Fuyumi’s eyes darted left to right, not sure where to start looking. She leaped atop a roof and stood by the edge. Fuyumi put both of her hands on her head, rustling her hair in frustration. She paused to take a deep, long breath and slowly lowered her hands. She stared at her palm before running her hand along the side of her face, pushing her hair aside, and tying it into a ponytail.
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“Get back here, you bastards!”
Nightingale turned to face the four bandits chasing them and waved his finger, taunting them.
“[Gust]!”
A powerful blast of wind shot out from underneath two of the bandits, lifting them up into the air. Shin followed up, shooting arrows directly into the two targets hanging in the air. He pointed his finger to the ground, controlling the arrows with [Spatial Mastery] to slam them into the ground.
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 64]
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 64 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 73 | Agility: 73 | Intelligence: 73
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“Weird timing, but alright!”
The other two bandits clicked their tongues as they jumped over their fallen comrades.
“Damn rookies.”
“Look where you’re going!”
“Whoah!”
Nightingale barely ducked down in time to dodge a clothesline that sailed over him.
“Thanks, Shin!”
Shin rolled his eyes in response.
“Just a little more.”
The end of the rooftops was quickly approaching. The next connecting building was too high for them to normally jump to.
“I’m trusting you on this!”
“I got it!”
“[Current]!”
Nightingale sent them flying up to the next roof. Shin put one leg up on the ledge of the rooftop and nocked another two arrows. He let them loose at the two bandits below them who knocked the arrows out of the air. Shin lowered his bow and pinched his fingers together. The arrows shot out of the ground and lodged themselves into the bandits’ necks. They choked on their blood as they fell to the floor, gasping for air.
Shin shook his head and wiped the sweat off of his brow. Nightingale was hunched over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
“Whew, no time to rest though.”
Shin came up behind Nightingale and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Let’s keep going before the rest of them catch on.”
“Yeah.”
Nightingale looked off to the distance.
“Fuyumi must have it easy with her stealth doesn’t she?”
“She’s dealing with her own problems though. She must be panicked looking for Ayaka.”
“Probably.” Nightingale said as he sighed.
They started to run again, pacing themselves steadily.
“How the hell… do we even get out of this situation?” Shin asked between breaths of air.
“I guess we’ll have… to leave the city.”
“This goldmine of EXP?”
“Might be our… only choice!”
They grabbed ahold of a ledge, pulling themselves up. Shin and Nightingale stood at the edge of the building. They had arrived at the agreed meeting point.
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“I’m pooped.” Nightingale said, his legs hanging over the edge of the building.
Shin sat beside him with one knee up, resting his arm on it.
The scene ahead of them was breathtaking. Stairs ran the whole way down to the center of the city where the obelisk was. The false sky he saw that day with Fuyumi was more or less the same. As the fake stars drifted in the heavens, lines of light connected them as they got close together, forming constellations of various shapes and sizes. The stars and the purple and blue milky backdrop fused together to create a concoction of otherworldly beauty.
Shin put his hands behind him and leaned back.
“The three of us are unwelcome guests under these skies.”
“Yup.”
“Hey, any leads?”
Shin and Nightingale turned around when they heard Fuyumi’s voice behind them.
“Nothing but running from the guys chasing us.” Shin responded.
“I would say that we should split up, but I don’t think we can afford to do that.” Nightingale said as he scratched his head.
“If one of us runs into Ghast, it’s pretty much over. All three of us need to face him head-on if we want to have any chance.” He continued.
“Ayaka hasn’t responded to any of my messages either.”
“Guess we don’t have any choice other than to look around aimlessly.” Shin said, pushing himself off the ground.
“Let’s get going then.”
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[19:28 | May 12, 2035]
The party of three began searching. Their first instinct was to check the various buildings owned by Drakos. The guild held property across the entire city, it would take them forever to search every single building. However, they had to start somewhere. Shin and Nightingale would scout the outside perimeter while Fuyumi snuck inside to get a closer look. They repeated the process for hours, fighting adventurers that caught wind of their presence along the way. Most of them were easily taken care of but it still took a toll on their stamina.
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[05:42 | May 13, 2035]
Ahead of them stood a short building with a pointed roof. Shin, Fuyumi, and Nightingale stood outside on the balcony. It was the fifteenth building they checked. At this point, they were used to the process. Inside, red and blue candles lit up the interior. Additional candles were attached to the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Red curtains and various other draperies adorned the walls. Brown and velvet carpet covered the floor. Throughout the ground floor, men and women were intimately touching each other. Some of them moaned out in ecstasy as they reached climax.
They tried not to looktoo hard as they scanned the building. Their faces turned red from embarrassment as they tried to ignore the customers enjoying themselves. Shin noticed a blanket over a woman in the corner and pointed to her.
“Is that her?”
“Tch, those assholes…” Fuyumi said, griting her teeth.
“We’re not sure if that’s her for sure.” Nightingale added.
The woman’s hair appeared to be red, contrary to Ayaka’s black hair.
“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Fuyumi grabbed the edge of the window sill, pulled herself through, and disappeared into the shadows.
“Guess we’ll wait here?” Shin shrugged.
Nightingale raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
Inside, Fuyumi slid down the side of the pillar and made her way toward the woman by slipping between the shadows. She put her head down to avoid looking at the party beside her. As she approached the woman, Fuyumi held her breath, not ready to discover truth that was ahead of her. She knelt down in front of the woman.
The woman’s face was empty, emotionless. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she sat in the chair. Her otherwise naked body was covered by a thin blanket over her head and a towel over her lap. She sat there, staring at the floor. However, to Fuyumi, it was as if she was looking straight at her.
Thankfully, it wasn’t Ayaka.
Fuyumi sighed in relief. She wished she was in a position to save her from this depravity but Fuyumi had no time. She got up from the ground and looked around one more time. On the other side of the main hall was a small room behind a purple curtain. Inside the room was another woman who sat in a chair similar to the one that Fuyumi just checked. Fuyumi stuck to the walls as she snuck up to the room. She peered into the opening, just barely pushing aside the curtain enough to see inside. Her heart sank as her worst fears became a reality. On the chair was Ayaka, her hair was disheveled and unrecognizable from the usual orderly braid that she kept it in. She sat there quietly with her eyes closed.
An unfathomable feeling of guilt swelled up in Fuyumi’s chest. Before long, those feelings turned into rage as she gritted her teeth, and clenched her fist.
“You monsters!”
Fuyumi lunged out of the shadows with her dagger drawn, instantly impaling the man behind Ayaka in the chest. Shards of ice formed around the wound. The man smiled devilishly at his attacker before spitting blood on her face. Fuyumi twisted her dagger, shattering the ice and splitting him in two. His body made a loud thud on the floor. She wiped the blood off of her face with the back side of her hand.
“Fuck, we gotta go.”
Shin and Nightingale leapt into the building and ran toward Fuyumi along the railings of the second floor.
“Fuyumi! Ayaka!”
The men and women in the main hall were too immersed in pleasure to notice the commotion.
Fuyumi took off her coat and wrapped it around Ayaka, shaking her shoulders.
“What did they do to you?!?”
Ayaka opened her eyes, but she didn’t respond.
Fuyumi briefly closed her eyes, fearing the worst.
Shin shoved aside the curtains, pausing when he realized what he had seen. Nightingale stopped behind him, covering his mouth with his hand in shock.
“They’re in there!”
A man holding a towel over his crotch in the main hall frantically pointed at them.
An adventurer fully clad in armor behind the naked man held out his cutlass.
“Surrender! We have the building surrounded!”
He grinned wickedly.
“Maybe we can make your torture sessions… a little less painful.”
Shin unsheathed his sword and Nightingale took out his codex. Fuyumi picked up Ayaka and carried her. They turned around slowly to face the growing crowd of adventurers before them. More figures continued to emerge from the shadows behind the armored adventurer that first confronted them.
“No easy way out of this one, huh.” Shin said jokingly.
“Probably not…” Nightingale replied, as he began to concentrate wind energy in the palm of his hand.
Fuyumi exhaled slowly, releasing an icy-cold mist. It was an expression that Shin never thought he would see.
“Kill them.”