Isil turned most of her attention to Pip, whose skin was slowly turning darker. The beast mana inside him was reacting with his own mana, causing concerning changes to his body. He thought process was interrupted when the other two came charging at her. She tightened her grip on her sword. This was her first time killing someone. She wanted to calm her mind, but she was unable to focus on anything.

As the two approached, and the bothersome feeling she got from Pip increased, she tossed any idea of calmness out the window. She first turned towards the second bandit, who was closer. He swung his sword down in an overhead chop, which Isil responded to by turning sideways and slipping into his guard. She kept her sword raised above her head, and thrust it forward, plunging it deep into the bandits head.

The feeling sickened her, momentarily causing her to lose her grip on Perception Shift. The world sped up back to normal, nearly ending up in her death as she barely avoided a cut from the boss. She grit her teeth and resumed Perception Shift, causing the world to slow down once more. To dodge the boss, she had left go of her sword, and was now left weaponless.

However, that hardly mattered, as she quickly cast a Mana Bolt, which sped out of her open palm too quick for her to see, even in her slowed world. The bolt struck the boss in the chest, tearing right through him and speeding out the other end. At this, Isil lost control of Perception Shift again. She was frozen on her feet, unable to tear her eyes away from the heartless boss. His dying eyes seemed to beg the question of “why?”. The shock and confusion made feelings of guilt pour into her heart.

The boss fell to the dirt, lifeless. The blood from his wound dyed the ground red. Isil desperately looked elsewhere, prying her eyes from the corpse, only to lock eyes with the second bandit’s corpse, sword still entrenched in his head. His eyes asked the same question, written with shock and confusion as well. Bile rose in her throat, the disgust and guilt almost driving her to retch.

Suddenly, an unnatural anger swelled up within her. How dare she balk at the sight of the dead? Had she not slaughtered thousands? Tens of thousands? She had been baptized in hundreds of near-death experiences, why the hell was she bothered by the death of two puny bandits? She was above that. She was above them. What the hell was wrong with her?!

Isil ground her teeth in anger, then turned to face Pip, who had finished his transformation. Instead of the burnt-faced man, there was a werewolf in his place. It’s black fur was darker than the night, and it’s yellow eyes glowed with hatred.

“Grrrr…” Pip growled.

“I don’t suppose you have anything intelligent to add, do you?” Isil asked, spreading her arms out wide.

“GRRRRR” Pip snarled and leapt.

Perception Shift was cast once again, and Isil dodged to the left, preparing another Mana Bolt in her hand. She rolled into a crouch and turned to face Pip. It was only through a split-second cast of a shield spell that she avoided his razor-sharp claws. Isil shot her Mana Bolt at Pip, but he had already dodged. Isil changed her wall-type shield spell into a full-body ward, and threw herself onto the ground.

The air above was cut through by Pip’s claws. Immediately, Isil used the Unique Destruction spell Bladestorm, conjuring thousands of tiny mana blades that shot out in every direction. Pip howled and pain, and she felt his presence retreat. She rolled over onto her back and sat up, a charged Mana Bolt in both her hands. She saw Pip agonizing over his wounds just a bit away.

She stuck both her hands out and unleashed the Mana Bolts, blowing a hole in Pip’s brain and heart. Isil let out a breath of relief. Her first real fight in this world had gone worse than she expected, but not as bad as she imagined. Her placid eyes gazed over the surroundings, searching for any other threats. She released her hold on Perception Shift and exhaled a sigh of relief. The sigh was instantly followed by puke and weakness.

Feeling weak in the knees, Isil dropped down to the ground, still maintaining enough sense to avoid her own vomit. Violent emotions tore at her heart. She sobbed quietly, the blank and questioning eyes of the dead haunting her. In truth, her mental strength was too weak for this world. She had overcome her first obstacle in the beginning, accepting her changes. Her second hurdle was now adapting to her new role, which was far harder than the first.

Isil calmed her breathing, and used a water spell to wash away the saliva at the corners of her lips. She walked over to the corpse of the boss, and began searching through his things. She found a good deal of provisions, a couple of daggers, a whetstone, and a handful of bronze and silver coins, but nothing else. She pocketed the coins and moved on to the second bandit. He held a couple of her things, which she obviously took back, and a bundle of papers. She was excited for a second, but after reading into it, realized that it was just a story.

Finally, she moved on to Pip. His corpse had not reverted back to human form, and was still a grotesque mess of blood, bones, and organs. She passed over it, searching to see if his clothes had been ripped off his body when he transformed, or if they were a part of the transformation. She found his satchel, but only found a water skin and a cutting knife. From the lack of items on these three, Isil could assume that they had left their things at their base.

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Disappointed, she sighed. She patted the dirt off her clothes and began to pack up her tent. Dawn was approaching, and she was already awake – it was best to hit the road sooner rather than later. She returned the stolen goods to her bag and added what belongings she took from the bandits. She turned to saddle the horse, but hesitated.

Isil knew the three bandits were scum, people that would be hatred by all corners of the civilized world, but leaving them there was just wrong. She had no reason to bury these people, in fact, it was better she just left them out in the open. They were criminals, people who tried to sell her off to the slave market. There was no reason she should care about their corpses.

In the end, she dug shallow graves and tossed the bodies in. She erected a cross above the mounds and left. There was nothing else she could do. She saddled the horse and rode North, continuing her search for the city of Suugant. As she rode, her feelings of anger and hatred calmed, and the eyes of the dead bandits faded from her mind.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, Isil was able to find a dirt road following the Redwater River. She rode Eastwards, knowing Suugant would reside somewhere in that direction. The Redwater River was only a tributary to the much larger Ygg River. According to the game’s codex, which she had unfortunately been unable to physically copy down, “Eitrl” meant “all-reaching” in a dead language. Despite it’s name, it failed to reach the Eastern coast.

It was high noon when Isil stopped for a rest. The water of the Redwater was thankfully pure enough to drink, so she grabbed a cup and scooped some water. She rested for a few minutes, then saddled her horse and resumed her journey. However, she was suddenly stopped by a rider coming from the opposite direction.

“You there! Out of the road! The royal army is marching through!” The rider called out.

“Which one?!” Isil shouted back.

“Damnable woman, have you no idea who owns these lands?!”

“Isn’t there a war going on? It can be any army!”

“Speak with respect, I am a part of the Ashiron Royal Army!”

Isil simply shook her head and got off the road. The rider gave her a nasty look as she passed, and she returned the glare. For someone who seemed to be just a scout, he was much more rude and vulgar than she liked. She rolled her eyes at him and continued on. It was only a few minutes later that the army the rider had spoken of came into view. There was a good amount on horses, while a sizable portion marched to the side. Their flag-bearers carried two types of flags, the Ghent Confederacy’s sword and circle, and Ashiron’s eagle.

The Ghent Confederacy was an enemy of the Ulblaadaan Empire, resting on its southeast border. The Confederacy was a loose collection of minor countries that all contributed to a massive, unified standing army. Each member of the Confederacy kept their own standing armies, and remained mostly autonomous. Ashiron was the greatest enemy of the Empire in the Confederacy, and had basically fought the war by themselves. Though the Ghent Unified Army was massive, it was not very unified, unlike it’s name. The Ashiron Royal Army, despite being outnumbered 5:1, would likely be able to defeat the Unified Army through superior tactics, training, and discipline.

While Isil respected the ARA, the attitudes the officers and even foot soldiers displayed was unnaturally arrogant. She hated talking to anyone that wore the eagle, as they were bound to boast about their position and talk down to her. The mages of the ARA, however, were much more humble. She could stand to deal a bit more with them, and less with the officers.

Though she was curious about the reason for their march, she had a pretty good idea as to what it was. Lent was not a strong ally, but they were a crucial one. Their lands had a large supply of metal mines, which were used to smith their arms and armaments. If the Empire took Lent, it would be a serious victory for the Empire, and a massive loss for everyone else. Of course, not even the Empire dared to set foot near the Deadlands, so it would hardly matter to Fallen Crescent if the Empire conquered Tyverra.

Isil passed by the army without incident. Though she could sense a few hostile glares thrown her way, they didn’t act. She was just passing by the carriages carrying the mages when she felt a disturbance. Sensing danger, she immediately threw herself backwards off her horse, just in time to escape the ground bursting open beneath it.

Again?! I’m being ambushed again?!

A massive body emerged from the ground, her mana sense picking up a sizable amount of beast mana coming from it. Two large, spindly legs emerged from the ground, dragging up a body that resembled a maggot, but with the legs of a spider. It’s giant mouth opened and closed, allowing everyone a good view of its razor-sharp teeth. With its body fully revealed, it let out a terrible, ear-piercing screech that forced everyone to cover their ears. This was one of the most hated monsters in the world, a Trachyon.

The ARA was quick to respond, the commander shouting orders that Isil couldn’t quite make out. The troops gathered in a multi-layered semicircle, protecting the archers and mages. The archers let loose their first volley, seeming to aim for the leg joints. It was a wise decision. A trachyon had no eyes or ears, so it relied on sensing vibrations through the ground. There were no eyes to blind, and firing on its body would not be able to break through the viscous mucus that covered it. However, the mucus was extremely vulnerable to fire, which Isil was quite ready to take advantage of.

A small, light blue fire sprung to life above her hand. As the terrifying monster turned to her, she acted as if she was throwing a baseball, and threw her light blue fire at the trachyon. Through some stroke of luck, however, the monster defended itself with its thin legs, causing one of them to alight instead. Due to the potency of Isil’s spell, the fire burned through the leg at an alarming rate, but trachyons were surprisingly intelligent, and it ripped off the burning leg before the fire could spread to its body.

“Tch. Don’t resist.” Isil clicked her tongue, and conjured more of the blue flames.

The trachyon turned away from Isil, and charged the ARA lines instead. Since the monster was easily five men tall, the foot soldiers were brushed aside like pebbles as the beast charged the ranged units. Isil swore, and raised her hand to throw her fire again; but before she could, the mages reacted. A large breath of fire emerged from the mage group, engulfing the most whole. The monster shrieked its shill screech and staggered backwards, its body now a mass of fire. It desperately attempted to extinguish the fire by diving back underground, but the flesh and bone connecting the legs to its body were destroyed under the heat, leaving the giant, burning maggot body unable to move.

It screamed for only a few moments more, then ceased its movements and noise. The trachyon was vanquished, and the ARA let out a cheer of victory. Isil sat down on the grass, also relieved that the damnable monster had stopped torturing her eardrums. She absentmindedly rubbed her ears, thinking about how she might obtain another horse, now that her provided one had been eaten by the trachyon. Suddenly, she sensed another person approaching, and turned her head to look at them.

Though his face was not familiar, she recognized the badge on his uniform as a general in the ARA. Seeing that she noticed him, he smiled and gave a little wave, and continued to walk towards her. Isil gave a small smile back and nodded, thinking that her horse problem could be solved.