Fern Village

Night

Grash felt miserable as he lay weakly on one of the beds in the attic, staring with sunken eyes at the face of the kitty, who had transformed from a beauty into a terrifying harbinger of death and misery.

Kitty's face was illuminated only by a few candles, casting dark shadows on her face. From these shadows, her brilliant violet eyes emerged, bearing not a trace of pity and gleaming with delight at his suffering.

"Enough... enough..." Grash groaned, longing to simply pass out.

"Tsk. Is that really all you can do?" Kitty gave him a sharp look and clicked her tongue in displeasure.

"Are you... are you... trying to drain me dry? Just a little more... and I'd have died," Grash weakly protested. He shuddered faintly as her intimidating face moved closer, scrutinizing his condition.

After a moment, she straightened up and released his arm, which had fallen along his body. "All right. You look really bad. Now, get some rest," she allowed him to do so, and Grash sighed as he closed his eyes.

"We'll resume in the morning," Kitty added.

Grash was slowly drifting to sleep when he heard this, and his last thought was, "She's a devil!"

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Eliz turned away from Grash, who appeared a bit gaunt and haggard, even his thick mane of black hair looking matted and lusterless.

Eliz picked up the two-liter container she had retrieved from her space ring and inspected the Dark Mana that filled it. It was only half full. She had no idea that it had taken the Dark Mage so long to create this much. It seemed to be the Dark Mage's limit. Eliz was no longer surprised that he had whined so much when she had stolen his Dark Mana in Sunset Alley.

Meanwhile, the others sat quietly in the attic. Alarr took turns with Raiana and Holm in watching to see if the monster would return. Thankfully, it didn't, though at one point, judging by the sounds, it was moving quite close. The monster seemed to be constantly passing through the village. Eliz turned to Fraril, who was basically a ninja at that point, and asked him to monitor the monster to see if it had a recurring route or a resting place, or if it was resting at all.

While Fraril wasn't her subordinate, this situation concerned him as well, so he quite willingly went to monitor the monster from a safe distance.

Alobela hadn't been involved further than the first run through the village and was only concerned with Eliz's comfort. She cleaned up a place for her to sleep and made sure she was fed. But when it came to what Eliz was doing with Grash, she just stood helplessly by, her eyes clearly alerting Eliz that this was not the behavior of a proper young lady.

Eliz ignored it and spent the next few hours forcing Grash to produce Dark Mana in a jar until he was completely exhausted from it. Only then did she allow him to rest, but she still felt that he hadn't had enough.

"What do you want to do with it?" Alarr asked from the window spot, looking at her doubtfully. Alarr knew basically what Eliz knew about Dark Mana, but his grasp of the matter was a little less than hers.

"The cat said infecting isn't that easy. With a Rank 5 monster, it would be nearly impossible," Holm kindly reminded her.

Eliz set her glass down in her space ring. "I don't want to infect it. Although it would be a good bonus if it happens to work," she replied, then yawned. She'd probably need to rest too.

"Grash can control his Dark Mana like an extended arm. Shape and stuff. We can use that," Eliz explained, immediately noticing the tidy bed that Alobela had made. She made her way to the bed, which looked inviting.

"And?" Alarr peeled himself away from the window and walked over to her. Holm replaced him at the window. While Eliz sat down, she looked up at him as he stood over her with his stern face.

"Let's patch up those stupid sponges on Mimic Illusive Corpse's back so he stops releasing gas," she replied.

Alarr frowned. "Even if it helps, it still won't be easy to kill the monster, my lady. The risk is too high. The probability of us dying in the fight is high."

Eliz understood why Alarr said that after hearing his words; he was worried that she would push them into a losing fight. Eliz had to appreciate how thoughtful a leader Alarr was; she reached out and touched his hand in a reassuring gesture, but Alarr immediately pulled his hand away.

Eliz sighed inwardly at how distant Alarr still was. Getting under his skin wasn't easy. "Just don't worry. I don't plan on fighting it mindlessly. If it were possible, we'd just leave, but we can't. I have an idea, but it requires the cooperation of people on the other side."

Alarr raised an eyebrow. "From the other side? You mean the invisible people?"

Eliz nodded and looked around. "According to Grash, there are dozens of people here. This is their village, after all. They should forget about us doing everything ourselves. They have to work too."

Alarr relaxed slightly when he heard that. "We can't find out if the Enhanced Warriors are among them. Working together won't be easy."

Eliz shrugged and laid back on the bed. "Taking shovels and digging a hole, I guess they can do that, right?"

Alarr blinked. "Hm? Probably? Why?"

Eliz waved a vague hand. "I'll explain later. I still need to work out the details anyway."

Alarr rubbed the hand Eliz had touched earlier. "My lady..." He began to speak.

"Shhh," Eliz put a finger to her lips, eyes closed, and stilled him. "I'm asleep. If you don't want to murmur in my ear with that voice of yours, we'll discuss it tomorrow."

Alarr immediately turned and made his way back to the window on watch.

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Fraril knelt on the roof of one of the houses, watching the movements of the monster with his inner vision. He had only been doing this for the last two hours, but he found no routine with the monster. It chose its path randomly and only occasionally stopped.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

It almost looked like it was playing. Mimic Illusive Corpse was quite patient. At one point, the monster must have discovered something because it quickly moved forward and raced through the alleys, but eventually slowed down. Whatever was chasing the monster had managed to escape. Mimic Illusive Corpse, however, did not look disappointed. That was why Fraril got the feeling that the monster was taking this as a game.

Fraril's ears kept twitching as they picked up every sound, but he couldn't hear anything except the monster itself. Earlier in the inn, he had heard a low murmur, like the sound of a very distant crowd, but he couldn't make out the words even when he tried. The power of the Rank 5 monster was really something else. Even he hadn't had such an opponent yet, and he had already lived many years of his life.

Fraril wasn't too concerned with the current situation. He knew that as far as he was concerned, he could escape. All he had to do was wait. The village wasn't in any deserted place, so sooner or later, someone would appear to resolve the situation.

Still, he decided to work with Lady Elizabeth, who obviously had plans to do something about the situation. He was curious. The young lady had been all surprises so far, so he suspected he wouldn't be disappointed now either.

So what kind of plan could she come up with to defeat the Rank 5 monster?

"Hm?" Fraril suddenly became alert when he felt a vibration under his feet. The building he was standing on suddenly began to shake and collapse.

Fraril frowned and immediately leaped. His body flew over to the other building and caught the edge of the roof with his fingers before he climbed up and looked back at the falling building that was making a loud crashing sound. Why had it suddenly collapsed? Standing on it, he hadn't felt any great instability.

He turned his head again and noticed that the monster had picked up the sound and was heading that way. Fraril began to move to avoid the monster.

Fraril thought for a moment and looked back one last time at the collapsed building that was still crumbling. "There seems to be another force at work here." Fraril didn't believe in coincidences. He had already reckoned that there was another enemy here.

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Fern Village Illusion

When a crisis arose in the village due to the arrival of a dangerous monster, the villagers spontaneously rallied behind three different individuals, each becoming a sort of leader.

One of them was the relatively young yet capable innkeeper, Emina Sandala. She was a rounded lady with brown hair and grey eyes, who had mastered the art of wielding a cloth like a whip. Despite this skill, she possessed a classically cheerful character. Running a successful inn required a strong personality and a determined demeanor.

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Another leader was Sil Ga, a member of the cat race. She had deep purple hair, blue eyes, and a muscular brawler's physique. Sil Ga was known as a local troublemaker and led a small gang, although their activities mainly revolved around wrestling, gambling, vandalism, vulgarity, and public disruption.

If they went too far, the village guard would occasionally incarcerate them for a short period, but their crimes were never serious enough to warrant significant action. The villagers simply regarded them as local rascals.

Sil Ga had a quick temper and typically resolved matters through force, never hesitating to throw punches. Nevertheless, as a Rank 2 individual, her courage and strength made people feel safer, leading them to follow her during this crisis.

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And the third person was Gabril Lio, a dark elf with dark skin, short black hair, and dark eyes. Gabril hadn't been born in the village but had come to it as a child. He had hung around with the gang of Sil for a while, but it hadn't been the life for him. Eventually, he had ended up working as a waiter at the Emina Inn and had also worked as an entertainer, since singing had been his passion, and he had wanted to become a professional singer.

Despite his past, Gabril had been of a quiet nature and had been a Rank 2 himself. The villagers hadn't had many Enhanced Warriors, much less any high-ranking ones. Rank 2 Enhanced Warrior had been the maximum, and no one except the Sil had even been really into fighting.

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Ever since they had been trapped in the illusion, their village had seemed strange. Apart from the fact that it had been impossible to leave, everything had been too brightly colored. It had been as if an artist had painted over everything with a brush, bringing out all the colors.

They themselves had seen everything the way it should look, but the monster had changed the outside appearance of their village into a crumbling ruin and had given everything a gray filter. When the two carriages had appeared, they could see and hear them, but they had also been in shades of gray.

They had understood that these newcomers weren't drawn into the illusion like the villagers, which was why they had been out of their reach. Instead, the villagers had acted as the ghosts of this village.

Sil stared at the sleeping Eliz on the bed. "What was that chick saying? What hole? Does that make sense to you?" Emina and Gabril, who were here with them along with the other villagers who had hidden from the hunting monster, asked.

"She said we were going to dig a hole. Maybe he's planning some kind of trap?" Gabril replied, slowly rubbing the earring in his ear between his fingers.

"A hole? For a Rank 5 monster? Is she stupid?" Sil snorted. "And what was she doing with that Gash anyway?"

Emina narrowed her eyes. "Did it look like she was collecting his sweat?"

All three of them had strange looks on their faces at the thought. "Sweat?" Sil wasn't sure how clean he was, even for someone of the cat race, but why would someone collect someone else's sweat?

Of course, due to the fact that the newcomers were on the other side of the illusion and everything was in grey colors, all they could tell was that the thing was liquid. And it was dripping from Grash's body. Other than the sweat, they couldn't think of anything else, given that no injury had been inflicted on him, so it wasn't blood.

"This is a really weird bunch of people," Gabril remarked, looking at all the newcomers in turn. "But they're strong, to say the least. Stronger than us. Whatever plan they have, we should work with them." He looked at the two women.

The other villagers who could sleep had also gone to sleep, but not all of them. Some were too nervous to sleep. In case a monster appeared, they would have to move higher or to a completely different place. The villagers were spread out variously around the village in places they considered temporarily safe, but there weren't many tall buildings, so moving was necessary.

For some reason, the monster recognized when they were underground and ripped open more than one cellar. Only a few of those hiding there escaped. Thanks to that, they learned not to hide in basements.

Sil slammed her clenched fist into her open palm, her tail wagging excitedly. "Well, whatever. If it makes us kick that bird's ass, let them be weird."

Emina nodded. "At least that's the best chance we have. Who knows how long we'd have to stay like this? More of our neighbors could die in the meantime."

Gabril looked out the window and sighed. "So, let's go find the shovels, shall we?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

Gabril rubbed his tired eyes and sighed. "The lady said we were going to dig a hole. Do you want us to do it with our bare hands?" He reminded them.

But he really wondered what the lady had planned. An ordinary hole wasn't of much use against such a monster. At most, it would delay it for a moment. The creature not only had a snake body but also hid wings that allowed it to fly. Dealing with the beast was going to take a very good plan, and Gabril could only hope that this would be one of them.

Emina nodded and clapped her hands. Those who were still awake looked at her. "Right. Let's do it then. Let's let those who are sleeping rest. The rest of us will go get shovels." She began to organize.

Sil decided not to be helpful and instead began to entertain herself by trying to box against the grey warriors, but her punches just went through. She couldn't make any contact with them. She even tried punching them in the balls. Just nothing.

What a disappointment.