Volume 3 Chapter 1: Part 5: The Abnormal

"Come on, Rita. Please don't be like this." Onyx made a wry face as he looked at Rita. A tearful expression was plastered over her face.

"No! Don't go!" Rita screamed as she latched onto Onyx's legs, not letting him go from her grasp.

Seeing this, Rena and the coachman could only shake their heads. They knew this was going to happen. But they didn't expect it to be this bad.

"You'll be safer if you go with this uncle over here. He'll bring you to a city where you can relax and have fun." Onyx patted her head, trying his best to soothe the child.

"No!" But that just made Rita hug Onyx's leg even tighter. This all happened a few minutes ago. Onyx told Rita she would go with the coachman back to Advent city. The moment he said this, Rita started crying. And that was how this situation came to be.

Seeing her stubbornness, Onyx looked at the coachman, but he shrugged his shoulders. This was his problem. And he was the one with the younger sister.

So he should be able to deal with it.

Onyx looked at Rena, signaling her for help. But Rena shook her head. She didn't know what to do either.

And to be honest, she somewhat understood what Rita felt.

Her parents and everybody she was close to being dead. The only person who she had any sense of closeness was Onyx. So to see him disappear, there was no need to ask why she was acting like this.

Onyx sighed as he got to eye level with Rita, "Rita, I have to go. I'm an adventurer."

"No!" But Rita refused that idea.

"Do you understand if I don't go now, then that monster will be free to move around?"

"!" "Master." Seeing the stunned expression on Rita's face: Rena stepped in, wanting to stop her master from saying more. She knew what Onyx was about to say next.

But Onyx put his hand up, telling her to be quiet as he continued, "If I let that monster continue to be free, other towns will become like yours."

"..."

"I don't want anything like this to happen to anybody else. So I have to go." The best thing to do was to tell her the truth. Dodging it wouldn't help the situation.

Rita didn't say anything. But she understood. Even if she was a child, Rita understood what Onyx meant.

"Ummm." In the end, Rita nodded. Onyx smiled as he rubbed her head more, "You don't have to worry about anything. Big brother is going to come back here alive."

"Promise?"

"Promise." Onyx made a pinky swear with her. With that, Rita became cooperative with them. Onyx looked at the coachman, "Thank you for your help."

The coachman staying behind was helpful.

Onyx knew the coachman could've left anytime after they arrived at the village. There was no need for him to put up with such risk.

The coachman shook his head, "No. I did what I should've done. But you guys shouldn't focus on me." He knew Onyx and Rena would have a more difficult journey.

"I understand." Onyx smiled. After that, the two shook hands.

As the carriage starts,

"Be safe! Big brother! Big sister!" Rita continued to shout and wave her hand at the two.

"You two!" Rena did the same as she waved back. Onyx did the same too. It only stopped after the figure of the carriage disappeared.

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"Let's go now. I've found which direction the thing is going." Rena nodded and followed after Onyx. They arrived in front of the destroyed house.

"Did it destroy this?" "Yeah." Onyx and Rena follow the destruction, leading them to a trail through the forest.

"Here, look at this." Onyx showed Rena the map, "The monster is probably headed towards this village."

"Rena, you stay a few steps behind me. If the monster is still in the woods, I'll be the bait, and you provide support for me from afar." Rena's role is the archer, providing long-range fire for support.

What's more: she was wearing leather armor. She was not equipped to handle heavy blows like Onyx.

"Understood." And like that, they follow the pathway. As they ran, Rena questioned him,

"Master, why are we following the monster's path? Shouldn't we take the shortest route possible to the next village?" They already knew where it was going.

So why should they follow the monster's path?

"No. Who knows whether or not the monster will stray off the path." The ideal site the monster would go to is the village.

However, that was ideal only. The monster could go off the path and target another village. There were other villages around here. Not close to the one they were going to.

But close enough.

"I see." Hearing that, Rena understood why now as they continued to dash across. As they were doing this,

"Damn, it really didn't care about the surroundings." The two were off-road, dashing through the forest. What made it so easy was because of the destruction. Tons of trees were broken down, showing the two where the monster was going.

Well, it made it easier for the two to follow after the monster.

It's going on the right track. With the direction the monster was going, it headed to the closest village.

"Master?"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"I know why we're following the path, but why are we chasing after it?" The whole thing felt odd. Didn't he tell her before not to risk their life?

Why are they doing it right now?

Onyx scratched his head, "It's because the monster will cause trouble for other villages. We can't have what happened there to the others."

Is it really? Rena didn't buy what Onyx said at all. Onyx kept talking about safety and not engaging in danger like this.

And yet, they were diving into unknown dangers right now.

Feeling her doubtful stare, Onyx sighed as he admitted, "It became personal."

"Personal?"

"Mmhmm." This incident became personal to Onyx now, "I have a sister the same age as Rita. Seeing what happened to her reminded me of my sister."

And a thought came to his mind; What would happen if this happened to Lily? That was something Onyx couldn't think next. Never did he want any of his family members to go through this.

So this became personal to him.

"I'm not going to let anybody else die. Nobody should go through something like that."

No one. Child or adult. They should never face the loss of their loved ones as Rita did.

"..." Hearing his reasoning, Rena stayed silent. But the next second,

"I understand."

"You can go back if you want? If you run at full speed: you can catch the carriage in a few minutes."

Rena shook her head, "No. I'm following you, master. What you said is right; nobody should suffer the same fate as Rita." Rena's eyes showed a new light of determination.

Huh? Onyx makes a surprised expression. He didn't expect that. This was the first time he saw so much light on her face. Even when she went to talk to Michelle: she didn't have the same light.

But this is good. Onyx smiled, seeing her act like this.

The two continue to go at full speed. Until.

"!" Onyx quickly pumped the brakes. He quickly waved his hand, causing Rena to slow down.

"Master, what's wrong?"

"Enemy." Just from one word, Onyx took out his sword. Blood. He could smell blood a few meters ahead. That meant there was a battle.

Rena quickly readied her bow and arrow too. The two slowly treaded towards it. Bit by bit, they looked around as they walked, being cautious of their surroundings.

And they saw it. In front of Rena and Onyx was a corpse of a monster. And it was not normal at all.

Onyx walked over to the body, checking it up. There were claw marks all over the beast. It's like it went through a tornado of blades. Feeling around it, he noticed;

It's not here.

"We should keep moving forward. Be wary of our surroundings." Rena nodded. The two continued to walk forward with their weapons up. The more they walk, the more they realize.

There was more than one body. Multiple corpses were lying on the ground. Each one was the same as the first one they found: ripped and mangled to pieces.

"What could have done something like this?" Rena questioned. The highest corpse they found was a rush bull. That was around the same power as the fang boar.

It didn't compare to the strength of Onyx and Rena. But that wasn't the problem. For it to be destroyed in such a way was frightening.

"It's not just that: the meat wasn't taken from the body at all." That was what made it so weird. The meat of a rush bull was a delicacy and similar to beef.

It was similar to that day. Onyx felt a sense of deja-vu. This wasn't the first time he had seen such a massacre.

The same occurred at Starfall mountain. Those monsters weren't killed for food or pleasure. Rather, they were killed for pleasure and fun.

Onyx frowned as he examined the body in front of him again. And when he did,

The demon crystal from this one is gone too. Every monster he checked had their demon crystals taken out of their body.

Why does it take the demon crystal? Is it going to sell it? Onyx shook his head. No. If it was going to sell it, wouldn't it take the meat too? The more he thought about it, the more confused he got.

While Onyx thought about what could do all of this: he saw it. A footprint.

Onyx and Rena followed the path of destruction. The only reason why they knew where this monster went was the footprint. The footprints faded out, but it did show the direction.

The only clue they had about the monster was that it had claws. But that didn't help them identify what kind of monster it was.

But this footprint was clear and gave a lot.

"5 toes? Is it human?" Onyx noticed the weird formation of the monster's feet.

Onyx made out the 5 toes.

But they look nothing like that of a human. It looked similar. But the feet were more jagged, and the weirder thing was the nails were stabbed deep into the ground.

"Master, what should we do?"

"We'll continue to move forward. But we need to watch out. The monster may be here." The footprint was fresh, unlike the others. That meant the monster was close.

Onyx and Rena continued to move forward. And as they did, more corpses came about. And the amount of it increased as they continued. But it was not something they should be focusing on.

The two arrive close enough to see the shadow of the village. Onyx's expression turned tense, "We have to get there now!"

He quickly dashed toward the village. And Rena follows suit because they have to. Because right now, they could see smoke!