little girl in the cave. She is powerful, she didn’t survived in the forest by luck, luck didn’t helped her to kill the man that laid before her.
“There is not such thing as luck…” Her teacher’s voice echoed in her mind. “What people call luck is just a result of skill meating with opportunity.”
Just how much luck does someone need to survive in the dark forest, and how much of that luck is the result of skill, the forest doesn’t provide many opportunities after all.
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“................” The room was in complete silence, the 3 present stared at Liz, who bit her lower lip.
“So you are not only a mage, but you also know how to fight…” Cole said.
“Sorry…” Liz started.
“Don’t be sorry, we would be dead if it wasn’t for your help.” Dere cut her.
“This is serious Dere!” Cole screamed. “You were attacked by a group of four unidentified assassins, and a little girl who you found lost in the forest. Who learned to speak from scratch in less than a month, and uses an unknown type of magic, is the only reason you are alive.”
“...” The room was again in complete silence, as Cole moved his hands over his hair, letting out a deep breath.
“Given the strange circumstances that surround you, I’m sorry but you are forever expelled from the village…” Cole finally said.
“You can’t!” Dere tried to protest.
“And you two, I knew you were trying to run away, and was fine with you staying here for some days before you gathered supplies to continue your travels, but you have stayed here far more than a couple days.” Cole stated. “You are also expelled from the village…”
“ yo-” Dere once again tried to protest, but Iso’s hand covered her mouth.
“We understand…” He said as he dragged Dere out of the building, followed closely by Liz.
I guess I could return to the forest… She thought, slightly sad. She didn’t really understand why though, just yesterday the forest felt like the perfect place, not only to level, but also to gather food and other useful resources…
“Where are you going, Lise?” Iso asked the little girl, who was starting to wander towards the forest. “You don’t believe that we would leave you behind, right.”
“Go… with you?” Liz blinked, trying to understand his words, she thought she must be misinterpreting them, that the language barrier hadn’t been overcome yet. After all, when was the last time someone cared for me…?
“Come on! We should leave before the tide raises.” Dere said as she gestured for her to get closer.
Liz’s brain was overwhelmed with conflicting thoughts, they wanted her to go with them, for the first time in tens of thousands of years, someone wanted to be with her…
“You have completely fooled them…” Her own voice whispered in her ear.
That's right, all they know is just an act, they believe I'm just the prey, that's why… Her brain finally calmed, her feelings were once again shutted down, once again, only logic remained.
She took Dere’s hand and looked at her with a smile, her purple eye slightly glowing. I’ll make good use of your trust.
Deep inside her soul, something unnatural smiled.