I reluctantly followed Etienne, disregarding his gesture that told me to stay back. I knew he was a good fighter, but I didn’t expect him to just go and check out random scary-sounding noises.

As I turned into the alleyway, I saw the origin of the soft cries. A milk-coloured vine had sprouted from the ground and wrapped itself alongside the drain of an adjacent house. It had reached a good dozen meters up, before collapsing on itself and falling across the alleyway, onto the opposing building. The noise was coming from blue football-sized bulbs that grew along the main stem of the vine. Each bulb seemed to be animated from within as its surface rippled and stretched.

“Oh lords…” I whispered, freezing in place, as I saw the clear outline of a tiny paw pressing itself against the membrane of a nearby bulb.

“Is this shit yours?” A pissed-off voice coming from a window above the street snapped me back to reality.

Etienne had come in direct proximity to the vine, and was poking at one of the bulbs. I was sincerely hoping that my eyes were deceiving me, as his expression was that of pure curiosity.

“No. Call 003!” I replied to the pissed-off resident, before returning my attention to Etienne. “What are you doing? Let’s go!” I gestured for him to get out of there.

“It’s harmless, come on, have a look.” He turned to me with a soft smile and gestured to come over.

I, of course, did not move from my spot a few meters away from him.

“You mentioned monsters earlier,” He continued, “Well this is a sign of the five lords to show you that not everything that comes out a Wild Land is dangerous, come.” He gestured once more.

“If it’s harmless then let’s go.” I shook my head and gestured towards the main street once more.

Not only was the sight of this ghostly living plant very unnerving, but the sound those little bulbs were making was making my arms and legs feel weak.

Just as Etienne was about to reply, another window of the adjacent buildings opened with a loud bang. An older-looking auntie peaked out of it, before slamming the window shut with an expression that was simultaneously disgusted and annoyed.

“Seriously?” I couldn’t help myself but exclaim.

Judging by their reaction the monster vine had not been there before, and I could not wrap my mind around how all the residents here paid so little attention to it.

Etienne gave me a weird, somewhat concerned look, before shaking his head and crossing the short distance between us.

“Alrigth, if you insist, let’s go, but I think you need to face your fears one day, and doing so with this kind of harmless creature is the best way to go about it.”

I just shook my head in a resigned way, before extending my hand for him to take. Except that movement proved to be harder than anticipated. It was almost as if my hand had truly become cotton; and not just because of fear.

It seemed Etienne had picked up that something was wrong as well. Before either of us had had time to react, that noise grew in intensity, and suddenly all of the bulbs along that vine burst open. Small, cat-sized, grey creatures popped out of them. They looked like a cross between a fairy and a goblin, or that between a child and a termite; with almost human-like faces, six bony arms, and two pairs of wings.

Etienne, who seemed unaffected by whatever it was that was binding me in place, turned towards them and sent a lightning bolt flying into their gathering hoard.

“Harmless, you say?” I managed to sarcastically say before the majority of the creatures surrounded us.

A partial dome of lighting appeared between us and them, as Etienne shielded me, covering me in a half-hug. The creatures seemed to be at least somewhat intelligent though and quickly flew around the dome and started trying to scratch us with their twisted little paw-hands.

Perhaps it was the realisation that this fight was inevitable or the confirmation of my assertion that all monsters and unnatural things were dangerous, but I was suddenly taken over by an unprompted calmness.

MP - 2

A short katana appeared inside my hand, and I pushed Etienne away as I swung it at the nearest creature. The little thing screeched and fell to the ground; its head completely severed from the rest of his body.

“What are you doing?” Etienne called out.

I didn’t respond. I believed my actions to be self-explanatory enough. I sliced through a second creature. They seemed to have picked up on my attack pattern, and flew a certain distance away from me, directing themselves either towards the windows of the surrounding houses, or the main street.

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“Block them.” I called out to Etienne with a tone that came out more authoritarian than I would have wanted.

He gave me a confused look and mumbled something under his breath. Then, he spun around, and a net made up of strands of electricity began forming across the exit of the alleyway, blocking out most of the creatures. That was until they realised, they could easily fly through the holes in it.

Screams of surprise and confusion came from the main street before the same voices started to order one another to take shelter or call someone.

Luck - 6

“Fuck.” I swore as I felt something bite down my right arm; the one holding the sword.

I had gotten too distracted by what was transpiring on the main street to notice the creature attacking me. I shook my arm, hoping to get it off that way, but it did not let go, biting harder instead.

Luck - 2

I spun around, gathering momentum, before whacking the thing into the nearest wall. To my greatest disarray, it did not let go, and remained there, leeching onto my arm. I hit it against the wall, again, and again.

Luck - 5

Another creature flew down and bit my shoulder. I winced in pain. Giving up on getting rid of the one on my arm, who seemed to remain attached despite no longer being alive, I stabbed through the one on my shoulder.

Surprisingly, it did not go down in one hit like its siblings, making me pierce its head again. I realised that there might be a better way of going about this.

Starlight

Blade of Namura damage + 2%

Damage type bludgeoning or piercing or radiant

piercing

MP - 1

In the corner of my eye, I noticed a third creature speeding toward me. I slashed at it. The skill seemed to have, thankfully, had enough of an effect, to allow me to take it out in one go. A smile flashed across my face before I returned my full attention to the battle.

I had killed four more of those creatures before I realised that my attention was not the only thing to have returned. Those monsters that had flown off to the main street had returned and were now gathering around Etienne. Although he was keeping up with blocking their bite and scratch attacks; with the majority of the hoard being gathered around him, it did not seem that it’d last.

Outsider

Target: Abscindered volatile androecium hoard

Duration 15 seconds

MP - 6

The little creatures turned towards me, and, as if following some sort of silent command, fell onto me. I sliced through several while trying my best to avoid being bitten again. But I could feel sharp pain pop in here and there on my body before quickly vanishing.

Luck - 2

Luck - 2

Luck - 2

I swore under my breath, cursing the little fuckers for going so much damage with their disgusting little claws. But, I forced myself to stay focused on getting rid of those trying to bite me, and soon enough I could see the alleyway around me once more.

A lightning bolt flew towards me. I felt a shiver run down my spine. I didn’t quite realise what had happened until all the remaining creatures around me fell to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. As I followed their trajectory with my eyes, I noticed that sparks had formed around my hands and feet. Ignoring that persistent shiver-like sensation in my lower back, I quickly finished the prone monsters off.

“What was that?” Etienne and I simultaneously asked each other, as I spun around to face him.

“Did you send a lightning bolt through me?” I quickly asked.

“It was my only AOE attack. Did you just take down like two dozen flying goblins?” He asked with a hasty tone, insisting on the words ‘two dozen’.

“I think they were plants, but that’s not important. It just goes to show that I was right about monsters being dangerous.”

Judging by Etienne’s face, he was buying none of it, but he did not express his opinions out loud. Instead, he said:

“Let’s get out of here before the cops arrive. I think I saw someone actually call them.”

Thinking back to my poor relationship with law defence in this city, I nodded in agreement.

We hastily walked away, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

“Are you not going to put your sword away?” Etienne asked once we were far enough away from the scene.

“I’d love to, but I need it for class later on, and I do not have enough MP to put it in my pocket dimension and take it out again.” I explained.

Etienne made that same face he’d made earlier when we were talking about my hometown.

“What?” I asked, failing to hide the aggravation in my tone.

“Did you even use any skills back there?”

“Yes. Several. Starlight, Outsider, opening my pocket dimension…” I trailed off, realising how pathetic I must have sounded, having used up all my MP for three low-level skills.

Etienne opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then shook his head, deciding against it.

I understood the implication of his silence. He was no doubt thinking that I was somehow, and for some reason, lying to him again.

The rest of the walk to ‘Gare du Nord’ was spent in silence, as we walked a fair distance apart.

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