“Wendy… *sniff* Wendy…” Lea gently caressed Wendy’s head. Surrounding her were the rest of the girls who watched on in silence. For a while, the chamber was filled with nothing but the sounds of Lea’s cries.
“...” Phanos stared at the two for a few seconds before letting out a loud sigh. “Can you wrap this up quickly? Your cries are making milady uncomfortable, not to mention being in this place is bad for her health.”
“Phanos!” Q gave her a harsh stare. The rest of the girls also looked at her with admonishing eyes as they wondered how she could be so heartless.
Letting out another sigh, Phanos continued. “I mean she’s not dead. If any of you had been paying attention instead of looking down all depressed, you would have noticed that she’s still breathing. Though just barely, I might add.” After hearing her words the girls looked down in shock, but didn’t find any sort of movement on Wendy’s body. Instead Lea pressed a finger to her neck for a few seconds, then screamed “She has a pulse! She’s alive!”
“Oh… that’s good.” Q looked as if a heavy burden was removed from her shoulders. “We should get out of this place and get her some proper treatment though.” The rest of the girls agreed, and they began to go back up the stairs from which they came. Lea insisted on carrying Wendy back up herself and politely refused their offers to carry her. While they walked upstairs, Q began reading the rewards she obtained from the fight.
Battle Log
[Stats Increased]
[Skill Proficiency Gained]
[Level Up] x2
[New Skill] - Mental Resistance (Passive) Reduces the effects of an enemy’s mental attacks.
[Skill Update] - [Spell Analyze] - You may now continuously analyze a spell. Utilizing this drains your mana.
[New Title] - (Rescuer) You have saved someone in captivity.
Effects When Equipped: 15% increased chance of returning something’s mental state back to normal
[New Item] - [Soul Shackles (Chains, Unidentified)] - An object filled with the souls of the Kindersnatch’s victims. You can sometimes hear their cries.
[New Item] - [Witch’s Gloves (Gloves, Unidentified)] - An old worn out glove. Faint magical energy can still be felt inside. Perhaps it can still be used?
“Hey Cinnamon-” Q started.
“You called?” Cinnamon instantly moved beside Q.
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to ask if you knew that Wendy was still alive. You didn’t seem as worried as everyone else after all.”
“Well… Yes.”
“So why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was trying out the concept of ‘reading the mood’. I felt that her life was not in danger, so I took no actions. Was that no good?” Cinnamon asked with upturned eyes.
“That’s fine. I wouldn’t have been able to tell under the circumstances though. While I don’t doubt your capabilities, I find the fact that Phanos noticed she was still alive was pretty amazing.”
“You learn to tell the difference after a while.” Phanos said, overhearing their conversation.
“Oh, so have you seen a lot of dead bodies?” Q raised an eyebrow.
“...”
“Hey everyone, I can see the gate!” Kukis yelled. Everyone quickly made their way to the entrance from which they came, and were greeted with the sight of a whole myriad of witches waiting in front of the gate, both on the ground and in the air. For a second all of them had their wands and staffs pointed at the gate, ready to fire, but upon recognizing the girls they lowered them in relief.
“Lea! Is Wendy alright?” Pamerun zoomed down on her broom and began fussing over her two apprentices.
“I-I think so. She’s still alive at least.” Lea finally seemed to lose all strength in her limbs once she caught sight of her teacher.
“Thank goodness… And thank you all.” Pamerun said as she turned to the rest of the girls. “If you weren’t here, I don’t know what would’ve happened. So as both a leader and a teacher, I thank you for saving Wendy, from the bottom of my heart.”
“No problem. We really should get back to the village though.”
“Of course! I’ll make sure to reward you all properly later.” Pamerun addressed the rest of the witches. “Everyone, Wendy is alright! Thank you for your efforts until now.” The witches nodded in return, and they all began heading back towards the village. Brie and Phanos hopped onto Q’s staff, while Lea took off on her own broom carrying Wendy.
Lea and the grand witches all gathered up around each other and were quietly discussing something. Lea then pointed at Q, making a few of the grand witches fly by her. “Hey Q, is it true that you guys fought against the Kindersnatch?” Haeldrix asked.
“Yeah. It was really irritating.” Q grimaced, remembering the fight.
Stolen novel; please report.
“And disgusting.” Brie added.
“Unbelievable.” Suina flew beside Q. “Do you know how many witches have gotten lost in these woods? Over hundreds have gone in, never to come back. We knew that witches who go in are either not alone, or have good skills, yet we still kept losing a few every year. Now with this entire situation, I can say with confidence that it was definitely the Kindersnatch which killed them as the timing and forest’s reaction are just too coincidental. Actually, that makes the fact that you’ve killed the damn thing incredible.”
“But if you’ve figured out the pattern of missing witches in relation to the Kindersnatch, why haven’t you done anything about it until now?” Q felt confused. “You guys definitely have the firepower to take it down, and finding the abandoned fortress should’ve only been a matter of time.”
“Ah, but that’s the thing you see. We were aware of the existence of the abandoned fortress, but it kept moving around the forest. Not to mention that it’s still hard to find anytime it disappears. At one point we even tried to keep a group of witches in the fortress, but when they all vanished one day, we decided to stay far away from it.”
“Actually, this situation right here, we’ve had it happen before.” Haeldrix cut in. “The thing is, the fog wall was too strong and we couldn’t break through, and by the time it dispersed the victims were… Anyway, this time was different though. With the new spells we’ve learned were were able to slowly pierce through the wall, but I guess you girls solved the problem before we could even get there huh?”
“I guess. So what’s going to happen from here on out? I mean since the Kindersnatch is dead, I suppose the fortress isn’t moving anywhere anytime soon.” Q said.
“Yeah, we’ll probably destroy that place after searching it for anything useful. In fact, I’ll personally tear it to pieces. There’s nothing good about having that place around us. As for what we’ll do… I guess celebrate Wendy’s safe return? And of course, the heroes who risked their lives to save her.” Haeldrix joyfully patted Q’s head.
After half an hour of flying, they finally made it back to the village and everyone went back to their everyday schedules. Wendy and Lea were brought to Pamerun’s house to rest, and the girls all decided to log off to take a break (except for Cinnamon who wanted to continue leveling up to catch up with everyone else). They said their farewells and arranged to meet up in a few hours, then logged out.
*****
“...and then, I hit it with an amplified [Charge Spark] with a 4x boost, and killed it.” Q laid in the middle of a large mass of black feathers, or in other words, on top of the Guardian of Wisdom. When she logged in she found that no one else was online, so she headed back down to the Underground Library and told the two guardians all about her most recent adventure. Lately she had gotten close enough to the guardians that they didn’t mind having her around, and if they were in a good mood they’d even let her touch them (like now).
“So, you’ve already grown enough to use rune gates is it? Well, that’s to be expected since you have my master’s diary with you. After all, he recorded much of his findings on runes in there.”
“Say what!? I gave his diary to the Grand Witches ages ago! Agh, I was working so hard on finding new ways to use these runes, and you’re telling me that there was an easy way the entire time?”
“...It appears I have been underestimating your potential by quite a bit. Perhaps you are ready to learn our abilities.”
“Woah? You serious?” Q had constantly been asking the Guardians to display their skills so she could analyze them, but they had refused her up until now.
“Very serious. Now get down so I can properly show you.” The guardian seemed to chuckle a little upon seeing Q’s enthusiasm. Q obediently floated down to the ground and waited in anticipation. “I believe your [Spell Analyze] is at a sufficient level to continuously analyze, correct? If so then activate it now.”
Q nodded and activated the ability, her eyes flashing with magic power as she waited for the guardian to use its ability. The guardian opened its wings wide, then shouted in a loud voice, “[Nevermore]!”
Before Q could comment on the name of its spell, a large wave of magic swept through the area, and left a sort of dampened feel. A quick glance at her status showed that all her spells were sealed, but because [Rune-Writing] and [Spell Analyze] were skills, she was still fine. While Q analyzed the spell, the guardian explained its effects.
“[Nevermore] is a spell that completely eliminates any magic usage within its range of influence. The range and duration depend on the caster’s magic power. Also, if a spell is strong enough it can still be cast within the affected area, though it will be noticeably weakened. Also skills which use mana are still able to be utilized in its area of effect. According to my master it’s made up of quite a few runes, the most noticeable ones being [Drain], [Impede], and [Nullify].”
“Haha, your master’s not wrong.” Q said after she finished analyzing the spell completely. “That’s ridiculous! If I can nullify things other than spells… huhuhuhuhu....”
“Remember, that’s only if you have more magic power than they do. Also, since I’ve entrusted you with this ability, I’m sure that you won’t do anything bad with it, correct?” The guardian lightly smacked Q on her head with its wings.
“Absolutely!” Though Q said that, she was already formulating different ways she could cause mischief with these newfound runes.
“Heh. I’m a bit tired right now, so go and find Glaukes for his own spells. He’ll know it’s okay if you show him the new runes you’ve learnt.”
"Woohoo! Thanks Morrigan." Q ran off to get some new spells from the Guardian of Knowledge, leaving the large raven behind.
"Yes... make good use of our powers. We don't have much time left here after all..."
*****
"... and that is how you use [Light Dash]." The giant owl spoke with a deep voice. "Just remember it can only be used in bright places."
"Thanks a lot Glaukes." Q bowed in respect. "Say... do you happen to know what happens to the victims of a Kindersnatch? I always see you reading a lot of books so..."
"Hmph. If it comes to knowledge there isn't anything more knowledgeable than me." The owl puffed out its chest in pride. "Except maybe for Morrigan... Ahem. You wish to know what happens to the victims of Kindersnatch attacks?"
"Yeah."
"Simple. Their soul is devoured. The Kindersnatch is a creature that thrives off the life force of other beings, and its favorite food is those with high amounts of mana."
"That's..." Q suddenly felt uncomfortable. "The one I fought, it had chains around the girl it was possessing, then it broke them by itself. Is that bad?"
"Mm." The owl nodded. "Very bad, actually. That action would be akin to forcefully breaking apart someone's soul. That girl may be alive, but she may not be... 'alive' if what you said is true."
"Oh man, that's bad." Q was about to leave the library to look for Wendy when she suddenly remembered something. "Uh, do you know if anyone's ever recovered from such a condition?"
Sadly, the owl shook its head. "Unfortunately no. I have never heard of such a situation occurring before, and as there is no precedence, I am not sure if there is something that could help her."
"I see... thanks Glaukes. I gotta go now." Q hopped onto her staff and flew out of the library. She zoomed up the long stairway and burst through the doors leading back into the town hall. Then she quickly got directions from the nearest witch, then headed towards where they were keeping Wendy. Wasting no time, she flew around the town hall and eventually went through a door with a sign above it saying 'Infirmary'.
"Ah, Q..." Pamerun and Lea were sitting beside a bed, which had Wendy was sitting upright in. For a moment everything seemed fine, until Q looked into Wendy's eyes which looked completely empty.
"Is she... okay?" Q asked with trepidation.
"No. She's been like this ever since she woke up..." Pamerun began. "We think it's just after effects from being possessed but..."
"It's worse than that." Q explained what she had learned in the underground library. As she continued to speak, Pamerun and Lea's expressions grew incredibly grim, and they ended up holding Wendy's hands as Q talked.
"To think that such a thing..." Pamerun began stroking Wendy's head. "I'm so sorry Wendy. This is all my fault."
"N-no! It was because of me! I should've kept an eye on her during the race..." Lea was dismayed.
"Both of you, stop blaming yourselves!" Q shouted. This game... it's seriously hitting way too close to home. She remembered an event incredibly similar to this in the past, which left a terrible feeling in her stomach. "What you need to do right now is figure out what you can do for her. Things like how you can fix her condition, who will take care of her... if you'll even take care of her-"
"Of course I'll take care of her!" Lea yelled. "I'll do it for as long as I live if I need to. I'm not... I won't let things end like this."
"Good." Q smiled after seeing the conviction in her eyes.
"You're right. I lost my composure for a moment." Pamerun took a deep breath. "Really, thank you Q. I- no. We will take care of things here. We couldn't possibly ask any more from you after what you've done for us."
"Eh, I'd be fine with helping you anyway though. If you do need our help, you know you'll have it." Q smiled, then walked up to Wendy. "Hey Wendy, you have wonderful people who care about you, so you better get well soon so you can thank them." Speaking the words which were once said to her, Q left the trio to themselves and began searching for her friends who had just signed on.