“Well, it has been a while since we last came here. Right, Tasianna?” I looked to my side, sizing up my companion.
She nodded, letting out a sigh as I noticed her breath turning white. “True, but this time we won’t be chased away at the reception.”
The main event of the night was about to happen, and it would happen right in front of us—the raid of the alchemist guild and the arrest, or death, of its guild master, Davison. Hestia was our distraction, while Tasianna and I were the vanguard. Naturally, considering this was a diplomatic bomb which could blow up at any time if the information got leaked, we had to be inconspicuous.
Fae hunting was a serious issue for the Kingdom of Artorias which could threaten their attempts to mend their relationships with their neighbours, the Elven kingdom of Saelariel. Marquess Sirius was serious enough to send some of his spies and personal knights to guard the possible exits, in case the conspirators fled.
Honestly, a bit too much effort for a simple alchemist … but if he was a criminal, he probably would have some guards.
We opened the door of the guild and entered its still-brightened interior. There, at the reception, we saw a man in a robe similar to the ones the alchemists from the different potion stores wore. He was pulling out wooden slates and pieces of parchment from the desk and putting them inside a bag in a hurry, looking anxious as he did so.
“Excuse me, where is the guild master?” Walking up to him, I drew his attention with a question.
“Wh-where-who are you?! Arrrrgh! Monster! Leave me alone!” he cried out, his eyes shaking like a scared kid despite looking like someone in his late 20s. I guess wearing my pitch-black [Shadow Armament] did make me look pretty scary. Still, that was pretty rude.
As he didn’t answer my question, Tasianna stepped forward and pierced the desk with an ice spike. Her eyes were calm, but showed an icy amount of hostility towards the man. They weren’t out of hatred, but out of impatience.
“Are you deaf, human?! Where is that fiend, Davison? And where is the way to the basement? Answer, now!”
“Eiiieeek!” he squealed. “U-up! Up! He’s still working in his office! P-please, don’t hurt me! Take whatever you want!”
“And where is the basement?! I told you to answer both questions!”
“Eiiiiaaaaaaaaaa! There are stairs next to to the storage room with all the potions! It’s next to the workstation room. P-please, please, leave me alone!” he yelled, shrinking into a fetus as he laid on the ground to hide from Tasianna’s sight.
Without another word, Tasianna and I moved away from him since we had what we needed. If it was possible, collateral damage should be avoided. Although … it did make me wonder.
The promotion should have been transmitted to the whole block, so shouldn’t he be aware of it? A bit sad that he had to work this late when a festival was going on, but I presumed the alchemist guild was a bit like a black company. It was what we Japanese would call an exploitative, sweat-shop corporation.
Now that I thouhgt about it, although we were selling potions without the alchemist guild, nobody disturbed us when we did so. We didn’t receive any complaints nor representatives trying to recruit us. Could they have not noticed us? No, that was too naive to think. Guilds wanted more guild members for the revenue cut they would get from each member, as I had to pay money to both the chefs guild and merchants guild, although I wasn’t an official member yet for the latter.
“Guild Master, they’re here! They’re here!” Just when I was beginning to become suspicious of the situation, the alchemist shouted. When we snapped around, he was yelling into a manatech similar to the one in Ellaine’s training room, the one that worked like an intercom.
I guess they knew we were coming. Lord Chezaic might have warned them …
Once the alchemist saw our glares, he dropped the manatech and was about to grab a bottle of green liquid from his pouch. That was when [Foresight] warned me of an attack.
However, I didn’t move.
“Grrrrrraaaaawrr!”
“Wh-ARRRRGRHHHHH, MY ARRRRRRM, ARGHHHH!”
From my shadow, a raven-black furred wolf leaped out and pounced at the alchemist’s arm, tearing and ripping it from skin and flesh to the point I could see bone. My shadow pack just performed their first action.
[“Uno, do not kill him. Instead, break his limbs so he cannot escape,”] I told the horse-sized garm growling before me, patting him on the back
[“Yes, Alpha!”]
The three garms have successfully turned themselves into [Shadow Garm]s using my unique skill [Shadow Pack].
It took an entire week for the three faefolk spirits to assimilate into their new bodies. I was not sure why the System description called them “the souls of darkness gamrs,” but the spirits did mention they believed they were the garms now, and that nothing else actually mattered for them.
The fourth garm, the one still residing in Tasianna’s catalyst, couldn’t join his brethren, as I didn’t have enough SP to level up [Shadow Pack] to add additional spots for him. A shame, but I couldn’t do much about it since I haven’t been hunting recently due to the restaurant and this whole mess.
Regardless, my wolves were ready to hunt.
“AARRRRRRGH!” the alchemist screamed with blood gushing out of his broken limbs, but we ignored it.
“Miss Saori, we’ll go into the basement. You should go up to catch that demon,” Tasianna suggested after we found the way down.
I was confused why she would do that since it wasn’t just her that wanted to get revenge on Davison. However, that other person spoke to explain their thoughts to me, [“I waaaantttt reeeeveeengeee! Buuuuut I can hear their voices! I can sense fae in anguish. ‘Humans are underneath,’ they cry. The fairy and I will kill them! You capture Davison. Bring him before me. Then, I will make him hear his screams as he suffocates in terror for all that he did!”]
Kiiro’s onnikai side showed a bit throughout its bloodthirsty speech. They weren’t willing to give up on Davison, but they wanted to save the remaining faefolk inside the basement while also taking out anybody who was involved with them.
Slightly apprehensive Kiiro might corrupt Tasianna with its revenge spiel, but I still nodded, deciding to trust in my friend. “Okay … I understand. However, Tasianna, keep a cool head, alright? Do not let yourself be consumed by Kiiro’s words. The conviction you showed Zephira and me; do not go back on it. Do you understand? When we reunite, I want the Tasianna that swore loyalty to Hestia and me to come back, the one who has learned to tolerate humans.”
“Yes, I know. Once again, my loyalty belongs to party Aurora alone. And Kiiro isn’t part of us …” Tasianna stated, glancing at the disgruntled spirit. “However, if I have to kill anybody … please, forgive me.”
“Oh, do not worry about it. I only care that you will make it back alive, so if they force your hand, do what Hestia and I would.” And with those words, we separated. She went downstairs to the basement, while I went up to the second floor.
As I stepped foot on the highest floor—the third—[Foresight] and [Danger Sense] triggered, warning me to stop moving. When I did as I was told, an arrow zoomed past my face, penetrating the wall to my side.
“Shit, the intruder has high detection skills, Chief. Should be tougher than the run-of-a-mill soldier or guardsman.”
“Haha, really? Works best for me. Earning the dough without some action is boring.”
“Fuck, if it’s a noble knight or mage, then wouldn’t we be fucked? Chief, you sure the fat sack paid us enough?”
“Shut it, you two.”
Turning around, before me stood five men, all fully equipped with armor and weapons. They all had rough expressions with scars covering their faces as they leered at me with clear murderous intent.
There was a bowman in the back aiming an arrow at me and at his side was a dual dagger wielder. In front of them was a sword-wielding panther-looking beastman, a massive bear beastman martial artist, and a muscle-freak human in heavy armor wielding a massive shield and morningstar.
How have you not caused the floor to just collapse? Jeez.
“Hey, wolfkin lass,” the armored human spoke, who most likely was the leader of this band since people referred to him as “Chief.” “You don’t look like a soldier or knight with that weird black armor. You a merc? Came here alone, cause my archer can’t sense anybody else, eh? Well, then do me a favor and fuck off if you know what’s good for you. You step any further and we’ll have to put you into the ground.”
Are they also mercenaries? He didn’t say “too” and my intuition is saying otherwise. Whoever they are, they are blocking my way to Davison.
“… Who are you?” I asked cautiously, needing to assess them a bit.
“Huh? Askin’ a question when we tol’ya to scram? Stupid bitch. Chief, we slice her up, paint the halls with her blood and make a nice rug out of her skin. Ehek ehek ehek ehek.” That laugh from the dagger wielder was chilling, honestly.
“We might have to when she’s trying to stall. Shoot!”
Immediately agitated, the battle began with the bowman shooting another arrow at me. I clicked my tongue as they didn’t give me enough time to use [Identify], but went into action without a second’s delay. Whoever they were, they were out for my blood.
I stepped to the side as my vision was slightly blurred by a blood mist coming from my eyes. Already used to it, I could see through it perfectly, targeting my enemies. I conjured two [Dark Bolt]s and shot them at the nearby mana lamps on the walls.
With the sound of broken glass, they broke and the light vanished in the first part of the hallway. There were still two bulbs at the other end which I needed to break to turn everything into darkness. I was outnumbered currently, so any advantage I could create for myself would be good.
“Shit, she’s a fucking dark mage. I can’t aim when it’s pitch black!” the archer announced to his comrades before shooting another arrow. He wasn’t wasting any second even if he was complaining.
“Hmph! You humans and your weak eyes,” the panther beastman mocked, before aiming his sword at me to charge. “Swift Pierce!”
Pulling my black tanto from my belt, I parried his sword and shot my left hand at his body. The corrosive obsidian claws were ready to maim this guy, but it wasn’t to be. With the movements of an acrobat, the panther beastman twisted his body and swung his sword like a roundhouse kick.
Naturally, I wasn’t a slowpoke and managed to block the attack with my tanto, but either it was because of the beastman’s strength stat or just physics, I was pushed back a bit from the recoil. To prevent myself from tripping, I used my [Shadow Armament’s] suit to ground my feet into the floor and to elongate my tanto into a shortsword to give me more leeway to push the panther’s blade away from me.
The beastman didn’t expect such a move, causing his decision making to slow down for a moment, giving me a large opening to drive my tanto and claws into him. Sadly, such an attack would have only worked if he was alone.
“Charge!”
“Shield Slam!”
“Charged Shot!”
Tch! I clicked my attacks as my aggressors shouted out their moves as if they were trying to warn me, allowing me just enough time to dive into my shadow with [Shadow Dash]. I reappeared out of the shadow of the bowman, aiming to take him down first to get rid of the annoying ranged attacks, but, once again, my attack was hindered by something.
“Come ‘ere and bleed, ya bitch!” It was the foul-mouthed dagger wielder. “Ya think some dark mage is better than a pure dagger wielder?! Ya bet! I’mma hang your corpse over my—”
“Shut up. Hunt, everybody.” I snapped my fingers, prompting my shadow to rumble.
[“Yes, Alpha!”] Three voices shouted in my, acknowledging my commands before their howls drowned out the surprised cries of my enemies. “Ahwroo! Garrrrrrrrrak!”
From my shadow, three abyss-black garms emerged with their teeth bared at the dagger wielder. He cursed as he saw them and tried to retreat, but I held his legs in place using my [Dark Tendrils]. With nowhere to go, the man was helpless as two of my wolves mauled his arms. He managed to stab his daggers into them, but their fur was similar to my [Shadow Armament]. They were sturdier than they looked.
“Shit! A tamer!” the armored person shouted, but I ignored him. I left my third wolf and my [Shadow Clone] to deal with him, while I threw corrosive sludge at the bowman’s eyes.
“Argh! Fuck, my arm,” he cried out as some of the purple sludge landed on his arm.
The obsidian claw protectors had a small socket where I could add toxin into them for easy toxin injection. Activated with a mana, I could control whenever I used this toxin, so I wouldn’t accidentally inject somebody during my everyday life. The toxin I used was from Hestia, and while she couldn’t fully reproduce the flesh melting toxin from back when we fought the trolls, this was still potent enough to permanently cripple somebody!
“Arrrgh, w-what the fuck is this?! I-it’s melting!”
The name Corrosive Obsidian wasn’t just for show as the sludge slowly melted through the bowman’s right arm bracers and seeped into his body through his skin. The little bit of skin that was shown through the melted hole revealed it was turning purple. There went his ability to draw his bow.
I gave him a swift kick, knocking him against the wall, and ended his life with a stab into his head.
“Fuck, Tulson is down! Get off him, you mutt!” the bear beastman shouted, before slinging one of my wolves away like a rag doll, displaying how much strength he must have. He then tried to pry the dagger wielder out of my tendrils, but it was all in vain. They were too tough.
Instead, I commanded the tendrils to grow and grab his beary arms, pulling his body down to further inconvenience him. I then dashed into the fight with my wolves.
“Song, duck!” I ordered the second garm, making her dodge the panther’s sword slice, allowing me to use her as a platform to launch myself at the panther.
Not letting himself get surprised again, he reacted well and reciprocated my attacks in kind. A graceful dance of blades was exchanged as we tried to incapacitate each other or land a killing blow. Even to me, I found his deftness and skill quite impressive as he managed to react to each of my high-speed attacks. If he wasn’t flustered, he was the real deal.
“Morning Smash!” The chief wanted to intervene in our duel, probably recognizing it was better to take me down first,but —
“Song. Sarasa. Guard.” I could issues orders faster than he could run at me.
[“Protect the Alpha!”]
Uno, Song, Sarasa.
Those were the names I gave the wolves according to the different ways numbers were called in different languages. I wanted to give them proper names, but they didn’t have any personalities when I interacted with them, so it was hard to think of an elaborate one—the only thing they told me was the gender of their garm corpses.
Numbers were the most appropriate that I could think of and I spiced it up by using different languages. Just to note, the fourth garm will be called “Quatre.” It was a bit funny to call them like that, now that I thought about it, but they listened and obeyed my orders well enough that it sounded more like they got code names like in a spy flick.
But these spies were far deadlier than their code names would suggest.
The garms jumped at him, using the minimal amount of room inside this building to their advantage by entering their shadows and wall jumping, using even the furniture they found around to disrupt the armored human. They couldn’t pierce his armor, but they could land spells at him to knock him away from me.
Since their “reincarnation” into shadow garms, their entire skill list was reset, only retaining the racial skills of their new bodies. I had to train their skills back up, again. It probably would have gone faster if I told Hestia to grant them [Hestia’s Retainer], but I still had this part of me which couldn’t trust them. Still, even with their rookie Profile, they held their own well.
It made me feel a bit anxious that I wasn’t giving it my all! Despite using magic and my tanto, I wasn’t able to best this panther guy. He was good, he was good … so I better use all the tools I had in store.
Activating [Storage Magic], I pulled out my two remaining daggers and threw them at the panther. He dodged, just as I anticipated, so I used [Dark Tendrils] to catch them mid-flight to then strike him at his back.
“Hey, Lain, watch it!” the bear beastman warned him, giving the panther enough time to respond. He should have [Danger Sense] or [Prediction], so it shouldn’t have been necessary.
As he bent his body, I took out some red mana threads and bound them on a [Shadow Snake] before I slashed at him, once again. He responded and we continued our little dance before I saw a good opening to shoot out that snake from my [Shadow Armament]. It landed on his body and slithered around, wrapping the threads on him. I then poured mana into the red mana strings and fire burst out from them, scorching the panther’s gambeson.
“Argh! Fuck, she can create fire, too?!”
“Damnit, this isn’t worth the fuckin’ pay! Chief, call Boss Kaian already!”
“Fuck this shit! You damn bitch will pay for angering the Yanderu Elusuess!” the armored human shouted, flinging Sarasa away with his shield, before taking out what looked like a catalyst. “Boss Kaian, they hired some B ranker! Tulson, dead. Black Blades, screaming. We need reinforcements!”
The door at the end of the hallway slammed open, crashing against the side upon the armored human’s shout. I thought Davison would be in there, but instead, four more uninvited guests showed themselves. A tall black panther beastman with a long spear strutted forward, swinging his weapon around with confidence. Behind him were a female mage loopridae, a rabbit beastman, and a crossbow-wielding arvisian— a bird beastman.
… I know I checked for others and I couldn’t sense anybody behind that door. How did they hide from my skills?
And then I remembered the runes in Farron’s office. If there were sound-proof runes, then shouldn’t there be other kinds of sensing-prevention runes? With this revelation, I did a double check with [Detection Sensor] and managed to find another person hiding inside that room. He was in a back room, so it has to be the person of interest. Davison was there!
“Oooh, look at the party! And here I thought you said you could handle it by yourself? Who knew letting the whole group fight together was the smarter idea, instead of letting it become an ego trip? It’s not like the client hired the eight of us, right? Poor Tulson, hahaha!” the panther with the spear cackled out loud.
“Doesn’t matter, higher pay cut for the rest, Kaian,” the loopridae mage callously interrupted before preparing a spell to shoot at me.
“Fucking hell! Tulson was my favorite from these bunch of vults. Bitch, you gonna pay for killing my drinking buddy!” the glint in the arvisian’s eye was chilling, as the bolt in his crossbow aimed at me.
Kuso! (Shit!)
There were six, and if they somehow were able to rescue the dagger wielder, then there would be seven. I was already outnumbered, but now even more people were coming. This was bad! But the worst part was the spear wielder. My senses were telling me that he was the most dangerous.
“Welp, time to earn our pay. Yo, wolfkin, show me a good time, eh? Spear on dagger, let’s go!” He readied himself as a fire spell and a crossbow bolt were shot at me, creating an opening where the panther dash over at me with a familiar looking footwork.
That’s Gale Steps! I remembered Gael using that ability on me during our “spar.” Just like that drunkard, the panther rushed forward in a zigzag motion at a sprinter’s speed, causing me to groan as I had no other way out but to rely on [Shadow Dash].
The moment I melted into my shadow and Kaian’s spear nearly touched my nose, a dagger came out of my shadow.
A loud “Clang!” could be heard as the panther’s spear bounced back from the dagger. I didn’t see anything else of the fight, as I was fully enveloped in my shadow, except there, I saw somebody I thought I wouldn’t ever see again.
We emerged from the shadow next to the panther I wrapped around in my mana thread. Behind me, the wall was set on fire by the mage’s fire magic. I used this moment to end the panther duelist’s life, taking another person out of the equation.
“Wow, that was a nice and clean strike. Huh, I told you that you didn’t need my help, pretty lady.” His smooth-talking was really irritating.
“Gael?”
To my surprise, the drunkard I knew in the slums was standing next to me with a long, well-crafted red shortblade ready in his hand. Why was he here? The last time I saw him was after our little duel.
“Haha, yeah, Farron brought me to my feet with a favor. Also … trying to return another favor, and it also helps that I can meet up with some old friends,” he answered.
Once he was finished, the dagger-wielding man suddenly jumped up—his arms were in tatters, unable to pick up a dagger—and began shouting, “G-Gael?! Gael?! Gael! You fuckin’ twat! You fuckin’ traitor!”
“Ooooh, nice to see you again, Black Blades. Still using that stupid name?” Gael responded sarcastically.
“You fuckin’ bastard! Fuckin’ die!” the man charged at Gael with bloodshot eyes, completely ignoring everything around him, even the fact he didn’t have a weapon.
Gael showed him a smug grin before using his dagger to quickly stab the Black Blades thrice, once in his stomach, then his solar plexus, and then into the middle of his forehead. Like a stringless doll, Black Blades fell down, lifeless.
“Lucky triple, ehe,” he flaunted his bloodied blade, cracking not only a joke but also his neck. He seemed like he was feeling himself. “… Well, that is one less idiot trying to have others call them by their terrible names.”
“Oooh, Gael? Ha, long time no see, man. Damn, can’t believe I get’ta see you at this time, on the other side even.” As I was staring Gael in a new light, the spear-wielding panther leaned his body forward, grinning sharply to show his fangs off. “When I joined Yanderu, I thought I get’ta work with you. Didn’t know you left the organization. Well, color me surprise.”
“Oh, Kaian? Wow, my information network didn’t tell me you were working with my old buddies now.”
“Ahh, yeah, you know, this is my first job. Had to hide for a while, you see. Those damn birds are annoying, as you should know.”
“Ahh, yeah, I guess you had to hide. Old band got wiped, right?” Gael then turned to me. “I wasn’t supposed to say this, but your new friends hired me, Saori. That man there, he was once part of the bandit group your party destroyed. The one with the rhinoncerum.”
“Oi, oi, oi, oi, you kidding me? That wolfkin brought down that fucking mountain Narube? What about Macklemor and Jaspar? Ohhh, now I’m less interested in you, Gael. The wolfkin got my attention now. In my opinion, that musclehead should've snapped the girl like a twig, but I guess you can never know what a rogue has under her sleeves, huh?” His eyes were like that of a battle junkie, glaring at me as if I was his next prey …
Gael smiled, then turned back to me, “When he was still part of the band, he had the honor of fighting against some holy knights of Aureolis. The Knights of Aurena, you see. During that raid, the knights were joined by some special guests—otherworlders.”
“Wha-what?”
This was the first news in nearly a month. The last time Ellaine mentioned the otherworlders, she said that her family at the capital couldn’t find any information on them since the church was hiding it. I wasn’t expecting anything after such a long radio silence.
“Yo, Kaian, you fought against some noble kids during the Knights of Aurena raid, right? Can’t believe my luck that you’re here, so mind telling us?” Gael asked.
However, the loopridae next to Kaian stepped forward to interrupt, “Kaian, stop speaking, can we just get to—”
“SHUT UP!”
“Yo—what?!”
I stunned her. This wasn’t about her or Gael any longer.
“Kaian, what did they look like? Those noble kids. What did they look like?!” I was the one who shouted.
Finally, some information on the otherworlders. Aurena’s words have been lingering in my head for so long that I was beginning to dream who they could be. Why did Hestia say that Aurena mentioned specifically that I would be glad to hear about it? Why?
“… Ohoho, that is some gusto. You know, that sorta stuff awakens the beast inside us, right? You’ll probably rip something out of me if I don’t answer, I can see it in your eyes,” he readied his spear. “Those kids looked pretty nice and well-fed, like you would expect from nobles. Weird thing is that nine of the ten had black or dark brown hair. Kinda rare to see such monotone hair colors, right? Could be siblings. The only one who didn’t was a white-robed with blue and black hair.”
… Blue and black? Dyed hair? Otherworldler … Hanazawa Asaka!
He smiled for a second before continuing, “I forgot those kids’ names, you know, after I sent an army of desperate farmers-turned-bandits at them. Last time I checked, most of them were on their last legs. However, I do remember one of them. The one who I wanted my spear to pierce the most. A little spear-wielding berserker created a pile of corpses after his friend got shanked. Hooohoohoo … you wanna hear it?”
His spear pointed at me. We both knew the only way forward was through the sounds of metal and spells.
Mana mist covered my body and my vision blurred even more with red mist.
I took my stance. [“Keep your word after I take your limbs.”]
My shadow erupted in rage.
AbyssRaven You just provoked the anger of a caring teacher.
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“Well, it has been a while since we last came here. Right, Tasianna?” I looked to my side, sizing up my companion.
She nodded, letting out a sigh as I noticed her breath turning white. “True, but this time we won’t be chased away at the reception.”
The main event of the night was about to happen, and it would happen right in front of us—the raid of the alchemist guild and the arrest, or death, of its guild master, Davison. Hestia was our distraction, while Tasianna and I were the vanguard. Naturally, considering this was a diplomatic bomb which could blow up at any time if the information got leaked, we had to be inconspicuous.
Fae hunting was a serious issue for the Kingdom of Artorias which could threaten their attempts to mend their relationships with their neighbours, the Elven kingdom of Saelariel. Marquess Sirius was serious enough to send some of his spies and personal knights to guard the possible exits, in case the conspirators fled.
Honestly, a bit too much effort for a simple alchemist … but if he was a criminal, he probably would have some guards.
We opened the door of the guild and entered its still-brightened interior. There, at the reception, we saw a man in a robe similar to the ones the alchemists from the different potion stores wore. He was pulling out wooden slates and pieces of parchment from the desk and putting them inside a bag in a hurry, looking anxious as he did so.
“Excuse me, where is the guild master?” Walking up to him, I drew his attention with a question.
“Wh-where-who are you?! Arrrrgh! Monster! Leave me alone!” he cried out, his eyes shaking like a scared kid despite looking like someone in his late 20s. I guess wearing my pitch-black [Shadow Armament] did make me look pretty scary. Still, that was pretty rude.
As he didn’t answer my question, Tasianna stepped forward and pierced the desk with an ice spike. Her eyes were calm, but showed an icy amount of hostility towards the man. They weren’t out of hatred, but out of impatience.
“Are you deaf, human?! Where is that fiend, Davison? And where is the way to the basement? Answer, now!”
“Eiiieeek!” he squealed. “U-up! Up! He’s still working in his office! P-please, don’t hurt me! Take whatever you want!”
“And where is the basement?! I told you to answer both questions!”
“Eiiiiaaaaaaaaaa! There are stairs next to to the storage room with all the potions! It’s next to the workstation room. P-please, please, leave me alone!” he yelled, shrinking into a fetus as he laid on the ground to hide from Tasianna’s sight.
Without another word, Tasianna and I moved away from him since we had what we needed. If it was possible, collateral damage should be avoided. Although … it did make me wonder.
The promotion should have been transmitted to the whole block, so shouldn’t he be aware of it? A bit sad that he had to work this late when a festival was going on, but I presumed the alchemist guild was a bit like a black company. It was what we Japanese would call an exploitative, sweat-shop corporation.
Now that I thouhgt about it, although we were selling potions without the alchemist guild, nobody disturbed us when we did so. We didn’t receive any complaints nor representatives trying to recruit us. Could they have not noticed us? No, that was too naive to think. Guilds wanted more guild members for the revenue cut they would get from each member, as I had to pay money to both the chefs guild and merchants guild, although I wasn’t an official member yet for the latter.
“Guild Master, they’re here! They’re here!” Just when I was beginning to become suspicious of the situation, the alchemist shouted. When we snapped around, he was yelling into a manatech similar to the one in Ellaine’s training room, the one that worked like an intercom.
I guess they knew we were coming. Lord Chezaic might have warned them …
Once the alchemist saw our glares, he dropped the manatech and was about to grab a bottle of green liquid from his pouch. That was when [Foresight] warned me of an attack.
However, I didn’t move.
“Grrrrrraaaaawrr!”
“Wh-ARRRRGRHHHHH, MY ARRRRRRM, ARGHHHH!”
From my shadow, a raven-black furred wolf leaped out and pounced at the alchemist’s arm, tearing and ripping it from skin and flesh to the point I could see bone. My shadow pack just performed their first action.
[“Uno, do not kill him. Instead, break his limbs so he cannot escape,”] I told the horse-sized garm growling before me, patting him on the back
[“Yes, Alpha!”]
The three garms have successfully turned themselves into [Shadow Garm]s using my unique skill [Shadow Pack].
It took an entire week for the three faefolk spirits to assimilate into their new bodies. I was not sure why the System description called them “the souls of darkness gamrs,” but the spirits did mention they believed they were the garms now, and that nothing else actually mattered for them.
The fourth garm, the one still residing in Tasianna’s catalyst, couldn’t join his brethren, as I didn’t have enough SP to level up [Shadow Pack] to add additional spots for him. A shame, but I couldn’t do much about it since I haven’t been hunting recently due to the restaurant and this whole mess.
Regardless, my wolves were ready to hunt.
“AARRRRRRGH!” the alchemist screamed with blood gushing out of his broken limbs, but we ignored it.
“Miss Saori, we’ll go into the basement. You should go up to catch that demon,” Tasianna suggested after we found the way down.
I was confused why she would do that since it wasn’t just her that wanted to get revenge on Davison. However, that other person spoke to explain their thoughts to me, [“I waaaantttt reeeeveeengeee! Buuuuut I can hear their voices! I can sense fae in anguish. ‘Humans are underneath,’ they cry. The fairy and I will kill them! You capture Davison. Bring him before me. Then, I will make him hear his screams as he suffocates in terror for all that he did!”]
Kiiro’s onnikai side showed a bit throughout its bloodthirsty speech. They weren’t willing to give up on Davison, but they wanted to save the remaining faefolk inside the basement while also taking out anybody who was involved with them.
Slightly apprehensive Kiiro might corrupt Tasianna with its revenge spiel, but I still nodded, deciding to trust in my friend. “Okay … I understand. However, Tasianna, keep a cool head, alright? Do not let yourself be consumed by Kiiro’s words. The conviction you showed Zephira and me; do not go back on it. Do you understand? When we reunite, I want the Tasianna that swore loyalty to Hestia and me to come back, the one who has learned to tolerate humans.”
“Yes, I know. Once again, my loyalty belongs to party Aurora alone. And Kiiro isn’t part of us …” Tasianna stated, glancing at the disgruntled spirit. “However, if I have to kill anybody … please, forgive me.”
“Oh, do not worry about it. I only care that you will make it back alive, so if they force your hand, do what Hestia and I would.” And with those words, we separated. She went downstairs to the basement, while I went up to the second floor.
As I stepped foot on the highest floor—the third—[Foresight] and [Danger Sense] triggered, warning me to stop moving. When I did as I was told, an arrow zoomed past my face, penetrating the wall to my side.
“Shit, the intruder has high detection skills, Chief. Should be tougher than the run-of-a-mill soldier or guardsman.”
“Haha, really? Works best for me. Earning the dough without some action is boring.”
“Fuck, if it’s a noble knight or mage, then wouldn’t we be fucked? Chief, you sure the fat sack paid us enough?”
“Shut it, you two.”
Turning around, before me stood five men, all fully equipped with armor and weapons. They all had rough expressions with scars covering their faces as they leered at me with clear murderous intent.
There was a bowman in the back aiming an arrow at me and at his side was a dual dagger wielder. In front of them was a sword-wielding panther-looking beastman, a massive bear beastman martial artist, and a muscle-freak human in heavy armor wielding a massive shield and morningstar.
How have you not caused the floor to just collapse? Jeez.
“Hey, wolfkin lass,” the armored human spoke, who most likely was the leader of this band since people referred to him as “Chief.” “You don’t look like a soldier or knight with that weird black armor. You a merc? Came here alone, cause my archer can’t sense anybody else, eh? Well, then do me a favor and fuck off if you know what’s good for you. You step any further and we’ll have to put you into the ground.”
Are they also mercenaries? He didn’t say “too” and my intuition is saying otherwise. Whoever they are, they are blocking my way to Davison.
“… Who are you?” I asked cautiously, needing to assess them a bit.
“Huh? Askin’ a question when we tol’ya to scram? Stupid bitch. Chief, we slice her up, paint the halls with her blood and make a nice rug out of her skin. Ehek ehek ehek ehek.” That laugh from the dagger wielder was chilling, honestly.
“We might have to when she’s trying to stall. Shoot!”
Immediately agitated, the battle began with the bowman shooting another arrow at me. I clicked my tongue as they didn’t give me enough time to use [Identify], but went into action without a second’s delay. Whoever they were, they were out for my blood.
I stepped to the side as my vision was slightly blurred by a blood mist coming from my eyes. Already used to it, I could see through it perfectly, targeting my enemies. I conjured two [Dark Bolt]s and shot them at the nearby mana lamps on the walls.
With the sound of broken glass, they broke and the light vanished in the first part of the hallway. There were still two bulbs at the other end which I needed to break to turn everything into darkness. I was outnumbered currently, so any advantage I could create for myself would be good.
“Shit, she’s a fucking dark mage. I can’t aim when it’s pitch black!” the archer announced to his comrades before shooting another arrow. He wasn’t wasting any second even if he was complaining.
“Hmph! You humans and your weak eyes,” the panther beastman mocked, before aiming his sword at me to charge. “Swift Pierce!”
Pulling my black tanto from my belt, I parried his sword and shot my left hand at his body. The corrosive obsidian claws were ready to maim this guy, but it wasn’t to be. With the movements of an acrobat, the panther beastman twisted his body and swung his sword like a roundhouse kick.
Naturally, I wasn’t a slowpoke and managed to block the attack with my tanto, but either it was because of the beastman’s strength stat or just physics, I was pushed back a bit from the recoil. To prevent myself from tripping, I used my [Shadow Armament’s] suit to ground my feet into the floor and to elongate my tanto into a shortsword to give me more leeway to push the panther’s blade away from me.
The beastman didn’t expect such a move, causing his decision making to slow down for a moment, giving me a large opening to drive my tanto and claws into him. Sadly, such an attack would have only worked if he was alone.
“Charge!”
“Shield Slam!”
“Charged Shot!”
Tch! I clicked my attacks as my aggressors shouted out their moves as if they were trying to warn me, allowing me just enough time to dive into my shadow with [Shadow Dash]. I reappeared out of the shadow of the bowman, aiming to take him down first to get rid of the annoying ranged attacks, but, once again, my attack was hindered by something.
“Come ‘ere and bleed, ya bitch!” It was the foul-mouthed dagger wielder. “Ya think some dark mage is better than a pure dagger wielder?! Ya bet! I’mma hang your corpse over my—”
“Shut up. Hunt, everybody.” I snapped my fingers, prompting my shadow to rumble.
[“Yes, Alpha!”] Three voices shouted in my, acknowledging my commands before their howls drowned out the surprised cries of my enemies. “Ahwroo! Garrrrrrrrrak!”
From my shadow, three abyss-black garms emerged with their teeth bared at the dagger wielder. He cursed as he saw them and tried to retreat, but I held his legs in place using my [Dark Tendrils]. With nowhere to go, the man was helpless as two of my wolves mauled his arms. He managed to stab his daggers into them, but their fur was similar to my [Shadow Armament]. They were sturdier than they looked.
“Shit! A tamer!” the armored person shouted, but I ignored him. I left my third wolf and my [Shadow Clone] to deal with him, while I threw corrosive sludge at the bowman’s eyes.
“Argh! Fuck, my arm,” he cried out as some of the purple sludge landed on his arm.
The obsidian claw protectors had a small socket where I could add toxin into them for easy toxin injection. Activated with a mana, I could control whenever I used this toxin, so I wouldn’t accidentally inject somebody during my everyday life. The toxin I used was from Hestia, and while she couldn’t fully reproduce the flesh melting toxin from back when we fought the trolls, this was still potent enough to permanently cripple somebody!
“Arrrgh, w-what the fuck is this?! I-it’s melting!”
The name Corrosive Obsidian wasn’t just for show as the sludge slowly melted through the bowman’s right arm bracers and seeped into his body through his skin. The little bit of skin that was shown through the melted hole revealed it was turning purple. There went his ability to draw his bow.
I gave him a swift kick, knocking him against the wall, and ended his life with a stab into his head.
“Fuck, Tulson is down! Get off him, you mutt!” the bear beastman shouted, before slinging one of my wolves away like a rag doll, displaying how much strength he must have. He then tried to pry the dagger wielder out of my tendrils, but it was all in vain. They were too tough.
Instead, I commanded the tendrils to grow and grab his beary arms, pulling his body down to further inconvenience him. I then dashed into the fight with my wolves.
“Song, duck!” I ordered the second garm, making her dodge the panther’s sword slice, allowing me to use her as a platform to launch myself at the panther.
Not letting himself get surprised again, he reacted well and reciprocated my attacks in kind. A graceful dance of blades was exchanged as we tried to incapacitate each other or land a killing blow. Even to me, I found his deftness and skill quite impressive as he managed to react to each of my high-speed attacks. If he wasn’t flustered, he was the real deal.
“Morning Smash!” The chief wanted to intervene in our duel, probably recognizing it was better to take me down first,but —
“Song. Sarasa. Guard.” I could issues orders faster than he could run at me.
[“Protect the Alpha!”]
Uno, Song, Sarasa.
Those were the names I gave the wolves according to the different ways numbers were called in different languages. I wanted to give them proper names, but they didn’t have any personalities when I interacted with them, so it was hard to think of an elaborate one—the only thing they told me was the gender of their garm corpses.
Numbers were the most appropriate that I could think of and I spiced it up by using different languages. Just to note, the fourth garm will be called “Quatre.” It was a bit funny to call them like that, now that I thought about it, but they listened and obeyed my orders well enough that it sounded more like they got code names like in a spy flick.
But these spies were far deadlier than their code names would suggest.
The garms jumped at him, using the minimal amount of room inside this building to their advantage by entering their shadows and wall jumping, using even the furniture they found around to disrupt the armored human. They couldn’t pierce his armor, but they could land spells at him to knock him away from me.
Since their “reincarnation” into shadow garms, their entire skill list was reset, only retaining the racial skills of their new bodies. I had to train their skills back up, again. It probably would have gone faster if I told Hestia to grant them [Hestia’s Retainer], but I still had this part of me which couldn’t trust them. Still, even with their rookie Profile, they held their own well.
It made me feel a bit anxious that I wasn’t giving it my all! Despite using magic and my tanto, I wasn’t able to best this panther guy. He was good, he was good … so I better use all the tools I had in store.
Activating [Storage Magic], I pulled out my two remaining daggers and threw them at the panther. He dodged, just as I anticipated, so I used [Dark Tendrils] to catch them mid-flight to then strike him at his back.
“Hey, Lain, watch it!” the bear beastman warned him, giving the panther enough time to respond. He should have [Danger Sense] or [Prediction], so it shouldn’t have been necessary.
As he bent his body, I took out some red mana threads and bound them on a [Shadow Snake] before I slashed at him, once again. He responded and we continued our little dance before I saw a good opening to shoot out that snake from my [Shadow Armament]. It landed on his body and slithered around, wrapping the threads on him. I then poured mana into the red mana strings and fire burst out from them, scorching the panther’s gambeson.
“Argh! Fuck, she can create fire, too?!”
“Damnit, this isn’t worth the fuckin’ pay! Chief, call Boss Kaian already!”
“Fuck this shit! You damn bitch will pay for angering the Yanderu Elusuess!” the armored human shouted, flinging Sarasa away with his shield, before taking out what looked like a catalyst. “Boss Kaian, they hired some B ranker! Tulson, dead. Black Blades, screaming. We need reinforcements!”
The door at the end of the hallway slammed open, crashing against the side upon the armored human’s shout. I thought Davison would be in there, but instead, four more uninvited guests showed themselves. A tall black panther beastman with a long spear strutted forward, swinging his weapon around with confidence. Behind him were a female mage loopridae, a rabbit beastman, and a crossbow-wielding arvisian— a bird beastman.
… I know I checked for others and I couldn’t sense anybody behind that door. How did they hide from my skills?
And then I remembered the runes in Farron’s office. If there were sound-proof runes, then shouldn’t there be other kinds of sensing-prevention runes? With this revelation, I did a double check with [Detection Sensor] and managed to find another person hiding inside that room. He was in a back room, so it has to be the person of interest. Davison was there!
“Oooh, look at the party! And here I thought you said you could handle it by yourself? Who knew letting the whole group fight together was the smarter idea, instead of letting it become an ego trip? It’s not like the client hired the eight of us, right? Poor Tulson, hahaha!” the panther with the spear cackled out loud.
“Doesn’t matter, higher pay cut for the rest, Kaian,” the loopridae mage callously interrupted before preparing a spell to shoot at me.
“Fucking hell! Tulson was my favorite from these bunch of vults. Bitch, you gonna pay for killing my drinking buddy!” the glint in the arvisian’s eye was chilling, as the bolt in his crossbow aimed at me.
Kuso! (Shit!)
There were six, and if they somehow were able to rescue the dagger wielder, then there would be seven. I was already outnumbered, but now even more people were coming. This was bad! But the worst part was the spear wielder. My senses were telling me that he was the most dangerous.
“Welp, time to earn our pay. Yo, wolfkin, show me a good time, eh? Spear on dagger, let’s go!” He readied himself as a fire spell and a crossbow bolt were shot at me, creating an opening where the panther dash over at me with a familiar looking footwork.
That’s Gale Steps! I remembered Gael using that ability on me during our “spar.” Just like that drunkard, the panther rushed forward in a zigzag motion at a sprinter’s speed, causing me to groan as I had no other way out but to rely on [Shadow Dash].
The moment I melted into my shadow and Kaian’s spear nearly touched my nose, a dagger came out of my shadow.
A loud “Clang!” could be heard as the panther’s spear bounced back from the dagger. I didn’t see anything else of the fight, as I was fully enveloped in my shadow, except there, I saw somebody I thought I wouldn’t ever see again.
We emerged from the shadow next to the panther I wrapped around in my mana thread. Behind me, the wall was set on fire by the mage’s fire magic. I used this moment to end the panther duelist’s life, taking another person out of the equation.
“Wow, that was a nice and clean strike. Huh, I told you that you didn’t need my help, pretty lady.” His smooth-talking was really irritating.
“Gael?”
To my surprise, the drunkard I knew in the slums was standing next to me with a long, well-crafted red shortblade ready in his hand. Why was he here? The last time I saw him was after our little duel.
“Haha, yeah, Farron brought me to my feet with a favor. Also … trying to return another favor, and it also helps that I can meet up with some old friends,” he answered.
Once he was finished, the dagger-wielding man suddenly jumped up—his arms were in tatters, unable to pick up a dagger—and began shouting, “G-Gael?! Gael?! Gael! You fuckin’ twat! You fuckin’ traitor!”
“Ooooh, nice to see you again, Black Blades. Still using that stupid name?” Gael responded sarcastically.
“You fuckin’ bastard! Fuckin’ die!” the man charged at Gael with bloodshot eyes, completely ignoring everything around him, even the fact he didn’t have a weapon.
Gael showed him a smug grin before using his dagger to quickly stab the Black Blades thrice, once in his stomach, then his solar plexus, and then into the middle of his forehead. Like a stringless doll, Black Blades fell down, lifeless.
“Lucky triple, ehe,” he flaunted his bloodied blade, cracking not only a joke but also his neck. He seemed like he was feeling himself. “… Well, that is one less idiot trying to have others call them by their terrible names.”
“Oooh, Gael? Ha, long time no see, man. Damn, can’t believe I get’ta see you at this time, on the other side even.” As I was staring Gael in a new light, the spear-wielding panther leaned his body forward, grinning sharply to show his fangs off. “When I joined Yanderu, I thought I get’ta work with you. Didn’t know you left the organization. Well, color me surprise.”
“Oh, Kaian? Wow, my information network didn’t tell me you were working with my old buddies now.”
“Ahh, yeah, you know, this is my first job. Had to hide for a while, you see. Those damn birds are annoying, as you should know.”
“Ahh, yeah, I guess you had to hide. Old band got wiped, right?” Gael then turned to me. “I wasn’t supposed to say this, but your new friends hired me, Saori. That man there, he was once part of the bandit group your party destroyed. The one with the rhinoncerum.”
“Oi, oi, oi, oi, you kidding me? That wolfkin brought down that fucking mountain Narube? What about Macklemor and Jaspar? Ohhh, now I’m less interested in you, Gael. The wolfkin got my attention now. In my opinion, that musclehead should've snapped the girl like a twig, but I guess you can never know what a rogue has under her sleeves, huh?” His eyes were like that of a battle junkie, glaring at me as if I was his next prey …
Gael smiled, then turned back to me, “When he was still part of the band, he had the honor of fighting against some holy knights of Aureolis. The Knights of Aurena, you see. During that raid, the knights were joined by some special guests—otherworlders.”
“Wha-what?”
This was the first news in nearly a month. The last time Ellaine mentioned the otherworlders, she said that her family at the capital couldn’t find any information on them since the church was hiding it. I wasn’t expecting anything after such a long radio silence.
“Yo, Kaian, you fought against some noble kids during the Knights of Aurena raid, right? Can’t believe my luck that you’re here, so mind telling us?” Gael asked.
However, the loopridae next to Kaian stepped forward to interrupt, “Kaian, stop speaking, can we just get to—”
“SHUT UP!”
“Yo—what?!”
I stunned her. This wasn’t about her or Gael any longer.
“Kaian, what did they look like? Those noble kids. What did they look like?!” I was the one who shouted.
Finally, some information on the otherworlders. Aurena’s words have been lingering in my head for so long that I was beginning to dream who they could be. Why did Hestia say that Aurena mentioned specifically that I would be glad to hear about it? Why?
“… Ohoho, that is some gusto. You know, that sorta stuff awakens the beast inside us, right? You’ll probably rip something out of me if I don’t answer, I can see it in your eyes,” he readied his spear. “Those kids looked pretty nice and well-fed, like you would expect from nobles. Weird thing is that nine of the ten had black or dark brown hair. Kinda rare to see such monotone hair colors, right? Could be siblings. The only one who didn’t was a white-robed with blue and black hair.”
… Blue and black? Dyed hair? Otherworldler … Hanazawa Asaka!
He smiled for a second before continuing, “I forgot those kids’ names, you know, after I sent an army of desperate farmers-turned-bandits at them. Last time I checked, most of them were on their last legs. However, I do remember one of them. The one who I wanted my spear to pierce the most. A little spear-wielding berserker created a pile of corpses after his friend got shanked. Hooohoohoo … you wanna hear it?”
His spear pointed at me. We both knew the only way forward was through the sounds of metal and spells.
Mana mist covered my body and my vision blurred even more with red mist.
I took my stance. [“Keep your word after I take your limbs.”]
My shadow erupted in rage.
AbyssRaven You just provoked the anger of a caring teacher.
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