[Sally’s PoV]
“Alisha!” Waking up screaming, I look around. Again, I had the same dream again. Watching as Alisha is hit and falls into the hole, not a night has gone past that I don’t see that scene again and again. Crying, I hold my head. There should have been something I could have done, it should’ve been me, not her, she should be here alive. Why, why why why why. It’s not fair, we just gained our freedom, why did she have to lose her life, it’s my fault. I won’t let Gray die before me, like I let Alisha die. Digging my nails into my arms, I should’ve done something! Sobbing, I hear footsteps coming towards me. Without a word, I see Gray place some food and water next to me and walk away to keep watch. It’s been like this since that day, we’ve barely spoken to each other, he must hate me for letting Alisha die. I don’t blame him, I hate myself. I’ll continue living to protect him, even if he hates me I won’t let him die.
I know before trying I won’t fall asleep again. I haven’t slept much in the last two weeks, everytime I fall asleep, I see that scene over and over, always waking me up.
After a few hours, barely touching the food near me, I hear Gray approaching me, hammer in hand. Nodding, I don’t bother wiping my tears away and grab my sword and shield. Maybe as a way to distract ourselves, or a need to survive, we go out and hunt monsters every time there is daylight. By doing so, we’ve slowly leveled up to 14.
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Sally
Monster/Human Hybrid (Monster Species: Unknown)
Level 14
Health: 800
Mana: 100 (Locked)
Experience: 5,000/22,000
Class: Not available.
Class Level: Ineligible
Experience: 0/0
Skills: None
Spells: None
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Maybe if we did this first and didn’t foolishly walk into that death trap Alisha would still be alive. I should’ve stopped us going in there, why didn’t I speak up. I should’ve said something. Trembling slightly, I walk out with Gray following behind me. Judging by the sun, it’s been daylight for about an hour, meaning Gray held back and let me cry for a while. Biting my lip and gripping my sword and shield tightly, we walked out of the cave and were about to start walking when I heard laughter. Feeling my stomach drop, I look up and see six figures walk out from behind the boulders they were hiding behind.
“Well, look at what we have here, a pair of monsters thinking they’re humans! We’ll have some fun with the two of you before killing you both, especially you Number 14, I’ll torture you until you tell me where you hid that Demonic Fox, you bitch!”
Looking towards the voice, I see Gerald, and with my stomach dropping I move in front of Gray quickly, raising my shield to cover him. Whispering without turning back I say “Gray, run.” Pushing him back slightly with an elbow, I prepare to give my life to protect him, I wouldn’t let anyone else die in front of me. I’m tired of seeing people die in front of me. Not hearing him leaving or even moving, I’m about to turn to yell at him when I hear a familiar voice, a voice I’ve heard in my dreams every night these last few weeks. My stomach twisting at the voice, I look at the source and nearly drop my sword and shield.
“Eeeehh, what chu…hic…what chu think you doing to muh Sally and…hic…Gray?!”
Standing there, crouching at the top of a boulder behind the humans was Alisha. She looked a bit slimmer and smaller, her black hair was neatly tied back, a bird of some sort was sitting on her head and I could see her fox ears…but I can tell she wasn’t in her monster form, why did she have her ears? There are bruises and cuts all along her arms and legs, barely a spot of clean, unbroken skin. Her blue eyes were unfocused, yet held intent in them as she looked at the humans one by one. A red blush was on her face, and even though her voice and face displayed anger, to me she looked…cute.
“Kraa!” Crying out, the bird flaps its wings and also angrily looks around. Alisha looks at each human before stating “I agree Alice, we should…hic…kill them all.”
Even more surprised at her words, didn’t she know what was happening here!? Prompting the System, the surprises don’t seem to end.
[Level 13 Demonic Fox, Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter, Alisha]
I have never seen something with that long of a tag from the System! Demonic Dancing Fox Fighter?! She’s level 13!? What was going on! How are you alive Alisha, I watched you fall into the hole every night in my sleep!
“Oh, there you are, Number 32. Be a good hybrid, get down here and I’ll make your death swift! Killing you will allow me to restore my glory!”
Alisha’s eyes snap to the source of the voice, onto Gerald. Her expression doesn’t change, even looking at her old handler, who had tortured her and killed Alice in from of her. Slowly standing while looking at Gerald, she removes her gauntlets, throws them aside and clenches her freshly bandaged fists. Jumping off the boulder, she slowly walks towards Gerald…somethings not right, she’s stumbling around, swaying and nearly tripping on herself. Somethings very wrong with her, why are you walking towards Gerald, Alisha?! As she gets within ten metres of him, I’m about to rush to her when I see two of the humans, watching me and Gray, draw their swords and block us. Looking at Gray, I see him pale faced, fully focused on Alisha, tears streaming down his face. I see, you missed her too didn’t you. Turning back to Alisha, she stops walking, her eyes never leaving Gerald. Four humans, including Gerald, surround her and draw their swords. Then I see Alisha smile, that smile…it felt dangerous.
“Good good, you didn’t go off and die somewhere, I’m so glad!”
“We won’t interfere as per the council’s orders, Gerald. Just finish it quickly.” One of the humans who spoke stabbed their sword into the group, the other two following shortly afterwards. They weren’t helping him? She has a chance!
Twirling his sword, Gerald walks towards Alisha. At this moment, I sense something strange coming from Alisha as her hair and clothes start fluttering, like she was standing in the wind. Watching Alisha like my life depended on it, I saw dust and tiny rocks circulating around her, like there was wind swirling around her legs, arms and body. Without moving, she stood there, like she was taunting Gerald to approach her. The bird flew off her head and into the sky above, circling around. Two of the humans around her suddenly tense up, staring at her in disbelief.
“M-magic, a hybrid that learned how to control mana?!”
“We’ve determined that she is a threat, eliminate her, it doesn’t matter who does it!”
With those words, the other three draw their swords from the ground.
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“She’s my prey, don’t interfere Ron!” Screaming, Gerald glares around at the man who just spoke and then glares at the other two.
“Don’t forget your place trash, you have orders from the council and so do we. The council might’ve given you a chance out of pity thanks to your House, but that doesn’t mean shit to us.” The female human glares at Gerald and takes up her stance. Gritting his teeth, Gerald turns to look at her, like he was ready to attack, but faces Alisha again.
“Whatever, get in my way and I’ll cut you down, Melissa.” Seeing the other three shrug their shoulders to Gerald’s comments, I wonder what the hell was happening, weren’t they humans, didn’t they help each other? Why were they talking like they hated each other?
Already surrounding Alisha, the four humans move in quickly, with swords raised. The weakest among them was level 13, and Gerald was the strongest, level 15. Not knowing what to do, I feel my shoulder being shaken. Turning, I see Gray with a panicked face looking at me.
“Sally, we need to help her!” Nodding, I look at Gray then the two humans still watching us, who now wore nervous looks on their faces. “I’ll take care of those two, you go help Alisha. Be careful Gray, just get her out of there.” Nodding at my words, Gray turns and runs towards Alisha, and before the two humans can intercept him, I raise my shield and charge at one, slamming into him, knocking him off his feet, while I swing my sword at the other, meeting his drawn sword. And like that, I start my first ever fight against the humans.
[Gray’s PoV]
Charging towards the group of humans about to attack Alisha, I raise my hammer and single out a human to attack. As I’m about to approach I hear a loud “Kraa!”, looking up, the bird that was on Alisha’s head swoops down and pecks at my face. “Kraa!” “Stay outs…hic…Gray” Looking at Alisha who looks at me for the briefest of seconds, nods and turns her attention back to the humans charging and attacking her. Not sure what to do, I feel something land on my head. “Kraa!” Claws dig into my hair and tug me in the direction of Sally.
Understanding that Alisha’s bird is attempting to guide me away, I turn back and head towards Sally, swinging my hammer vertically at the human attacking Sally’s shield. Sally, seeing the swing coming, puts her shoulder to the shield and pushes the human into my swing. With a loud crack, I slam the hammer into him, Sally holds her ground as the human is crushed under the weight of my hammer. Moving my hammer off, the human falls onto his back, no longer breathing, bones sticking out of his chest and arms. We just took him by surprise and he died just like that?
[You killed Hugh, gained 2,000xp]
“Hugh! How dare you filth kill Hugh!”
Looking at the other human, Sally and I turn our attention to him, but before we continue we hear a loud yell from the humans attacking Alisha. All three of us pause, the male human in front of us pales as he turns to the other humans.
As we watched Alisha stumbling around, swaying back and forth unnaturally, dodging most attacks narrowly while some nicked her, she kept throwing out punches that were so fast it was hard to keep track. Her punches made the humans flinch, leaving cuts and bruises where she hit. Whenever she kicked it looked like she was about to fall over, but she never did. This was Alisha, she was just punching things normally before, what is this style of fighting? Even the human near us was stunned watching this.
Dodging an attack from behind her by swaying forward, Alisha slams her hands on the ground, with one leg on the ground, she kicks out with the other, smashing the chin of the human who just attacked her, sending him upwards. Within a single moment, she pushes herself off the ground, pivots on her foot and punches out with such force we could feel the blow back from the wind…I could see the wind around her fist. Slamming the fist into the unnamed human’s chest, as it’s about to hit the wind shreds his clothing away and cuts through his skin, before finally the force of her fist pierces him. With a swing of the arm with the human stuck on it, she flung the body away from herself and stood still with no stance, seemingly relaxed.
Standing over the corpse, blood droplets on her face, right arm covered in blood, everyone went silent and still. What a beautifully violent scene. In less than a minute, two humans died to our hands. Looking up, Alisha glares at Gerald, Ron and Melissa. Trembling, the human next us rushes past the one Sally and I crushed, and yells out “Ron, Melissa, Gerald we need to retreat!” and starts running away from us. Gerald, although he looks unwilling, follows suit, and so does Ron and Melissa.
As Gerald turns to run, Alisha rushes up to him and punches out, Gerald dodges at the last moment but can’t completely avoid the attack and the punch pierces his shoulder. Pulling her hand out, Alisha goes to punch again, but is forced to dodge a sudden attack from the human named Ron. Taking this chance, Gerald flees with the other two. Following suit, Ron throws his sword at Alisha and follows Gerald.
About to give chase, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking back, I see Sally shake her head. “Leave it at that, we have a bigger problem to solve, don’t need more.”
Confused on what she means, I meekly nod and turn to look at Alisha. Swaying on the spot, she was watching the humans retreat. Slowly, she turned her head to look at us, and smiled. It’s no longer that dangerous smile, I can see it’s a happy one. Her eyes were still unfocused and face was more red.
“S-sally, Gray!” Running over to us with her arms raised, I take a step back guessing she means to embrace us. Before I could react, I saw her run over and trip, landing head first into the ground. Huh? She tripped on herself? Walking up to her, I hear the bird cry out “Kraa!”, still perched on my head it seemingly gets comfortable. Squatting next to Alisha on one side and Sally on the other side, I look at her face. Her face was red, smiling and her eyes were closed…was she sleeping? And what’s that odd smell? Looking at Sally, I see her roll Alisha over and pick her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back, looking at Alisha like she couldn’t believe she was there. Feeling the same way, I glance once more at Alisha. Looking at me, Sally nods and carries Alisha inside. With so many questions in my head about what just happened, I first dealt with the corpses so they wouldn’t attract monsters here. After dragging them away from our cave, dropping one by the river and the other I tossed into the Tarantula’s cave, I walk back to our cave, with Alisha’s little bird keeping me company.
[Gerald’s PoV]
Running at full speed behind Ron, Troy and Melissa, we quickly arrived at the camp we had set up an hour from Crater. A small cave for the sole purpose of waiting for daylight to ambush that filth. How dare they injure me! Remembering the words the council spoke to me the other day after being dragged out of my cell, I was ordered to join the hunting squad to redeem myself and execute the hybrids. The hunting team tracked them precisely, we had it all planned out, if it wasn’t for that Number 32 showing up I would be able to restore my honour! I wouldn’t escape punishment, but the council promised if I took responsibility for my mistake it would be lessened. But now…how did they become so strong so quickly, especially Number 32, she was a weakling before, moving around like a drunkard she bested all of us. Gritting my teeth, I turn to the other three.
“Get me healing potions, we’re going back tomorrow and killing that filth.”
Looking at each other, Ron starts laughing. “Sorry Gerald, orders are orders. Make this easy, the council wants you alive. We’ll be returning to Crater now, the council will determine what to do with you.”
“What are you talking about? We were ordered to kill that filth, that’s what we’ll do!”
Drawing their swords, Melissa speaks this time “Our orders were different to the orders you were given. Track the hybrids and ensure you kill them. Kill you if you try to run. If the hybrids are determined to be a threat, kill any of us or escape, we are to retreat and bring you back. The council prefers you alive, but dead is an option. Come peacefully, the council gave you this chance because of your House and level. You know this is the reason. Don’t make the wrong choice.”
“Trash, the lot of you. Those two died because they were too weak, the council had to rely on me because the lot of you are weaklings!”
Dropping their smiles, all three looked at me in anger. Grabbing my sword with my working hand, I charge at Melissa first, the weakest. Ignoring the other two, I swing my sword over my shoulder. Blocking, Melissa is pushed back, pushing down again, I draw back my sword and go to swing when a blow hits the back of my neck causing me to lose my grip. Falling forward, a kick to my head comes from Melissa and another blow to my neck from behind. Hitting the ground hard, I’m stunned and can’t move. Something is stuffed into my mouth and a sack is dragged over my head, my hands, including the injured shoulder, are tied together with my legs, bound tightly by rope. Struggling, I can’t move or see anything around me.
“Take a hint idiot. Maybe if you cooperated we might have been willing to vouch for you, but you just had to lose your cool. Your House won’t save you this time.” I hear Ron speaking above me. “You dare insult our friends and attack us. We will ensure we give the council our full report along with you. I’m sure you remember that yourself and the three idiots that colluded with you would be executed if the hybrids were determined to be a threat. You’ll probably become experience for someone else. Lord, I hope it's me.”
Feeling another kick, I feel myself being picked up. “Let's get this idiot back to Crater. We need to inform the council that we have three hybrids who are considered threats, especially the one who has figured out how to use mana. The Elite Squad is going to be rather busy once they come out from that mutated dungeon.” Wanting to stab Troy for insulting me, I feel myself being carried while they ran back to Crater at full speed.