Evening came.
As the east wind blew in the moonless night, lightning crackled, and sprinkles of rain started to fall from the sky. Underneath the bad weather, Vrylle was standing precariously, staring at another horde of monsters whose eyes were glowing ominously at her.
The battle felt like it would never end.
Monsters kept coming when Vrylle thought it was the last. While fighting off the monsters and also running so she wouldn't be cornered, Vrylle unavoidably encountered her fellow humans, enemies.
That made her situation even more brutal.
As the battle progressed, the corpses of her enemies increased, along with the injuries she could not completely avoid. Stained with the blood of both monsters and humans she had killed, Vrylle's own blood was, of course, among those stains.
In the few hours that passed, a lot of things happened. Vrylle engaged in a battle where she could barely take a breather. In those fierce bouts, in which it was inevitable to be injured, Vrylle had to use potions to support and prolong herself. As few of the potions already were, soon not even a single bottle was spared.
Although Vrylle carefully conserved each potion for them to last until she completed the mission, the reality of the situation did not allow her to.
As a result, with another horde of monsters she still had to face, Vrylle's only option now was to double her precautions and deal with her enemies in the most efficient yet effective ways.
Breathing heavily, Vrylle felt her eyes heat up, then raised the bloodstained daggers, and the horde of monsters suddenly looked hesitant, trembling, while countering her gaze.
"...Come."
As Vrylle announced, the air fell silent, albeit briefly. It was evident in her voice what she was feeling at the moment. However, it wasn't long before the monsters charged toward her, clenching their teeth as if fighting off their fear.
Fear which Vrylle had no idea where it was coming from.
[Skill "Sprint" (A) is activated.]
Using Sprint, Vrylle dashed forward, taking advantage of the monsters' unstable mood. She utilized every move with no strength wasted, pushed through her exhausted body, and swung her daggers through their necks and various parts of their bodies.
Half an hour later, Vrylle successfully dealt with the horde of monsters, albeit sustaining some light injuries herself. She decapitated some of them, while others had their arms or legs amputated and their throats slit.
The scene looked gruesome, with blood pooling everywhere and rain helping to scatter it on the ground, creating small puddles.
"...Lame."
Vrylle breathed heavily as she lifted her little face up with closed eyes, letting the rain wash her pale face clean. Standing unfazed by the cold wind, the putrid smell of blood, and the increasingly heavy raindrops, Vrylle laughed.
The laughter was full of frustration she had tried hard to hold in while clutching her chest.
Biting her lower lip, Vrylle's emotional fluctuation was rather brief as she turned her head when she heard the approaching sound of an object cutting through the air and rain.
When the said object became visible, an arrow flying toward her, Vrylle gritted her teeth and used the dagger to deflect the arrow.
Soon after that moment, another arrow zoomed toward her again, which she dodged as well, lodging itself in a tree trunk. When she looked toward where the arrows came from, Vrylle saw figures in the distance, but not monsters. Instead, they were humans. Her fellow humans again.
"...How ironic."
Three of them were holding bows and arrows in their hands, with loaded quivers on their backs. Some were holding swords, spears, and daggers. The enemies naturally had an advantage in numbers, around fifteen people. Fortunately, these people's stature was not as robust as those five men she had tried hard not to confront.
They were not as strong as those men either.
That was why Vrylle was confident that, though the number was disadvantageous for her, she could deal with them compared to the previous five men.
"Ghost, find Merida's body and bury her for me. Then, wait for me in that place."
After conveying the message, Vrylle ran towards the human enemies while Ghost moved in the opposite direction. At that point, the three archers drew their bows and arrows yet again. This time, six arrows came flying at her, but thanks to her leveled Dexterity, Vrylle's agility, balance, and reflexes were a few times better than a few hours ago.
Nevertheless, she managed to snatch three of the arrows, then threw them back at the Archers.
Puk-Puk-Puk-
In a quick second, each arrow lodged into the archers' faces, and they fell to their knees, then onto the ground, lifeless.
However, the bout had just started. At her side, a man suddenly appeared, wielding a dagger and about to slice it down on her head. Fortunately, Vrylle's reflexes were faster. She dropped the dagger in her other hand and grabbed the man's wrist before it landed, then twisted it.
Craaack-
"...Ahhhhhh!"
With a dull snapping sound, the man's arm bent in an awkward direction and blood gushed out as bones ripped through the skin. Picking up the dagger the man dropped and exchanging it for the other dagger she originally had, Vrylle sliced his throat with an apathetic gaze.
Killing the man using his own weapon was best suited.
"Charge at her all at once! She's just a little girl!"
Upon hearing that panicked voice, Vrylle looked at the speaker who gave the command. The man looked like the leader of the group. As someone who led them, it would be better if Vrylle left that man.
Looking forward to that man's reaction, which by now the said man suddenly felt a chill run down his back and made him shiver, Vrylle, with cold eyes unbefitting of her age, gripped the dagger's handle tightly. With her dexterity, strength, and skill, Blink, she also made her move.
Again, Vrylle was stronger now compared to a few hours ago. Because of her achievements in killing her enemies, her Attributes leveled up, though she had not gained any skills yet. Coupled with her specialization in weak and vital spots, every kick and every strike of the dagger she dished out was perfectly in line with what she had learned, wasting no strength as usual.
What Vrylle strived for in every battle was to achieve the greatest effect with the smallest of effort if possible.
Especially now that she lacked potions.
Currently, as expected, her enemies were weaker, or it must be because she had become stronger. In terms of technical difficulty, these men, for the current her, were just at the level of fierce Karen's cursing and pulling each other's hair on the street.
Vrylle's gut feeling never betrayed her indeed. She could really deal with them despite their number.
"T-This is impossible! How... How could a little girl like you kill them just like that?!"
The Mercenaries, who also heeded the Distress Call like Johan and Loid, were now scattered all around her, pooling with their own blood. Though it looked gruesome because of too much blood amplified by the rain, Vrylle made their bodies intact, unlike the previous ones.
She did not decapitate nor amputate the men; she just cut their vitals and let them bleed to death.
Apathetically looking at the lifeless bodies drenched by the rain and their own blood, Vrylle, who looked paler now with her tattered, soaked dress, shifted her gaze to the only person she had left deliberately. The enemy's dagger in her hand, washed clean by the rain since its use was over, was dropped into the small puddle of blood.
The man, who caught that simple action, was instead alarmed.
While his terrified eyes were locked onto hers, Vrylle, with a solemn look on her pale face, leisurely walked toward him before stopping two steps in front of him, looking up because of their obvious height difference.
"Y, Y, You can't kill me! F, For sure you need a lot of information!"
The man just wanted to barter for his life, but Vrylle did not bother to speak and just gripped his hand, a hand which was holding a sword, and slowly pushed the blade of that man's own sword onto his neck until blood started to draw out of the shallow cut.
The man then groaned.
"P, Please! D, Don't kill me! I'll, I'll do anything! Anything you ask me for! Just please! Please, s, spare me! I have family...!"
The man begged, terrified, his eyes full of visible tears despite his face being drenched by the rain that was supposed to conceal it.
When the Distress Call sounded a few days ago, and before they arrived at the hunting ground, what was said in the briefing was for them to rescue those Mercenaries who survived and kill 'every' unnecessary variable.
They thought, especially him, it was easy. Now, if he had known that that wasn't truly the case, he wouldn't have accepted such a mission.
And what he said was true. He has family. This mission is also his only hope to solve the problem his family is currently facing.
More so, he promised his mother that he would surely come back, like usual. His wife was also about to give birth to their third child in the coming month, and the reward the commissioner offered him was more than enough to cover all the expenses they would need.
He just didn't think that his luck would suddenly turn its back on him.
"...And so do I,"
The cute little girl coldly answered. As the man felt the cold blade gently piercing his flesh, the smiling face of his wife and the worried gaze of his mother flashed before his eyes.
He really regretted taking the mission.
Waiting for his vision to dim, that was when a sliver of light suddenly shone on him as the cold voice of the little girl rang in his ears.
"...Then I'll give you a chance, Mister. Hold it securely."
The little girl took her small hand off him. Feeling the sword in his hand as heavy as a boulder, the man let go of the sword, and it fell onto the muddy ground.
"What... What must I do?"
Vrylle did not answer and just quietly took out a scroll Rusty gave her. It was a Contract Scroll he similarly used back then at the cave with Valdez and Alex. Using her tiny finger and the blood on the man's neck, Vrylle wrote what she wanted the man to do.
It did not take long for Vrylle to finish, and the scroll was handed to the man. Upon taking the scroll, the man read what was written, and it was simple and short.
It said that he must kill every monster, along with his fellow Mercenaries, that he might encounter in a radius of more or less than a kilometer, centered around the little girl. Once he was done, he could leave.
That's all.
The little girl also gave him a Pass. She said that the Pass she gave him must be what he uses when crossing the Transfer Point. If he did not follow those simple and short rules, he would die right then and there.
His life was more important. Forget the other things.
After reading and signing the scroll, the man, named Errol, gave the scroll back to the little girl and planned to leave immediately, fearing that she might change her mind. But Vrylle stopped him and gave back the scroll, saying that if he happened to see her Knight after crossing the Point, he should just show him the scroll, and that the Knight would know what he must do next.
With that, he finally left.
Vrylle, on the other side, after giving the lifeless and bloodied bodies one last look behind her, turned around and followed her bond with Ghost, silently walking under the heavy downpour.
Thanks to their connection, not long after, she had found them. Merida's remains must be six feet under the mound next to a tree, while Ghost stood on the other side in its unusual form, an Orc. And it wasn't just any Orc, but the Orc that killed Merida.
How did Vrylle know? It was because she would never forget that Orc's face with the upper half of its face painted in a spiderweb-like tattoo.
If by any chance Vrylle did not feel the bond she had with Ghost, with how unforgettable that Orc's face looked and the resentment she felt, she would undoubtedly attack it, slowly killing it.
[Ghost created a skill: Mimic (UN)]
[With Ghost's eagerness to be a useful aide to the Host, it was able to create a skill on its own after numerous attempts.]
[Mimic: Anyone Ghost swallowed using Devour (P), it could use the skill to imitate them, including their combat abilities, skills, and voices. Though Ghost could not pluck out the memories of the devoured as information for the Host to give.]
[Consumes 5% of the Host's Magic Power.]
"...I see. Good work, Ghost. You did well."
Vrylle praised her familiar with a slight smile and tapped its arm. She thought that was all she could do for it. But in an instant, as the praise was said, a prompt about Ghost feeling accomplished by her praise rang, making Vrylle surprised.
Phantom also prompted her that Ghost had been feeling down and disappointed for itself since it couldn't be of much help throughout the battles. The support it gave was not enough. What Ghost wanted was also to fight side-by-side with her.
Vrylle suddenly felt guilty then.
Feeling embarrassed, Vrylle gave Ghost an apologetic smile before taking a few steps to Merida's grave, then sat onto the muddy ground next to her and silently mourned while the scene of her death vividly replayed in her mind.
Vrylle was trying to think of any pleasant memory she had with Merida, but only that particular tragic scene kept on repeating. Reluctantly accepting such a disturbing memory, Vrylle remained in that same spot with the same posture for who knows how long, Ghost also silently accompanying her.
[Congratulations! Enemies were killed! Mission complete!]
It's not only when Phantom's mechanical voice prompted her about the mission's completion that Vrylle moved a little. Ghost also reverted to its original form before vanishing.
[New skill acquired: Rage (P)]
[Rage: When the Host's emotions start fluctuating, Rage will be forced to activate. And whenever the skill is active, the Host's overall Attributes will be temporarily increased by 15%. Though upon deactivation, 30% of overall Attributes will be consumed and automatically entered a Moderate Damage State.]
Vrylle, with certainty, thought that the new skill was risky. Since she knew it was not as simple and easy to handle her emotions, such a skill that could forcibly activate, though really helpful, was also dangerous.
It was like a double-edged sword.
As Vrylle silently thought about the pros and cons of the skill, Phantom's voice continued to notify her of other things such as leveling up this Attribute and that, reward for the completed mission, congratulating her for diligent work and for securing her arm, and the rise of the bond she had with Ghost.
Throughout the barrage of prompts, Vrylle's head throbbed with annoyance, especially at the part where Phantom congratulated her for securing her arm. The schadenfreude Vrylle sensed in that mechanical voice was audible to her.
She wasn't imagining it.
Feeling the urge to hit someone, Vrylle stood up stiffly, looked ahead, and let go of her vigilance, certain that everything was now safe. She calmed herself and emptied her mind. The look on her face became blank in an instant, her eyes devoid of emotion.
Vrylle's body stood motionless beside Merida's grave, under the heavy downpour. She felt like all her senses had shut down. The very next moment, Vrylle herself became stagnant, like a robot that had run out of battery, though her consciousness remained awake.