[Alisha’s PoV]

As we approached the gates to the nobles area, I noticed something wrong. There is no one on guard, not on the walls nor at the gates themselves. As we get to the gate itself, I pick up the unique scent of blood, and a lot of it as well. Placing the box in a hidden spot near the wall, we keep walking.

Keeping up my guard as we entered the noble section, the streets were empty. The houses here are luxurious, I didn’t know what the material used was but it was a very grand white colour and felt smooth to the touch. Looking down the empty streets they were very tidy, no rubbish littered the ground and the streets were made from expensive materials.

Following the smell of blood, we quickly travel down the streets, not seeing anyone at all. The noble quarters were a lot smaller than the human areas, and soon we arrived in an open square. Hundreds of corpses of humans were laid out, as if they had all been gathered here before they were slaughtered. Standing in front of all of these corpses is a familiar back.

Golden hair, hands behind his back, it looked exactly like Dracovish…in fact, it was Dracovich, the System showed the same information as it had earlier.

Dracovish

Level 22 Clairvoyant Human

Apprentice Mind Flayer

Health: ???/???

He turns towards us, the same expressionless face as before. How was he here exactly, I saw him die in that cave, by the hands of that red spirit.

Without a word to us, he raises a hand and points at me. At that moment I felt a spike of pain run through my head, I knew this pain…it happened while I was fighting Rebekah and was choking her. This time it is a lot more intense. Biting down on my tongue to bear with the pain, I knew we weren’t going to get answers.

Feeling the pain fade, I charge at Dracovish. Sally moved to my right as Olivia moved back on top of a building. Swirling my wind around me, I increased my speed while feeling the loss of strength due to it being day time. Quickly arriving at his side I strike out, my fist meeting a wall just short of Dracovish.

Blinking as I stepped back, for a moment I saw a translucent barrier around him. Stepping forward, I threw a Lashing Fire Kick but before it connected I felt my mind go blank as thousands of voices rang out for a moment. As I’m standing there blankly, I feel a force slam into my stomach as I’m sent flying away.

Slamming into a wall, I watch as Sally swings and the translucent barrier appears again, blocking the blow. An arrow plunges into Dracovish’s shoulder, not deep but it struck him. I saw no blood from the wound however, did it pierce him?

Getting up and wincing, the strike that I’d received didn’t have anything physical behind it. What type of magic did he use? From the pain in my mind to the thousands of sudden voices, it must be related to our minds, something I had no idea how to protect myself against. My mind starts spinning with ideas, but nothing promising comes to mind as I move in once again.

Seeing Sally wince suddenly, she is nearly blasted away but manages to keep herself stable as another arrow strikes true, hitting Dracovish in the shoulder again. Once again there was no blood, but this time I could tell it had pierced him. Did he just not have any blood? I didn’t see any spill from him in the cave now that I thought about it.

Slamming a fist towards his face, I connected with the barrier again as the voices rang in my mind again. Blanking out, I regained my clarity quicker than before as I rolled to the side and timed my next attack with Sally. This time, the barrier didn't appear, but as my fist is about to connect I felt my thoughts turn into a storm, causing my attack to falter at the last second.

You are under the effects of Mind Storm. Your thoughts and emotions are in disarray.

Unable to comprehend the System message, I try to clear my mind. Thoughts of all types were appearing rapidly in my mind, my emotions were running out of control and trying to focus on a single train of thought caused it to slip out of my grasp. I felt pain course through my mind again, my head was throbbing with a heavy dull pain.

Feeling the pain subside slightly, I knew I was performing the worst among everyone here. The daytime weakened me too much to make an impact, and even now I was being kept out of the fight by some of his magic. Jumping back to Olivia, she comes over and starts healing me on reflex. Feeling the pain fade from my mind completely, the System notified me that the Mind Storm had ended.

“Olivia, get within twenty metres.” Without another word, I moved before seeing her reaction. Moving quickly, I arrive next to Dracovish as I lash out another attack, feeling the voices hit me again I grit my teeth and follow through. Hitting the barrier, I heard a faint crack. Is it getting weaker, or is he not putting as much behind the barrier.

Taking a few steps back, I take a breath as I clear my mind from the voices and close my eyes. Focusing, I mutter the words of the new spell I had received.

“Domain. Mystical Lunar Starfield.”

The name came from somewhere deep within me, as I felt something surge out. Opening my eyes out, a burst of energy flowed through me and covered the area around all four of us. In the sky is a large moon, shining brightly, with a field of stars behind it. Underneath my feet was a lake with stars within…this looked very similar to my Mana Realm, except the moon was new.

At that moment, I felt something was missing from the Domain. Something that disrupted the flow of it, I couldn’t place a finger on what exactly was wrong, but I knew that due to whatever was missing the Domain is unstable, it would only last a few minutes.

Feeling the strength in me not only return but also become stronger, I used a Lunar Blessing on myself and Sally. Seeing Dracovish, he finally showed an emotion on his face, looking surprised at the turn of events that had occurred. Looking directly at me, I felt pain enter my mind again, and ignoring it I moved in and slammed my fist into his face once again.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

This time a loud crack rings through as my fist breaks through the barrier, slamming into Dracovish’s face. Slamming into the ground, still with a surprised face, he rolls from my stomp, gets up and points at me once again. For a moment everything came to a standstill as I felt a nosebleed come on. Feeling my mind go completely blank, for a moment I feel like I’ve forgotten who I am…

In the next instance, a refreshing feeling spreads through my mind, my mind gains its clarity back as I feel a palm on the back of my head. Knowing it was Olivia, I watch as Sally slashes, slicing through the barrier herself and digging her sword into Dracovish’s neck. Once again no blood spilt.

Seeing her pull the sword out and move backwards, Dracovish stumbles for a moment. Looking at us with the once again expressionless face, I take a step forward, ready to fight once again. Hearing a sigh escape his lips, he mutters “So in the end, this experiment failed.”

Experiment? Was he referring to us or the cave? Before I could ask him, he straightened himself up and looked directly at me before looking at Sally. He shrugs his shoulders before saying “Well, not that this hasn’t been fun, but this doll has run its course. Farewell monsters, you were useful till the very end.”

Before I could say anything, Dracovish collapsed, like a puppet that had its strings cut it was dead. Checking the body, there was no System information at all. Knowing this likely meant he was dead, I grew angry. He had gone just like that, not only that but from his words he wasn’t even here, he was controlling something.

Looking around to try and calm myself down, I saw the hundreds of corpses in the square behind where we had just fought. Looking at this scene, it was undeniable that they had killed either themselves or each other, meaning it was very unlikely for anyone to have survived here. Meaning no one could tell me anything, all the questions I had wouldn’t be answered…

Feeling the anger in my well up, I could feel myself transformation, a blinding rage creeping over my weakened mind. Just as I felt myself about to sink into this feeling, I felt someone hugging me from behind, and turning my head I saw Sally. Feeling an odd calm overcome me, I relax and let the anger simmer down.

Feeling an emptiness overcome my heart, I knew we wouldn’t get the answers we seeked. Even if we were to ransack the buildings here, I doubted they would’ve left anything for us to find. Turning on the spot, we decided to just leave, and after walking back down the tunnel to find Gray, we started planning out how to move the Hybrids, even though my heart was no longer in it.

***

Laying down looking at the roof of my little hut, it’s been two months since the attack on Crater. After meeting with Gray, we slowly escorted the Hybrids that had lived through the ordeal to our new home slowly. They had awoken shortly after we fought Dracovish, getting them here was slow but since Crater had its own problems they didn’t try to stop us…not that they could.

Crater had lost nearly half its population, we hadn’t attempted to contact them ever since the attack. We dealt with any remaining facilities that had been built to breed Hybrids. We never found answers for why we were bred in the first place, we agreed it likely had something to do with releasing the seal on the doors. We didn’t know why they didn’t need to wait for the full moon either.

There were a lot of unanswered questions, but we couldn’t get the answers to them. Sighing, I roll over onto my side and see the box that was left for me by those two ladies. Planning to open it today, I sit up and bring it over to me.

At the moment the plateau is bustling with activity, even though it’s nighttime everyone is busy either building, cooking or learning combat. We’d managed to get a few Hybrids to level 10, Chloe was currently level 16 and everyone else was close to 10. Oddly enough, Gray was the most popular amongst the Hybrids, with Sally being the second most popular.

As for me, I’ve been avoiding socialising with anyone recently. Looking over at Elizabeth, she hadn’t woken since that day, part of the reason why I stayed inside was to care for her. Olivia came by to switch with me every now and then, according to her there was nothing physically wrong with Elizabeth.

Grabbing the box, I looked at the glow around it and had a feeling on how to open it. Injecting some of my lunar mana into the box, I had a soft crack as the glow disappeared, leaving behind a rather simple wooden box. Opening it, I took a look to see what was inside.

Firstly, there was a folded piece of parchment, and opening it I found a rather simple map that was drawn. Seeing that it had the plateau on it, I knew it had been drawn for me. From the plateau, a dotted line travelled up to the northwest, towards a spot that was circled. Written next to the circle was a single line “Staircase out of Crater Hell!”

Staring at the map for a while, I felt a yearning overcoming me. I knew I wanted to go and experience more of this world, but I felt tied down here, to look after the Hybrids who had been rescued from Crater. Putting the map aside, I reached in and brought out the next item, which was a beautiful dress.

Sleeveless, it’s light blue in colour, with a silvery hue to it, frills at the bottom and the straps at the top were thin. Looking at it, the dress reached down to my knees, something I could wear with my armour on top. Checking the rest of the clothing, I found underwear, socks and a pair of shoes that were flat soled, with a design that reminded me of the night sky.

Smiling, I set it aside and found the last item in the box. Wrapped in a piece of paper is a silver metal plate, the size of my palm. Glancing at the paper, it had a small amount of writing on it.

“New Sister, if you’re reading this then you found the gifts we have left you. Sorry it’s nothing too practical, we can’t interfere with you too much.

The map will show you a way out of Crater Hell, to the world outside. There is a lot more out there than you might know.

The dress is made out of a material found from a rare monster, it won’t be damaged easily and will grow with you!

Lastly, the metal plate will serve as your identification when you’re out in the world. Drop a single drop of blood onto it and it’ll reflect your identity.

We hope to meet you soon, and if we somehow have met before you open this letter, then I hope we meet again!”

Putting the note to the side, I bite my thumb and let a drop of blood splatter onto the metal plate. As it glowed, I saw words slowly etch themselves on. After the glow faded, I looked at the plate. It was nearly identical to the Status from my System, except in the Race box it identified me as a human and monster hybrid, as well as saying I was a Lunar Mystic Fox.

As I’m looking at it, Olivia walked in and sat down. Looking at the plate, she looked confused.

“Where did you get an identity plate?”

Explaining and showing Olivia everything that I had received, she nodded thoughtfully before seeing the map that guided us out of Crater Hell. Seeing a look of yearning from her as well, she turns to me and says “Well, we can leave another day…however.”

Glancing at Elizabeth, I knew the best way to help her wasn’t here.

“If we exit out close to my village, we could get her help. I know you have things you need to do here, so I can go alo-”

“I want to come with you.” Telling her directly, I didn’t want to miss a chance to leave. Maybe it was too quick of a decision, especially because I hadn’t spent any time really helping out with the Hybrids, but I knew I wanted to explore the world, being held down here was something I didn’t want to do. I knew I’d be weighing Gray and Sally down…but maybe we could work something out for them to come too.

Seeing Olivia smile, she patted my shoulder and went over to check on Elizabeth. Getting up myself, I planned to head to the river to bathe before speaking with Sally and Gray. I knew I was being selfish, but deep down, I didn’t want to be in Crater Hell anymore, even if there was still a lot here to explore, I wanted to see things like Olivia’s home.

Plus, we can always come back right? It’s not like I’ll be gone for that long…Perhaps I could find Dracovish and get answers directly from him.