"Now cut!" Gillen called, holding one of the beasts in place with his staff.
Gray sent his Power of Light into the sword and slashed the blade into the Dark One, killing it and turning it into a black puddle.
Gray pulled back and wiped his dewy forehead. It was still hard for him to control his new power, but that was why he had to train. He looked around. They were close to the square, which was already relatively deserted. A few people were still hiding around, but other than them, there was nothing alive here anymore.
Only the dead. The irony was that only a few had been killed by the beast; the crowd just trampled the rest.
Gray turned away from the sight and rubbed his sore eyes. Luckily, he could see that Elizabeth had been carried to safety. It was the only thing stopping him from going after her. He looked up and saw the blue system window projected again and again in front of his eyes, and he kept having to close it.
Main Quest Elizabeth must survive Description: Elizabeth Von Roseblood is burdened with the unfortunate fate of being destined to die. The Main Male Lead's mission is to protect and save the love of his life from this grim destiny Reward: Ending the Cycle Failure: Restarting the Cycle, Falling under Selene's influence. Side Quest Update! Kill the Dark Ones Description: The Festival of Light has been invaded by the Dark Ones, and they are mercilessly killing without restraint. Your task is eliminating as many Dark Ones as possible during this dire situation. The extent of your success in this mission will determine the magnitude of your reward. Process: 5/25 Reward: Memory Recovery 2%, Bonus: Advanced Light Force Control, NPC Number Reduction Failure: Increase NPC number, Death of many Secondary Quest Description: Complete tasks and restore your memory and rights. Due to many failures, you have lost the right of autonomy. Through the Visitor's efforts, you have gained the chance to regain what you have lost. Reward: Memory recovery, Visitor rights Progress: Memory restored 1%
Gray's eye twitched, and he mentally removed the window. He didn't understand what was happening to him – what the messages were or why they were appearing. He wondered if it had been a blessing from the God of Light.
But he knew the thing was helping him. He had already completed one quest and gained much better swordsmanship skills. That was also why the Temple of Light released him early; they didn't want to keep a capable warrior locked up, even if his recovery wasn't complete.
But he didn't know anything else. He didn't know what the Cycle, Visitor, NPC, or the rights he had supposedly lost meant. However, he knew he had a memory problem. He already remembered everything that had happened during his control of Selene, but there were also these strange bits and pieces that were giving him a headache. In many of them, he saw Elizabeth dying in a hundred different ways.
Just thinking about it made him duck his head and painfully grab his hair to calm himself. Remembering it made him feel like he was going crazy. He began to breathe deeply and closed his eyes.
"Oy! Again?" He heard Gillen sigh, but he let it go and instead watched the area until Gray calmed down. Gillen wasn't just with him as his superior but also to ensure that something didn't kill him during one of Gray's anxiety attacks. It didn't happen all the time, but if Gray had a bad day, he could get stuck like this five times a day.
After a minute, Gray calmed down and straightened up. He sighed long and thought to himself, 'What Main Male Lead? I feel like a madman who knows he's crazy.'
He turned to Gillen. "It's okay now," he replied, but he felt mentally tired.
Gillen nodded. "Good. Let's keep going, then. Most of the beasts followed the crowd. Bitches. Even though they have plenty of food around, they're just drawn to live prey," he growled and started in the direction the crowd fled.
Gray followed him, using mana to speed up their movements, but a shout soon stopped them. "Gray!" they heard someone call.
They stopped and looked up to see two people jumping over the roof. Gray blinked, but he wasn't surprised. "Donovan. Chad. You're here," he announced the obvious.
Donovan and Chad walked over to them. Donovan looked at Gillen. "Hello, sir. I'm Donovan Hephisto. And this is Chad Legorned. We're here to help," he told him.
"You guys better get to safety. This isn't something you can deal with," Gillen waved at them impatiently.
Chad nodded. "We know. That's why we're more likely to help with the evacuation now. But there are powerful beasts up ahead that we can't deal with even within our means," he gestured forward with his hand.
Donovan nodded. "That's why we went looking for the Pacifists, to draw attention to it. I saw a few warriors out there trying to fight the monsters, but again, they had the same problem. They can only hold them back," he explained, looking at Gray and his Pacifist armor. He smiled. "I'm glad they finally let you go. I assume you're feeling better?"
Gray averted his eyes from his friend's gaze. "It's fine. We'd better get going," he replied evasively.
Donovan and Chad looked at Gray intently. They knew him well, so it only took a brief interaction to let them know that Gray differed from how they knew him. Gray frowned. "Stop staring! Gillen, let's go," he said and hurried past his friends. Gillen glanced briefly at the two young men and followed his charge.
Donovan and Chad looked at each other. "Shall we follow them?" Chad asked.
Donovan nodded. "We may not be able to help them much, but maybe we can do something." They followed Gray and Gillen at a distance.
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Alarr let out a short gasp as his blade met the beast's claws. Despite its anatomically comical appearance, the creature was fast, and its malleability made it annoying to fight.
He had nearly hit the beast several times, but it always twisted or withdrew its body impossibly. Alarr had gauged the monster's strength; being at Rank 3, he faced challenges at his level. He wouldn't have encountered such problems if he were weaker, but this creature was on par with Alarr.
Raiana danced around them, trying to assist where she could, but she had received wounds on her shoulder and back when the beast's claws tore through the armor, leaving bloody marks. Fortunately, her new armor was good enough to keep the wounds shallow instead of letting the claws penetrate further.
"My snack, wouldn't you like to give up already? I don't have that much time, you know?" the beast complained in frustration. Alarr seemed to be giving him more trouble than he thought he would.
Alarr didn't answer him; he disliked these chatty bastards who felt the need to talk during a fight. Were they some kind of buddies or something?
Another shower of mana shots suddenly hit the beast's back, propelling Raiana towards him and forcing the beast to move forward. Seizing the opportunity, Alarr lunged forward, driving his sword into the middle of its chest. He had already learned not to aim for the head, which, though huge, was the hardest part to hit.
An electric charge shot through the beast's body, causing it to jerk. Alarr immediately retreated. "Let's go!" he called to Raiana, who took off running, and he followed suit. They weaved through the mana and quickly tried to distance themselves from the beast. Alarr was trying to shock the creature to gain the precious seconds they needed to escape.
"Agh! That stings, you bastard!" he heard the beast's voice, and something hit him in the back.
"Shit!" Alarr snarled as he was sent flying forward. He twisted his body to cushion his fall and quickly scrambled back to his feet. Raiana stopped and turned around as well. The beast was on them again, recovering from the attack faster than Alarr would have liked, and now it looked pretty angry, with dark spines covering its entire back and head.
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Raiana stood by Alarr's side, her voice low as she asked, "What now?"
"We have no choice but to keep fighting," Alarr sighed, seeing no good solution. Running away was difficult, and they couldn't defeat the beast, so stalling for time and waiting for help seemed like the only option.
Alarr tensed as he watched the beast suddenly open its mouth wide, revealing its orange-colored gullet. He readied his weapon and pushed Raiana to the side. The inside of the beast's maw glowed with an autumnal hue, and Alarr sensed something ominous. "What the hell..." he muttered, a bead of sweat trickling down his temple. The beast seemed to have reached a breaking point in its patience and had yet to attack in any other way than physical force.
The orange light grew brighter and brighter until it looked like the beast had swallowed a miniature sun, and the air around it began to ripple with heat.
At that moment, Alarr's ears picked up the sound of clinking metal, and suddenly a thick, mana-glowing chain, topped with a small triangular weight, flew in from the side. In an instant, the chain wrapped around the beast's head and tightened.
"Gulp!" The beast was forced to close its mouth and swallow. The chain tightened to the point that the beast's entire head distorted and bulged before bursting open with a popping sound, like a water balloon bursting. The loosened chain flew back, and Alarr followed its direction, discovering a sleek black-haired woman standing there.
"Hoho. Such an ugly thing," the woman said as the chain wound around her arm.
Alarr opened his mouth but stopped when he heard a strange sound.
"Ora!" someone shouted harshly. Alarr looked up only to see a large man falling from the sky with a whale-like aura surrounding him. He landed precisely on the remains of the standing beast with a rumbling sound, causing the ground to lift and tremble slightly, and a cloud of dust rose into the air.
Raiana stared open-mouthed, and Alarr had to blink rapidly to piece together what he had just witnessed. "I guess reinforcements have arrived?" Alarr said slowly, but he flinched as the large man suddenly burst out of the cloud of dust and grabbed Alarr by the throat, pulling him close to his furious face.
"Where is my daughter, you incompetent scum?!" Duke Von Roseblood roared loudly.
Only now did Alarr really start to sweat.
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Eliz, Miel, and Haidi got off Holm's back when they reached the ground. Holm stood on his hind legs in his animal form, positioning himself in front of them like a shield.
"Young lord, from now on, it will be up to you to take care of Lady Elizabeth. As soon as I engage the beast in battle, you will flee," Holm said. They had come quite far; the main thing now was to get out of Sun Alley. Of course, people could also run through the side alleys, but since beasts often emerged from those places, it seemed like a bad idea.
She felt Miel take her wrist. "I'll take care of her," he promised, and Haidi jumped in, "Me too!" she promised.
Eliz sighed. She had to listen; she tried to think of something she could help with, but nothing came to mind unless she wanted to spray her blood everywhere, as Shannon had told her. Her entire existence repelled Dark Magic, but she had no idea how this thing worked, and she didn't feel like now was a good time to try it.
People crowded around them, but Holm provided protection, preventing them from being pulled down. Holm observed the approaching feline beast, trying to figure out how to create some space around them.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled his paws together and channeled the mana. His paws flared and then separated, forming two large mana bear paws on the sides of his body.
He took a deep breath and sent the mana bear paws into the crowd to push people away. He tried to do it gently, not to hurt them too much, but he doubted it would be completely injury-free.
The feline beast seemed unconcerned about the well-being of the innocent people. It jumped off the roof and landed in the crowd not far from them, crushing a few unfortunate souls. The people near the beast froze momentarily before scrambling to escape it. Eliz felt nauseous, and the chaos reminded her of why she hated disaster movies – all the screaming and panic made her uncomfortable. She had never even been able to finish watching Titanic.
"Hehe. Aren't you cruel? Dragging me among the innocent," taunted the cheerful feline beast. Its tail snapped like a whip, swishing in a wide circle, and people scattered like Skittles, clearing space around him. "There. Better," said the cat contentedly.
Eliz pursed her lips and looked around. People were still trying to escape but were now avoiding getting too close to her group. She reached for her storage ring and pulled out a long dagger; it was probably better to arm herself now. If necessary, she might have to use her blood.
Holm jumped up, ready to engage in battle, but Eliz decided to speak. If she was going to die, she needed as much information as possible.
"You were working with Selene?" she asked.
The feline beast fixed its orange eyes on Eliz, hiding behind Holm. "Wwwrrau. How do you know, kitty?" it asked curiously. There were plenty of Dark Mages in the world and just as many in this kingdom. How did she so easily connect them to Selene?
Eliz remained silent for a moment. This confirmed her suspicion. Selene was indeed collaborating with a group of deranged Dark Mages. They were probably holding back while she completed whatever she was trying to do.
"What was Selene trying to do?" Eliz asked instead.
"Hehe. Why should I have to answer you? Maybe if you became my chick, I'd tell you," the cat replied.
Eliz had to control herself from making a disgusted face. Perhaps she might have considered such an offer if she didn't know that he was turning into this creature and consuming people.
"What, you wouldn't just eat me?" she snorted, and Miel looked worried. He didn't understand how she could talk like that to the creature at a time like this.
"That would depend on how long you could keep me entertained," the cat licked its muzzle and grinned.
Eliz was trying to extract information from him, but it seemed this mealy-mouthed cat had only one thing on his mind.
Too bad the bad guys here apparently don't make a habit of theatrically revealing their secrets because they think they've already won.
"Okay. So what are you trying to accomplish with this attack?" She tried to ask anyway.
"What do I know? I just came to eat and have some fun. You know... a little chaos and all," he replied, and Eliz was momentarily speechless.
Really? Was that it? No big plans, big goals, or anything like that?
"So you've outed yourself, and now you're going to become public enemy number one of the entire kingdom just because you wanted to have fun?" Eliz tried to assure herself she had understood it correctly and didn't want to believe it. Indeed, it couldn't be that simple.
The feline beast visibly hesitated at their words. "Um... when you put it like that, it doesn't sound very good."
Eliz smacked her forehead. "Of course, it's not good! After this, you'll probably have to flee the kingdom and hide twice as much as before, and for what? You've gained nothing by doing this!"
Eliz wondered who their leader was. No, surely this had to have some hidden meaning. Maybe he just didn't share his plans with this stupid horncat.
It took a few seconds for the cat to regain its composure. "Ugh! You're just like Mori! Enough talk!"
Eliz registered the name Mori but couldn't connect it to any character she knew in the story. Was he a late villain, maybe? Or a replacement for Selene?
Meanwhile, Holm took off towards the feline beast, who made a great leap at him. Long claws shot out of the beast's paws. Holm sent one of the mana hands against it to make them clash. The feline monster hissed as its claws ran harmlessly over the obstacle, bounced off, and landed on the ground in a graceful flip. It didn't make a single sound upon landing.
The cat flicked its tail, splitting into three more, which rushed towards Holm, avoiding his mana hands, and slammed into his body. The impact cracked, but Holm growled and lunged toward the feline beast again, moving his mana palm to shield himself from the beast's whipping.
Miel turned to Eliz at that moment. "Let's get out of here," he said and scooped her up in his arms like a bride, then looked at Haidi. "Um... you... can you keep up?" he asked hesitantly, not knowing her name.
Haidi nodded. "I'm sure it is. And even if I don't, I'm good at hiding," she replied.
Miel nodded, activated his mana, strengthened his body, and started running. He used the wall of the house to make it to the roof again safely. Haidi followed just a little slower. Eliz held onto Miel around the neck and remained stubbornly silent. She swore this would be the last day someone would have to carry her.
"Wwwrrau. I wouldn't be too keen on going in that direction, kitty. Our grand finale is coming up," they heard the voice of a cat who had noticed their escape.
Miel hesitated when he heard this and then changed direction. Who said they only had to go one way? He ran across the rooftops, but Eliz could hear the monster cat's laughter in her ears, and she felt they must have missed something.
Very soon, they figured out what they had overlooked. Miel bounced off another rooftop but hit something in midair instead of landing on another. "Gah!" he cried in surprise, and Eliz yelped in pain as she, too, crashed, and Miel's body slammed into hers. They both went down, but Miel recovered and grabbed Eliz before they hit the street.
Miel was relatively okay, while Eliz was the one who was the most bruised, but nothing was broken. "What happened?" Eliz moaned in confusion. Haidi quickly approached them, looking from one to the other. "Why are you lying?" She asked.
Miel sighed at her question. "We ran into something," he said and stood up. He walked forward with his arm outstretched and hit a hard invisible wall in the middle of the street. He touched it for a moment before slamming his fist down on it.
Eliz sat up with a grunt, rubbing her bruised arm. "What is it?"
Miel shook his head. "A barrier. I think," he replied.
Eliz's face fell. "Don't tell me... it's like this everywhere? Did they put a barrier around the entire Sun Alley? I mean, it's incredibly long!" Eliz didn't want to believe it. Something like this required a lot of magic and resources.
"I'll take a look!" Haidi said, running forward with one hand on the wall to see if the barrier continued.
Miel stepped back and rubbed his chin. "Maybe not all of it. Maybe just from the square. But it's still a good chunk of the way. I guess they didn't want people escaping through the alleys."
Eliz stood up slowly. "That's why there were still so many people on the main street. Panic is one thing, but there were still side streets. Monsters or not. Still better than being trapped in one place by a mass of people." Eliz also walked over to the invisible wall and touched it.
Miel paled. "What if no one outside knows what's going on?"
Eliz shuddered. "I don't think so. Someone would notice that there's no way to get in." Eliz countered. Miel looked at her. "What if it's one-way?"
Eliz rubbed her face, she hadn't thought of that, and Miel was probably right. It would also explain why there was still no help from outside. "So people can come in but can't get out anymore. And no one on the outside knows what's happening because there's an illusion on it too?" It was a horrible thought. People see the Sun Alley full of celebration, but when they pass through, they are met with chaos, panic, and probably death.
"But someone will soon notice that something is wrong and that people aren't coming out," Eliz added after thinking about it momentarily.
"Eeeeee!" They heard a shout, and both turned to see Haidi quickly running back toward them. "What? What?" startled Eliz as she saw Haidi sprinting back towards them.
"That wall is everywhere! But! But! I saw the dead get up! They look like people made of slime!" She rushed over to Eliz and hid behind her.
"What?" Eliz gasped and exchanged a look with Miel.
Killed people turning into monsters? "Ugh... it's that Dark Magic. They infect people with it and turn into monsters," Eliz rubbed her temples.
Miel looked back in concern. "If most people trapped here to turn and the barrier is removed, they'll spread throughout the city."
Eliz nodded. "And the city doesn't have that many Power of Light users. Unless it stops here and now. They won't have a chance later. It'll be like a plague." Eliz pressed her lips.
"Fucking hell! And he says it's just for food and fun!" Eliz lamented. Now, she didn't give a damn about etiquette, and Miel wasn't surprised. If he weren't a gentleman, he'd be cursing too.