My cheek hit the ground, the blades of grass tickling my nose. Something heavy pressed my shoulders against the forest floor, staying firm even through my squirming.
"Oh, an adventurer?" The hooded guy's boots edged in my periphery, giving me a good look of the leather stained with dark splotches that couldn't have been mud alone. "What brings you here, sir?"
I was busy eating grass to answer. No thanks to whatever's sitting on my back. The hooded guy tapped his chin, the shadows shielding his face making it impossible to see who he was even during the day. Concealment spell? Maybe. "Rather, I should be asking how much you heard and how much you are going to be snitching to your superiors," he crouched, resting his elbows against his thighs. "You're not a guildmaster's pet, are you?"
"Fuck off," I gritted my teeth, raising my head against the force keeping it pinned on the forest floor. "Why would you help the Monarch rise again?"
And...wasn't she dead? Or did Hye-jin and I drop on a timeline where the Monarch was still rampaging around Solarlume? But the hooded guy did say "again". Meaning she had fallen from grace once before. And they're bringing her back.
The hooded guy snorted. "What makes you think I owe you an explanation?" he said. "You won't live long enough to hear its end anyway."
He snapped his fingers again and the townsfolk snapped to attention. Soles shifted and crunched against the grass. Shadows fell over me, blocking whatever light streaming past the canopies. The weight on my back still hasn't eased.
"Make sure to leave no traces," the hooded guy said, more like a command than a friendly suggestion. They wouldn't follow that, would they?
They did.
Hands rushed forward, followed by the incomprehensible shriek behind me. Wait. That was—
Every hair at the back stood up when I felt a whoosh of wind behind me. I summoned my sword into my hands, swinging it behind my back as hard as I could. The weight loosened a bit. That's all I needed. With what's left of my agility, I rolled away just as a stinger slammed into the spot where my head had just been. I slashed my sword blindly, the sharp edge of the blade catching a limb. Or two.
Purple blood sprayed in the air, followed by a scream of pain. Got it good—
A strong grip enclosed my arm and yanked me backwards. A closed fist hurtled towards my face from the front. I ducked, the punch sailing past my head and slamming into the person trying to keep me still. I summoned the dagger from inventory, unsheathed it between my teeth, and took careful aim at the people's ankles as I went down. This time, the blood painting the grass was red.
The townsfolk gave one last cry of pain before stumbling forward, toppling over each other. That's two. But how many more?
The forest burst with purple light. A series of shrill yowls filled the space after the light died. In its place was the same netherbeast that attacked our camp once before. The one Cavya killed by giving us a demonstration of what he could do with his rapier. Without him or Mirani here, how in the world would I defeat it?
Not to mention the townsfolk zombies. And the hooded guy. Where was he? I craned my neck up. There. With legs dangling from a branch, perched like he was watching a casual volleyball game from the scaffolding. I clicked my tongue. He's not getting away.
I leveled my sword, keeping my eyes on both the brain-washed locals and the netherbeast pawing the ground in preparation to attack. They're both controlled by the hooded guy with one goal in mind. If I eliminate the commander, would they go back to normal? The townsfolk, maybe. The netherbeast...not so much.
The shadows flared up from the corner of my eyes. I dodged the first swing, taking it low. A knee sped in my side, like they inferred I would be aiming for their feet. Shit. I slashed my sword in a wide arc, keeping my force and distance minimal. Wouldn't want them to wake up suddenly without legs. They're still people. Just mind-controlled.
As they fell, the beast's claws trampled over them on its way to me. I gritted my teeth and scrambled out of the way, letting it ram a tree head-on, unable to divert in time. It roared, its empty, violet eyes flashing towards where I skidded to a stop. Its barbed tail swished and whizzed towards me. Its haunches tensed as it sprung with another roar. Fangs glinted in the sunlight.
A blur of white slammed into me. As expected, my blade bounced against its steel-like fur. The bristles alone would have shredded me had I not backed against another trunk. Sweat beaded on my hairline, dripping down the side of my face and off my chin. The beast lunged again, forcing me to meet its teeth with my blade. I didn't have Cavya's rapier nor a sliver of his skills and magic. But what do I have?
"Still alive?" the hooded guy's voice sounded bored from the treetops. Tch. I'd get there. Just he wait. "Can you blame me for adding to the challenge?"
The sound of fingers snapping was thick, floating above the mindless groans of the townsfolk and the roars of the netherbeast locked in a stalemate with me. Purple light flashed again and an assortment of beasts delivered their first cries into the air. Shit. I was screwed. Real screwed.
If I wouldn't be able to take this on now, I'd do the next best thing. Escape out of this alive. Make it back to the inn. Inform Dragnasand of this before they come for me.
That's the plan. For now.
The beasts rushed towards me. I scrolled through my skills list as I thrust my sword straight through the first line of monsters. My stats blinked in the corner of the menu, informing me of when my next level up. It's soon. The XP bar was almost to the end. Good. I just need to slay more and use my magic more.
"Borrow!" I chanted when my hand touched the cat-like netherbeast as it beat all the smaller ones for a chance to come at me. Instantly, the list of skills and magic it contained popped up in my list. It's strangely limited. But it'd do.
"Venom!" I shouted. A jet of purple liquid burst from my fingertips and doused the rest of the beasts in my immediate radius. A wall of smoke combined with the various pained shrieks arose from the barrier of nether beasts the moment the liquid touched them. The smell of burning fur, skin, and exoskeleton wafted in the air, followed by a faint hissing as the poison boiled everything it touched.
I lunged and finished off the small fries. A quick glance at my stats. Not enough. I needed a bigger kill. A blur of white and a hearty yowl it came with was my answer. I whirled just in time to jam my blade in between the cat-like beast's open jaw. Its fangs clamped down, struggling against the sharp edges as it scritched against the skin at the sides of its mouth. It's not very smart, was it?
I focused on the barbed tail and prepared to cast the skill. A deadly glint whizzed towards me. By pure instinct, I shoved away from the beast and scrambled back. The arrow embedded itself into the nearby bush with a rickety clatter. I whirled to the direction it came from. Damn. They've got a good shot? Where?
This was trouble.
The netherbeast spat my sword and bounded towards me. My eyes drifted from the direction of the arrows and the mountain of muscle and teeth hurtling closer. I extended my hand. "Trade!" I yelled. The bones in my arm cracked and the flesh squelched as they followed my magic. I dodged another arrow and met the beast head-on. I swung my arm back in a punch. I let it fly with force. It connected against the fur. Went through. Purple blood squirted and stained my face and clothes. The beast went limp, its legs crumpling down.
I whirled. A little too late. An arrow broke through the air with a silent whistle. "Skill lock," I chanted, keeping my eyes on the hooded guy still perched on the branch. Then, I released the trade spell, summoned my sword back to me, and swatted the arrow away. It fell into a clatter, now divided into two halves. The mind-controlled townsfolk ceased whatever they're doing and dropped like flies. I hoped the archer was included too.
"This ends now," I raised my head to the branch. My heart hitched. He wasn't there. Not anymore. Then, where...?
Hot, stinging pain bloomed in my shoulder. Something dark and thick colored my cloak and my sleeves, dropping down the length of my arm and decorating the grass with its red sheen. A presence shifted behind me. I felt his breath against my ear. "What's ending now?" he snickered. "Your life, perhaps."
A foot slammed at the back of my knees. With my life seeping out of my shoulders, I could only fall forward. "Nice skill, by the way," he blew into his nails and yanked his blade from my arm. A fresh wave of pain washed over me, making me yelp. "I still can't access my magic because of you. Well, it's not like it's going to take long. You'd be dead soon, you see."
I gritted my teeth against the haze dancing in my vision and the throbbing growing in my muscles. It's just a wound. I've lived through far worse in this world. The hooded guy hefted the blade, still glowing bright red with my blood. The shadows barely moved from the void under the hood.
"This is a special blade and no amount of valdyrsi magic can take it away," the hooded guy swung his hand and a cold, lumpy metal slammed against his jaw. I fell sideways. Whatever strength remained in my limbs flitted into the netherside. "I made sure to coat it with the deadliest venom from the strongest jjangkai. You don't have long."
Someone playing around with the nether beasts didn't deserve to live in a world where people die from making sure the same creatures didn't run amok on their own. Giving power to the creatures of the dark, wasn't that the worst insult to all those who have died and those who still fought?
"Well, I must take my leave," the hooded guy huffed as he straightened. Wait...that voice. I heard that somewhere. It's nearby. It's...
My head pounded and cleaved into halves when I fought to push myself upright. Hye-jin. I needed to warn her and the others. Because that voice, that hooded guy—I knew who he was. I surely did. He's...
I braced a trunk and heaved the rest of my body against it. Take a step. One at a time. Find the others. Warn them. He's coming for them next now that one of us figured out his secret. I have to make it back. I have to save them.
I have to save her.
Because I still had something to say, something to make clear, and something to atone for. I couldn't die now. Not yet. Please...let me hear her voice once more. Just this time.
As if the heavens decided to listen to me for the first time, a voice from the heavens called. "Kora!"
I opened my mouth but it was sawed shut. By pain, by fear, or by something else—I didn't know. Not anymore. Slowly, achingly, I dragged my body forward, stumbling towards the source of the voice. My vision blurred and sharpened, going in and out of focus. A distant, static ringing swallowed the rest of my senses, including my hearing. Only a faint sound of my name—the one which was both mine and not—filtered through all the noise. There. I must go there.
Minutes stretched on forever. Right. I was poisoned. With a blade. It's the end of the road for me now. A face appeared through the blobs of color dancing in my vision. It's...
"Hye-jin," I breathed. My throat felt like it was clawed through by a million cats. My skin boiled, my shoulder numb. The face moved, its lips parting and slamming into each other in speech. None of the words registered. "What are you doing here?."
She said something else. The dark thorns at the edge of my vision parted to reveal a strong veil of light. It's coming to take me. I was sure of it. But not yet. I still have something to say to her. Something I should have said a long time ago, not when I was hanging on the edge of the world, ready to plunge into the fiery depths.
A weight pressed against me. Rather, it was my weight pressing against something. "Wake up," came a garbled voice bleeding with worry. I knew that voice. I could never forget it even through a million worlds.
I wished I could follow that command. I really did.
But the bottomless void was inviting me in, promising to never let go. Just a second. There's something I still needed to say. "Hye-jin-ah," I forced the painful syllables out of my mouth. Would she even hear it? Was I even speaking at all? "I'm sorry."
I'm so sorry.
Hell came for me, then. And like the night that descended on me when the world ended, I did little to fight it.