《Magical Girl Selector》 Prologue: Awaken and the job contract ¡°Time is precious. It does not wait everyone.¡± A famous saying brings a cold truth to many people whom has wasted their times, especially those with more than half of their life span gone. ¡°If at that time, I had tried harder ¡­¡± or ¡°If at that time, I had that courage to ¡­¡±, those what if sentences appear in everyone¡¯s mind as they finally find their free time and start reflecting their own life. Such sadness becomes more and more depressing as they have enough time to start reminiscing their entire life. ¡°What on earth have I been doing¡­?¡± That question strikes the hardest as they realize that they cannot get back the time spent anymore, especially those realizing the great mistakes they have made their whole life. Even for those who believe they do not commit any great mistake, that question can still come to haunt them as they start questioning whether they have missed something in their life. Youth is a beautiful thing as they can enjoy many things without boundary, unlike the old bodies that have so many restrictions, be it health or responsibility. I am also a victim of that haunting, when I am in the final years of my life. It is such a strange thing. I had a good job, earned a lot of money, married a beautiful and smart wife, raised two healthy and intelligent kids into successful man and woman of society. I had a circle of good friends, enjoyed many fun occasions together, both in meaningful or stupid ways. I had fun with my career, completed meaningful objectives that can be used to brag about even today. I had so many good memories and experience in life that I think that I am one of the most blissful person in the world. Yet, I still find my life missing something. After a long time remembering the past, I have realized what it is: a yearn for an adventure. The brain is an amazing organ in your body. That old brain of mine cannot handle the learning or remembering of anything new, yet it can replay perfectly the memory of long long past that I have pushed into the corner of my mind. Memories of the game, anime, and novel are so vivid that I can tell the details of the plotline, characters, and the philosophical lessons behind the endings of each one. I have read, watched, and played so many of them, from years to years that I have lost count. Despite of that, I am now able to remember them all, a feast that unachievable to my young self but done by this old me. To make it worse, the emotions and excitement of that time surface at the present me, making me feel anguish. There are times when I wished I could enter that story, playing a character along with the protagonist¡¯s party, times when I wished I could change the ending to prevent the sadness of the characters inside, and times I wished I could make an exciting adventure of my own. I have been bounded by so many things in my life that I could only choose the safe choice, leading to a fun happy ending but predictable and unexcited. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. Where am I¡­¡­..? What is this place¡­? Only darkness fills my vision no matter where I turn to. The surrounding is so black that I can¡¯t even see my hand nor my body. How am I here¡­? Why am I here¡­? Inside my head seems to be pitch black too. There is no visual information, no colour, no sound except the voice of my thought. And who am I¡­ ? It seems that I cannot even remember my name. Do I even exist at the moment? What a ridiculous question. The fact that these questions come up proves that my consciousness is present and I exist. But this makes me remember an answer to my previous question. I¡¯m here because I am a dead person. I wonder this is what called the void. This nothingness aligns with the concept of the void, and because I¡¯m already dead, it seems reasonable that I will be sent here. Instead of hell or heaven, this empty space seems like a better place to send dead people to. It brings tranquility to my mind and everything I feel is mysteriously calming. A strange yet indescribable comfort that has been telling me to stop thinking, to let my mind sleep for a long eternity. But I resist that. I don''t know why but I know that the thing I must do is to keep asking these questions again and again, not letting my mind quiet for any single second. Even in here, I have an instinct that everything¡¯s not completely over yet. I have to speak with my inner voice, keep talking by myself, to keep my existence alive. I have to wait, for a time when thing starts to change.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ............ As time passes, a bright light suddenly comes. The surrounding starts changing around me. It is not only the surrounding, but my mind too. The empty blackness is now filled with color, sound, feeling, taste, and smell. For a long time, I find myself alive again. The cold yet smooth surface of the wooden floor applies the reverse pressure on my face as I lie on it. The aroma of the wood brings comfort to me as I believe it as the smell of nature. I am not knowledgeable about furniture but the wood used here must be expensive. The clean and beautiful brown color gives an elegant touch to it. As a reflect, I push both hands and rise on the floor, changing to a seating position. Only 5 seconds later, I notice that I have done something amazing. For the first time, I did not realize my own body anymore. That pair of arms used to be so weak are now filled with strength. I can even clench my hands tightly and do some imaginary weight lifting exercise. The back and legs, too, are filled with muscles that can support me to stand up on my own, an exercise that I could only do it with the help of other people. And there is nothing happening on my body too. That worn-out, sickly, and heavy feeling on my body is completely gone without a trace. All of these mean I have regained my youthful body back. Surprised by myself, I then survey around the surrounding. A closed room with no exit, no window, no door, only brown wooden walls on four sides. The only things inside are a desk and a notice board hanging behind it. Drawn to the only things inside that room, I nervously stand up and walk toward it. On a desk, there is a pen and a clipboard with paper on it, a contract as it appears. I pick it up and read the content inside: ¡°This is a place that transcends the imagination of a mind. A place with manifestation of all possibilities and unknowns. Those who have come to this room possess a potential to explore this world. Your choices and actions shall guide you through this infinity and grant you the power to achieve your wishes. However, please bear in mind as you yourself has to bear the consequences of your journey. Your end shall be shaped by your own hand. The power to shape your own future is granted to those who sign this contact. Please remember these words.¡± ¡°The power to shape your own future¡±. Those words echo in my head as if they represents what I am yearning for. Bits of memory of my previous life surfaces. A repeating lifestyle shaped by choices of rationality and responsibility: have to be filial to parents, be a good person, find a good job, and be committed to your work. All of them are like chains binding me. I was given choices to select but they are only what the other''s expect me to do. That life had a happy ending to it. I did not it any dissatisfying at all, despite those chains. I was able to become a good person, enjoy a good life, and learn many lessons from it. However, it is not enough at all. The word ¡°shape¡± feels so magical to me. A power resonates inside me as I read that word. Now that my previous life is gone. All those bonds, responsibilities and promises are now things of the past. The chains have gone. I am now free, and have the power to make my own adventure, on my own free will. With this, I can finally join the exciting adventures that are usually depicted in the stories. With no hesitation, I grab the pen and sign my name at the corner of the contact. Lexar. Having a chance to renew myself, I have decided to start afresh as a new person with a new name. I have decided to throw my old identity away. The moment the pen leaves the paper, the clipboard shines brightly then disappears. In exchange, a paper has been attached to the notice board behind the desk. I go around the desk and look at it: ¡° World name: None Description: On Earth 2014, a strange energy suddenly appeared and allowed manifestation of people cognition into a separate new world. This new world is expanded and strengthened by the complexity of human mind as time passes. After a year, it has reached the stage where it can affect the real world, thus the fusion between two worlds has begun. Once the fusion is completed, the real world will be filled with monster created from human imagination and inner thought, leading the downfall of humanity. Objectives: Prevent the complete fusion before December 24th 2016 Assigned power and role: Grant people with their inner desire materialized to fight against the monster and assist them to prevent the doom.¡± No matter how many time I read it, this looks like a synopsis of a game, or anime, novel, or manga. The genre is easy to distinguish as it clearly mentions about world having incoming calamity and someone has to do something about it. Modern world fantasy setting with people having supernatural power to fight against monsters. It¡¯s a common setting that never gets old enough. It just evolves from time to time. In addition, the format of this paper looks like a quest in a RPG game, except the fact that the scale of mission is extremely big comparing to normal quest. S rank quest, slaying a legendary dragon, is nothing compared to this. Saving a whole world seems like a grand quest that involves the whole population with it. Or in game term, this is an ultimate quest that requires all the guilds available to participate to clear this. Since this paper looks like a game to me, I wonder if I am teleported to a game world where every thing can be displayed in status table. 2014, a year when I was still only in 20s, also the time when web novels with reincarnation theme and transporting to game world was very popular. Most of the stories are about transferring to the western fantasy with sword and magic though. This paper appears immediately after I signed the contract. This means it is a quest directed to me, and I have to complete it. I don¡¯t know why I am here and why I have to accept this quest. But that doesn¡¯t concern me much any way. I have been yearning for an exciting adventure, and perhaps it¡¯s my death wish that sent me here. So, to the person who has sent me here, I don¡¯t know who you are, but let me thank you first. I mutter ¡°Accept¡± and the world before me turns dark again. Chapter 1: The beginning Waking up, Lexar finds himself on the rooftop of a 2 story building. It is midnight and the streets are only lit with a few pedestrian lamps. There is no sign of person or operating vehicle spotted. Except the sound of wind blowing, the surrounding is so quiet to the extent of being eerie enough to test a person courage. Checking his body, Lexar notices that he is not a human anymore. His eye sight is strangely so close to the ground and he is now using four limbs to stand up. The sudden realization almost throw him out of balance when he gets up. Looking at the hands which are now white paws, he judges that he has become an animal, and a cat with the most possible guess. It takes him a few minutes to get used to controlling his body. Strangely enough, all of his movement habits become adapted to a cat''s. Moving with four limbs is easy and natural, while standing on two feet is straining and hard to balance. It is a very wierd feeling to have your sight height reduced so much, however, he has no choice but to get accustomed to this. From the reflective window, a black cat with four white paws appear. The two yellow eyes are shining clearly in the dark, like two small led bulbs. Combining with muscular and big build, Lexar is surprised to find himself so menacing. Setting the shock aside, with this, Lexar confirms that he has become a mascot character, the kind of being that can grant people power yet do not possess any power for itself. Coincidentally, a cat is one of the top picks for mascot of Mahou Shoujo series. Looking carefully at the "mirror", Lexar finds himself not so bad looking though. It''s true that his build can be quite intimidating, but the fur is well kept and smooth. The muscles bulging on his legs which are uncharacteristic of a cat are finely shaped to a point that it can be considered as an art. Lexar has to admit that he has become the most unique cat, as well as the "manliest" cat he has ever seen. He certainly is not cute, but that does not mean he is unattractive. "Not bad" as he thinks while appraising his new look. After admiring himself for a few minutes, Lexar begins to think what he is supposed to do in the future. It was written that he can give people power, but he does not have a single idea how to do so in the first place. He does not even understand what this power is in the first place. The power to materialize people inner desire sounds quite vague. He wonders if this is related to the power of the seven sins: Sloth, Lust, Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed and Envy. There are many reference stories and it is a common trait that there are demons with name and power associated with those sins. Is his power to awake people''s inner desire and turn them into demon? There are also a lot of mangas and LNs with different concepts of materialization of inner desire into power. However, because there are just too many of them that it is useless to keep analyzing without getting another clue. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! The next matter is to plan his course of action. There are three main tasks: understanding his current situation, investigating the mysterious power and finding means to feed himself. Luckily, it seems the next day is the garbage recycle day. There is a stack of old newspaper and magazine in front of the gate of the house he is above. Skimming through the stack, he finds out that he is currently in Tokyo, Japan. The date is November 28th 2014, from the indication of the newest newspaper. This means that he only has just more than a year to finish his job. He feels a sense of urgency. How many things can he accomplish in just a year? Depending on how situation goes, he may consider getting government help despite the risk being dissected for research purpose or getting involved in complicated situation. Saving a world is not a simple thing that a few individuals can do, that is what he has learnt from the last life. He cannot mix reality and fictional story together that the world can be saved just by defeating the last boss. The topics the newspaper covers are wide: from daily events, important policy, social movement, economic development, individual achievement, technology and so on. However, there is no mention about strange supernatural phenomenon, development of energy that he knows nothing about, human superpower or monster. In summary, nothing strange related to the energy mentioned in his quest happened yet, at least in the eyes of the mass public. There is a possibility that the government delibrately hides it, but that is something he cannot know at the moment. Finally, the last thing to think about is mean to feed himself. As a stray cat, the natural course should be finding food in the garbage area. However, the thought of such action disgusts him on many level. He considers whether he sould act cute or do people favor to get food for reward. In extreme case, he may even need people to adopt him as a pet. Luckily, he is not an ugly that shrinks anyone away from him, so he should have a good chance to get favorable opinion from people. However, getting adopted will limit his freedom to move around. In anime, the most common scenario is to have the contracted magical girl to adopt you. Getting a girl as a partner sounds awesome and romantic in many fictions. The mascot character will enjoy the life living in the same room with a girl and moments of pirate part of the partner. Even so, that is a situation he wants to avoid. There is no indication that his power is not limited to young girl so his partner can be any type of person. The ideal partner in his mind would be a police officer or military man instead. They are those who have mature mind and ability to face danger as in their job. Dragging a normal student into this dangerous is a crime no how matter how he sees it, and it is especially so when it is a girl. In novel, people find it acceptable to put normal highschool girl in dangerous situation just because it is what attracts reader. However, in reality, he myself will not allow such thing to happen. Not considering their mindset and ability, he does not have the right to make an innocent girl throw away her normal happy life. Having organised his thoughts, he decides to sleep and prepare for the next day. Chapter 2: First encounter *ring**ring**ring**ring* *thud* A white soft hand places on top of an alarm. On the bed, a young black hair girl slowly rises up and sketches her arms upward. Looking at the number 6:00 on the clock, she rolls up her legs then quickly jumps up, shifting her position to standing on the bed. By having a strong and sudden action, it can help fight off the drowsiness in the morning. It is her trick to get up early in the next morning. Makoto Tachibana, 16 years old teenager, has a healthy habit to jog early every morning. Training for a fit body is the key to good life. In this world of rapid changing world, the brain needs to work a lot to keep track of information and learn new things. Exercising can help refresh the mind and improve the stamina to work for a longer time. Today, Makoto is expecting an uneventful day like any normal day of her life. Jogging in the morning, going to school, meeting with friends, studying, and surfing on the web. Until she encounters a strange creature in front of her house. It is a cat sitting straight while looking at her. There are two strange things about this cat. First, it is too quiet and has a too serious looking for a cat. In her normal impression of cats, they are a bunch of lazy and relaxing creatures. They usually sit and lie in all kinds of positions comfortable to them. However, the cat in front of her right now is obviously different. It is sitting in a straight forward manner, and there is no sign of tilting sideway, even the tail is straight along the body. The second thing is about its appearance. This black cat with white paws has muscle lines along the body. These lines make this cat look like a very strong and wild animal unlike a domestic cat. If it was not for the white paws with small build and big ears, she might think it is a black jaguar. Its posture and appearance resembles a muscular guy in black suit in the movie. While she is shocked by the cat appearance, the cat is also surpised by the girl standing in front of it. In the girl''s chest, there is a small white light. It does not know what it is but it knows that the light is the clue to understand the mystery in this world. Both parties are too dumbfounded that they are just staring each other in silence. Then the atmosphere is broken with a ¡°Meow¡± from a cat. Awaken from the shock, Makoto crouches down and asks him ¡°Hello Mister black cat, do you have any business with this house?¡± As if he can understand human speech, the cat raises up his front paw and opens his mouth wide. The paw keeps pointing back and forward at his mouth like the gesture from a cartoon. He even uses his tounge to wipe his mouth clockwise. The scene is too spectacular that she is again at the loss of word until he wakes her up with a Meow again. Makoto smiles bitterly then pats his head ¡°Sorry, I am really busy at the moment and have to go jogging around right now. You should look somewhere else for food.¡± She says in an apologetic voice.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Hearing this, the cat makes a very sad expression. His ears are cuffing down with a long ¡°Meooooooowwww¡± as if sighing. Those gestures are too cute for her that she completely ignores his stern appearance from before and hugs him. Her heart feels a sense of guilty leaving such cute creature starved. ¡°I¡¯m sorry for making you feel sad. You must be very hungry. But I cannot break my schedule for you. How about waiting here until I come back? I will treat you the leftover from yesterday dinner. Or if you want to, you can join in jogging with me. I will give you extras if you can do so.¡± Makoto makes her promise. The cat suddenly brightens up and nods furiously at her word. He seems awfully smart for a cat so she thinks she should not break the promise. After several warm up exercises, she has completely woken up and begins her jogging journey with the cat following along the way. He runs at the pace perfectly matching her speed even when she intentionally slow down and hasten randomly on the run. The sight must be very strange that everyone the duo pass by has a very surprised look on the face. Some people even take out their smartphones recording the scene a cat is excercising with its owner. Makoto has a feeling that she may show up in some internet news. Perhaps she can even brag this to her friends that she is now famous on the internet. While fantasizing, she keeps on running and goes back home. The cat is still around her feet and there is no sign of it being tired while she is sweating. (This cat must have more stamina than a normal human, considering how much muscle he has) Makoto thinks in her head. ¡°OK, as promised, I will give you food with an extra as you followed with my training. Thanks for accompanying with me. I appreciated it.¡± Makoto compliments him while scrubing his head. From the moment she lets him inside the house until finishing feeding him, Makoto have been secretly observing this cat. She finds this cat odd. Apperance aside, its conduct shows a very well understanding of human. He knew to use the mat to clean of the dirt on the legs before stepping on the wooden floor. Her orders were complied without problem. He also ate cleanly without spilling any food and even rubbed her leg after that to express his gratefullness. She wonders if he is really a stray cat. Even he looks so wild, he is not dirty at all and seems very well behaviour. His trainner must be very capable to educate a cat to such extent. However, such a cat should have a collar to let people know how to contact the owner in case of being lost. He is full of mysteries. Deciding to cast away her thoughts, she orders him to stay in the garden and prepares breakfast for the family. Three porpotions are prepared: hers and her parents¡¯. Because she wake up early, she is responsible for the breakfast. Both parents are the types to stay awake until late at night so they usually wake up later than her. She is also reponsible for dinner if the mother happens to come home late. While cooking, she ends up thinking about the cat again. This is the 1st time she has such interest in an animal. (How about adopting him?) A thought runs through her mind. (He is really smart and also well mannered. Even though we are busy, we don''t really have to clean up for him if we teach him how to use the sand box...) After convincing herself, she decides to ask her parents. At 7:30 AM, both of her parents show up with their working attire. During meal, she takes courage to ask them about the cat while giving out her reason. After exchaning opinions and consideration, they accept to have him as a pet. Then she brings the cat to meet the family. "We need to have a name for you. Hmmmmm" Makoto ponders while holding the cat in her arms "How about Lexar?" The cat makes a surprised face at her words and then makes a happy Nyaahhh. Thus, Makoto has a new family member and Lexar has secured his meaning of feed. Chapter 3: Mashima Hinami and Kurosawa Yuuko After the eventful morning, Makoto sets out in her uniform to school. November is ending soon and final terms are approaching. Her school is Hakugawa Academy, a school with good record for university admittance rate. It is famous for having student constantly review knowledge by having numerous short tests so that students can remember the lesson by instinct. Today, the litterature teacher is going to give one so she needs to come early to review the material. The classroom starts being filled up as time passes by. Her two best friends, Mashima Hinami and Kurosawa Yuuko, have also arrived. Hinami is pretty much a bookworm with her glasses as a signature. She usually has the top score in entrance and exam. Contrary to the stereotype smart girl does not look good, she is a glasses beauty with a self-confidence aura. If she was wearing a business suit, she would look like a successful career lady. With the identity as a daughter of the current chairman of Mashima Zaibatsu, smart, beauty, richness all gather on her. She is a perfect Ojou-sama. However, contrary to that perfect image, she is a hardcore gamer. It is known to everyone that she is a captain of game club, an unofficial club in our school since the school does not allow students to play game on school PC. Her favorite genres are MOBA and strategy. After finishing her study, Hinami stays up late playing game with the club members on the internet. Kurosawa Yuuko is pretty much an atheletic girl. She is well versed in physical activities and martial arts. Her background is a daughter of a Judo dojo yet at school, she is also part of a Kendo club. She really loves Martial art so she may actually learn about other stuffs as well. Despite being so energetic, Yuuko is famous for her poker face and quiet mouth. Her face mostly remain expressionless even after exercising heavily. When replying to people, she uses the least words possible with only "Yes", "Good", "No"; but she still uses full sentence when talking with older people. Her performance at school fluctuates a lot. At some point, she got score higher than Hinami but then failed miserably in the next test. She is the type to only cram right before the test so if she does well, the test is good and otherwise. She also likes game and most of them are fighting games just as you expect from her personality. The reason why three persons are close to another is that they have been together since we were kids. Their parents got along with each other well and often ate out as a group. The three children also came along started to know each other. ¡°That is amazing, Makoto. This is the 1st time I have ever heard someone complimenting her cat being obedient instead of cute. If the other cat owners know him, they will probably ask you how you can tame him so well.¡± Hinami says with amazement.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°I didn¡¯t really train him anything though. I only met him this morning and he was already that obedient. Even now, I can still say that I am bewildered by his behaviour¡± Makoto replies. ¡°That also surprised me too. A cat being so obedient is definitely not a normal cat. I think that he was a trained by someone else and probably got lost from his owner. Did you see any collar or anything that tells he belongs to someone?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t find anything on him. He was pretty much bare when he was in front of my house. Although there are many points indicating him being trained by someone else, is it really the case? What if he was just a very smart stray cat? Even if that was not the case, he already did accept being part of my house so there is no way I am going to give him to someone else.¡± Makoto insists on the possession of the cat ¡°Your case is very surreal though. A smart cat understanding human language and appropriate gesture to transmit message can pretty be seen in film only. A common point between all animals which can understand human language is that they are result from an experiment.¡± said Hinami while deep in thought. ¡°Please do not tell me such a scary scenario. I do not want to be worried every day that some men in black will suddenly come to my house and give questions about the cat.¡± Makoto denied but still get worried ¡°Hehe, you are scared now right? But don¡¯t worry, in most case, your memory of the cat and the black men will be erased at most. Although I don¡¯t know how they do it, I bet they will not risk such a thing like erasing your family at all. If they dare to do that, my and Yuuko¡¯s family will make this issue big and let¡¯s see if they can erase our influence. This is the age of social media and internet after all.¡± said Hinami with evil grin. ¡°That is not really how you should assure people not to worry. You should claim that you will do everything you can to protect my family or take the revenge seriously instead of petty things such as exposing the organization on internet.¡± Makoto replied angrily. "Any thought on this, Yuuko?" Hinami turns to Yuuko and asks. "Study, busy, can''t talk" Yuuko is still cramming the note with all of her concentration. ¡°OK, let¡¯s stop this fantasy talk. Such organization does not exist in reality as well as the experiment turning animal extremely smart. But you should pay attention more to him. He is definitely suspicuous and strange on many levels. Oh, the bell already rings. You had better be prepared for the test.¡± Hinami decides to stop the discussion and returns her seat. Class starts as the literature teacher comes in and gives out the test. *At the same time, in the school chairman office * "Chief, all the preparation is completed. We can proceed the plan tomorrow." A voice comes out from a communicator. "Very well, pay close attention to the test subjects. Things tend to go wrong at the last minute. The plan must succeed at all cost." The man in white suit on the chair gives out his command. "Yes, sir. We will take great care of them." The voice from the communicator replies with affirmation. The man switches off the device and turns to the window behind his seat. The whole school building is in his view. He is rehearsing the whole plan many time in his head as he looks at the scenery. "Soon, this place will become my real base and my ambition can finally take off." The man laughs evilly. Chapter 4: Premonition Lexar himself did not expect such turn of event. He is now finally adopted into a family of a young girl. Her name is Tachinbana Makoto, as she introduced herself. His original plan was to get a simple meal then wander outside to look for information. This is the best outcome that he cannot ask for more. Firstly, about that small white light in her chest, not only it is a clue to answer his questions, he also feels that with the right condition, she can awaken her inner desire as her power. This really feels like a development in the anime: the first encounter between the heroine and her contractor. It may be fate that brought them together. However, he really wants to deny it because of his belief: not involving innocent girls into this mess. His target for partner is still ideally a police officer or a soldier. Although he does not know how to convince them, he still has to try to find. Thanks to the jogging in the morning, he was able to get a lot of information. Firstly, there are balls of light inside every human''s heart, just like the girl. He may be the only to see it as the humans seem not aware of it. There are three common cases he saw: those with the white light, those without light, and those with grey light. The children and people with happiness all have white light at their heart while those without them are mostly the elderly and some depressing men in suit sitting in the park. The most common are grey light. Different from the other two, there are a variety of grey intensity inside the light. Some are just light grey while some are dark grey. Those light are seen on the people with working attire rushing to the office in the morning. However, the most troublesome thing is the black light. It is the fewest type with 3 individuals with it but he feels the danger come from them. His instinct tells him that his enemy in the future will be those with the black light. There is no common point between those individuals and they look like ordinary people without distinct trait so it is difficult to understand what the black color means. He remembers their faces for safety measure. Despite seeing so many people with white light, Lexar does not think that they can awaken their inner desire as power. He already expected that not any person can have the power to save the world but has a hard time thinking how Makoto has the potential to awaken her power. Based on his observation, he was able to figure out the light inside everyone heart is related to dream and hope. The happy children and people have something to look for in the future. The elderly are already too old to have any dream and the men in suits sitting in the park are probably unemployed and have no hope in the future. For those with grey light, they probably have something to look for in the future but the hope is bleak and twisted somehow. He can sympathize with them as he was also like them in the past: stuck in a career that there is no hope to rise up or dream something. (If human could see the light, would they be jealous of those with such white bright light?) He thinks about such scenario. Finishing analyzing the information, Lexar steps out of the house and looks for the police station, hoping to find the ideal partner. Unfortunately, the result is dissapointing. No one has the potenial to awaken their power. Coming home depressed, the cat decides to surf the net for information and check the anime at the same time. It appears that even with a new body, his hobby from the past has not changed at all. And unluckily again, the PC has password on it and he has no hacking skill to bypass it. Being sad, the cat has no choice but to watch TV. To prevent being suspicuous, he pulls the curtain over the living room and turns down the volume to 4. There is no important information and nothing interesting either. The claw keeps harrassing the remote buttons just to change the channel. At 9:00 PM, there is a sound of a key inserting the door. Realizing the owner of the house comes back, Lexar turns off the TV and puts everything back to its place. He then proceeds to the front door and waits there. Opening the entrace is Makoto. She has a tired look on her face as she comes back.. High school student has a lot of things to study after all. Her face softens when she sees the cat waiting for her.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "I am home, Lexar." Makoto smiles at him. "Meow (Welcome back)" The cat replies After the small exchange, she gets inside the house and checks if there is any dirty area. Luckily, there is none and she sighs in relief. She is already too tired to do anymore housework. After that, she takes a shower, prepares the cat food, and goes to her computer to surf the net, waiting for her parents to come home. Lexar jumps on her laps and wiggles around, acting cute. Makoto''s face is filled with happiness as she tries to play around with him. Never did she think that the reason her cat did that is to look at her password on her PC. After playing around until 11PM, her parents finally come back and the whole family go to sleep half an hour later. *At the same time, somewhere in the countryside* Sirens sound the whole place as many police cars and firefighter trucks surround a burning building. The polices are forming barrier, preventing civilians and news reporter get near. The firefighter men are using the hoses spraying water on the burning building. The fire is still burning hard without being affected much by the water. The victims who have escaped outside are shedding tear and begging the firefigther to save their dear family still trapped inside. The building is a hotel for tourists. November is a tourism season for this place and many tourists came and stay in this hotel. It was already late evening and everyone was about to sleep but the fire alarm suddenly rang. All the personels in the building followed the regular emergency exit plan and exited the building. However, a strange phenomenon occured. Those who exited outside and thought they were already safe suddenly remembered that they were missing their companions. It was not just one or two people but everyone who got out of the building. The panic broke out and they tried to go back searching for partner then the fire suddenly erupted and completely covered the building, leading to the circumstances now. This incident is later reported in the morning news as the most horrible fire case in the recent 20 years of Japan. The casualty reaches 100 people burnt inside the hotel, including the owner of the building. *Somewhere not in reality* Everything was in red: the building, the ground, the tree and even the sky. All kind of red could be seen here from crimson red, bloody red to light red. It was a school. In a corner of the school yard, a dead body of a male student was there. He seemed to have jumped off from the high floor. Blood had already spread out like a puddle trying to swallow him. The amount of blood was surely not one person could provide. Mixed with blood, black liquid swirlled around the body and started to float in mid air. A black tree was gradually formed then it suddenly shone. Pufh! The scene changed. The surrounding changed to a toilet. Water was overflowing the sinks and the floor was flooded. Noise from the faucets and water flowing out echoed along the wall. However, that was not the problem. From the toilet booths, thick red liquid flowed out thanks to the water. The vision moved to the inside one of the booths. It was a headless body with the upper part bending toward the toilet seat. There were four toilet booths with a headless body with the same position in each. However, the furthest booth¡¯s body was very special. Unlike the others which had the heads missing, its head was nearby. The head was hang upside down with a thick stack of money stuck in the mouth. The expression looked like in a state of disbelief mixed with fear. The scene changed again. It became a classroom. The teacher was giving lecture to the students. It would be a normal scene if one did not look at the mouthes of everyone present. Their mouths were slit from ear to ear with blood occasionally dripping on the desks. On top of that, their mouths were sewn with needles. When one student tried to speak, blood dripped out along with an inaudible voice from her mouth. Her face showed sign of being in extreme pain yet she still tried to say. The scene changed again. The place was the school entrance but from there a school set in blaze could be seen. The fire rose up so high and painful scream was heard. It was the sound of many people who were burnt alive inside the building. The scream kept echoing a while until everything turned black. The dream has come to an end. Lexar wakes up right with sweat drenching his body. The time is 5:30 AM and strangely enough, His body completely tenses up from the nightmare. His blood are boiling with adrenaline and his head tells him that what he saw is not just a nightmare. Furthermore, those scenes will become reality today if he doesn''t do something. Today, he has a new objective: to stop the scenes from before become a reality. Lexa will have to follow Makoto to her school because the uniforms he saw were the same as her. Chapter 5: A busy morning (So ticklish.) Makoto was woken up by that feeling and realizes that the culprit is her new cat. He took off the blanket on her body and played around with her feet by lightly hitting them. Before she can extend her arm to punish him, the cat quickly jumps off the bed and runs out of the room. She grumbles because of being woken up unnaturally. The alarm clock suddenly rings and she knows that it''s already that time. Turning off the alarm, she rises up from the bed and starts preparing for the morning exercise. (Reality is sometime stranger than fiction. In movies, people are woken up by being licked on the face by the animal. I have never heard of waking up by being tickled at the feet by a cat.) Makoto thinks as she wears the track suit. After that, she starts her jogging exercise and again, with Lexar. The expression of everyone whom they pass by is the same as yesterday. However, they are less surprised now that some people run along side with her to say hello. Luckily, they are all acquaintances, thus it is easy for her to speak with them. Lexar realizes how much popular his owner is by the amount of people she knows. Perhaps they were shocked yesterday that they did not give greeting to her. However, today, she is greeted every 100 meter she runs. Makoto shows a energetic smile and greetings to the people. In return, they get along with her well. She is especially popular with the elderly and athletic youngsters. The elderly give their thanks for what she helped them in the past. On the other hand, the youngsters often invite her out to visit some exhibitions or museum. It turns out that they also have the same interest as her. Yesterday, Lexar was able to look at her browsing history. She likes to look at pieces of famous art and studies ancient history. It is quite an unusual hobby for a high school girl. The morning exercise comes to an end and the duo come back home. Lexar is anxious at how the situation will develop at her school. He really wants her not to go but cannot convince so, and he also does not know the way to go. The cat nudges the girl''s leg to display his worry but she misunderstands that behaviour and plays with him with cheerful mood.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Makoto departs for school on foot. Because the Hakugawa academy is only a district away from home, it is the distance she can walk. Right now, she should be in a good mood when the morning starts nicely, but she has been feeling that something is not right since she left home. At first, she ignored it, thinking it was just imagination. However, the disturbing feeling keeps on until halfway to school. The thought of a stalker comes to mind and she looks behind her. In a bush on the wall, a black cat with white paws appears. (What in the world is he doing here? Has he been really following me from home?) Makoto is surprised by the discovery. She frantically looks around to see if there is any people. Luckily, it is still early in the morning and not many people pass through this street. She seizes the opportunity to quickly reach the bush and catch the cat. Strangely enough, he does not run away or resist but Makoto is too agitated to notice that. She stuffs him into her bag and talks with a low voice but filled with anger. "Why do you have to follow me? Why can''t you just stay at home and play around with the neighbor cats? What am I going to do if you suddenly go missing? Do you really want people to kidnap you or turn you into the shamisen?" A series of complaints are thrown at him. Lexar smiles bitterly at such development. Here, he is worried for her and follows to prevent the tragedy from happening to protect her. Yet this is how he is treated. The cat makes a deep sigh then turns to her with an apologetic yet cute face, "Meeoooww" He makes a long sad voice. "Urgh, how unfair. How can I be angry anymore when you act this cute?" Makoto softens her face a bit and squeezes the cat''s mouth, making different faces of his. It is until the cat makes a dissatisfied sound and bites her lightly that she stops playing around. It''s already far away from home so she decides to bring him together with her to school. "Just stay quiet and don''t do anything inside my bag.. If you behave well, I will give you fish as your lunch." Makoto tells Lexar so and closes her bag. She then reaches school without any further problem. Although when she passes by the school gate, her bag moves quite a lot but there is no one noticing that. She safely arrives at the school garden behind the building and releases her cat out. "Don''t try to run around so much. Just hide somewhere without people and wait for me until lunch. Be a good boy for me, OK?" ¡°Meow¡± The cat nods. ¡°Good. Class is starting soon so I am going now. If there is no problem, I will bring lunch for you here. Only come out when I call.¡± ¡°Meow¡± The cat nods again. She stands up and leaves the place. Reaching the corner, she turns back but the cat is nowhere to be found now. She gets back to class while feeling a bit worried. Chapter 6: Yoshida The time is 8:00 AM. Ever since entering the school, Lexar knew that his body''s instinct was correct. At the moment Makoto went through the school gate, he felt like passing through a curtain and concluded that it is a barrier or something near. The wicked aura inside the barrier has completely covered the whole school. His sense of danger has been alarming him non stop, reminding him that he is already in enemy territory. Firstly he decides to start with exploring the school. Thankfully, this place plants a lot of trees and bushes around, allowing sneaky operation for a cat. From eavesdropping the student''s conversation, this school seems normal on the outside. Based on his memory, the cat goes to the places that appeared in the nightmare but does not find anything. No sign of blood, no suicide jump, no fire. Everything is completely normal. While troubled with no clue, the school bell rings loudly. Several students still outside school hurriedly pass through the gate. At the back of the crowd, a male student enters his eyes. In contrast to the hurried crowd, he just walks normally and even slows down just before the gate. He has been looking down all the time with a worried expression. What catches Lexar''s attention is in his heart, a burning black flame. It is as big as a torch and fire cracking sound can be heard even from a far distance. Right after the boy passes the gate, the flame suddenly intensifies and covers his entire body. The exploding sound takes the cat by surprise, scaring him off the hidden place. However, nobody reacts and seems unfazed by the fire. They only pay attention to the animal suddenly running out from the bush. Lexar runs fast far away from the gate. Not only to escape from the curious students and guard but also the black flame. The human are unaffected by it but to him, that flame is full of malice and sickening. He felt that his mind would go crazy if he stayed and watched it any longer. After safely reaching a tree in remote area, he finally calms down but his heart is still beating like crazy. (What the hell is that thing? Is it the reason for all those things in the nightmare?) Lexar asks himself while trying to shake off the disgusted feeling. He finally gets a clue yet cannot do anything. That male student probably has entered inside the building and he cannot even come close to observe his action. While thinking what to do, a piece of information about his ability surfaces inside the head. "Clairvoyance" He slowly mutters. His vision suddenly spins around at amazing speed. After recovering from the car sick feeling, he finds himself right behind that male student. Moreover, his sight''s height is now the same as the boy. His vision automatically follows behind as the student moves. It was his ability "Clairvoyance", which allows its user to observe the target from far away within a radius of one kilometer with the "normal" eyes. The proof is that the black flame is not seen anymore. Such information was obtained from his body. At the moment, Lexar is shocked at the idenity of his body. Orginally, he thought it was a normal cat but many things until now disprove that. Not only superior physical ability, the eyes have different special abilities. The eyes used from the beginning are the "Potential eyes", used to detect the hidden potential inside a person. There are also "Clairvoyance eyes" just now and normal eyes. It is also hinted that there are also different eyes that I can use but there are requirements to unlock it. Lexar originally thought he did not have any outstanding special power when he was "reincranated" but this situation develops like the trend in "his past". However, this is not the time to dwelve on that. He returns focus on the student. The vision stops moving when he arrives in front of his classroom door. The class is noisy inside but as soon as he opens the door, everyone becomes quiet. They stop talking and return to their seats in silence as if a teacher just came in. The atmosphere becomes stessful with his entrance. Most students try not to make eye contact with him while some steal a glance at him with a pity feeling. Among them, there is a female student looking down. She was the one who showed up in the dream with her mouth slit and sewn with needles. Her behaviour shows a feeling of regret, shame, pained, and apologizing. She seems like trying to say something to the guy as he passes through but ends up stopping. He just goes back to his seat with an expressionless face. The teacher comes in and class starts as if nothing happens. Lexar ends up observing him an entire morning from behind without a break. Lunch break comes. He listlessly gets out of the room then goes to his shoes locker. When he opens it, a red envelope with a drawing of a skull on it is inside. He starts shaking lightly and at the corner of his sight, two guys are approaching him. Suddenly, he dashes off and pushes the guys away violently. He runs toward the stair and climbs up. Unfortunately, two male students already stood there and ambushes him. They drag him inside the restroom and punch him with no mercy. After getting several hit, the bullied one starts fighting back by slamming his body toward a guy with open blazer. A loud thud sound echoes in the restroom as the back slammed against the wall. The other bad guy firmly hold the bullied one¡¯s arm, restraining him. The two from down stair arrives at the toilet and help with restraining. The gang push the poor guy toward one of the booths, grab his head toward the toilet and flush it. The bullied one struggles furiously, but to no avail.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After a few of minute resistance, the boy stops moving and his body dangles in their restaint. They become worried and check whether he is alive or not. Giving several punches on the back, the body is still limp without reaction. The bullying group are now scared and relax their grips, pulling the head out. However, in the next moment, the boy displays his strength by strongly turning back and breaks free from the restraining. The eyes become bloodshot and his expression is full of fury. The gang are stunned and one of them with a red head gets hold by the head, slamming toward the booth. A loud bang sound with broken bone is heard. Blood stains the wall as the red hair slides down. The rest of them finally recover but gets taken by surprise again. Not missing the opportunity, the bullied one again slams another two with the same result. *Bang* *Bang* The open blazer guy steps back in fear after witnessing the scene. He was furthest from the boy so he escaped the sudden attack. But that only spells his crueler fate. With the new strength, the tattered student rushes toward him in a blink of eye and grabs his neck. Forming a cruel smile, he throws his remaining enemy with the neck targeted at the edge of the washing sink. *Creak* It is a small sound but it spells an end of a life. The neck is bent at the strange degree and the target died without being to make a sound. Perhaps realizing what he has done, the bullied one becomes shocked and scared as he looks at his hands. Multiple loud footstep sound can be heard from outside. He swings the door open then runs away, toward the stair going up. His mind only screams one word: run, run, run. Reaching the rooftop, he finally stops and crouches down while taking heavy breath. Unfortunately, soon after that, he hears noise coming from behind. Seeking a place to hide away, he looks around but there is nothing. As the noise from behind becomes louder, he grits his teeth, approaches the fence and climbs over. The crowd arrive at the rooftop and what greets them is a scene in which a student leans his back against the fence. Most of them are students while the rest are teachers. They are shocked by the development and panic. The teachers try to calm down but some students become agitated and start yelling at the teachers. Some students take out their phones to be ready to take pictures or record the scene while the other exchange among themselves. It becomes a chaos until a teacher comes out with a loud ¡°Quiet!¡±, silencing the crowd. He comes out to the front and speaks to the student on the opposite side of the fence. "Yoshida-kun!" The teacher calls out to him. There is no reply to his word. ¡°Yoshida-kun, please calm down. You should not do anything rash. Things have already become bad but the situation can still be fixed. We can still talk over.¡± The teacher says in calm voice. Yoshida remains silent with his back on the fence. ¡°I know that our class and I are at fault for letting this happen. We are very sorry for making you suffer through that. Apology may not be enough to make up for you but we will try our best to mend our fault. You do not have to worry about Shindou group. We will protect you from them.¡± The teacher continues persuading Yoshida. ¡°As expected of words from a bunch of hypocrites.¡± Yoshida responds without turning back. ¡°You all cowered in fear when the Shindou group contacted you on the matter then turned a blind eye to any mishap that fell on me. You even covered for them when people investigated this matter. I bet some of you have been licking their boots and happy with me being tortured.¡± Yoshida sneers at the teacher and his classmates. Outsider students become shocked at such revelation and look at the teacher and some students. A girl behind the speaking teacher covers her face and crouches down while weeping. His classmates look down and feel ashamed. ¡°We were in the wrong, Yoshida. I will not ask for forgiveness but please treasure your life. Your parents will not be happy with this.¡± The teacher changes his approach to convince Yoshida. ¡°How dare you talk about my parents! The Shindou group already killed them and it was all thanks to you!¡± Yoshida finally snaps and turns his face back, shouting at the teacher. The whole crowd become speechless. The crying girl has already stopped and the teacher remains in silent. ¡°I don''t know why that Shindou Kazama have gone so far just to destroy me. I just only stopped him from raping Kamishiro and he paid me back by taking everything from me. My friends, my scholarship, my student life."Yoshida starts listing out his misery. "And now he took my family away! That arson yesterday was all his doing." He screams out his anger. His classmates and some students gasp at such revealation. The people who support Shindou Kazama argue back "What kind of shit are you spewing? There is no way Shindou-sama will do those things." "Yeah, just because Shindou sama bullied you a little bit, you can''t spread out such accusation?" A female student talks back. Many voices support the stand that Shindou Kazama is innocent and Yoshida is just a low grade liar that is jealous of him. "Hahahahaha!" However, Yoshida is not taken back by the words throwing at him. "Can you hear all of this, god? This world is really trash after all. Everyone is supporting such wicked bastard. This whole world system is supported by the dumb mass who support the corrupted evil." Yoshida suddenly speaks out incomprehensible things. "Oh god, please save this world by purging these people. Please forgive me, a misguided sheep in this wicked world, for doubting me. Please allow me to compensate for my sin by offering my life to you." After saying his prayer, he jumps down from the roof with his head down. With clayvoraince, Lexar can see his face filled with madness of a cult believer. Even while falling, he is still laughing non stop. The sight immediately disconnects and Lexar realizes that he is back to the tree. Not understanding the situation yet, the surrounding starts to change. A red column of light appears and pierces through the sky. The whole world starts being dyed in red and silence comes. Hell has manifested in this school. *Somewhere in the school underground* "Materialization completes. Our operation is a success." The operator voice echoes the whole room. Chapter 7: The resistance of students *On the rooftop* "What in the world just happened?" A student tries to raise his voice asking "I don''t know. Yoshida jumped just now and before I realize it, the sky is already in red" Another student replies "Is this punishment from god? Yoshida says that he is offering his body to god." A dubious student voices out his thought. "That''s bullshit! Are you saying that it is right for us to be purged because of supporting Shindou Kazama? If god is real, he knows better what is real and what is bullshit." A tall male student shout. "Then how are you going to explain how the sky changed? Are you going to tell me this can be done by human science?" A girl talks back the shouting guy. Sound of argument can be heard in the student body. The teachers at the scene try to calm them down but get involved instead. The confusion further spreads and the scene has become a chaos. The sound is abruptly cut off as a flash occurs before everyone''s eyes. Inside their head, they see a vision of this school: A toilet with headless bodies, a classroom where everyone has their mouths sealed by needles, and a school lit in fire. It feels like an eternal to them but only takes a few second in reality. Some of them faint on the spot while the majority have a pale face. All the sudden, the rooftop becomes quiet with only the wind breezing. A strange bubbling sound transmits in the air, breaking the silence. All the heads turn toward the origin of the sound and witness a strange phenomenon. Dark liquid bubbles float in the air and expand themselves into humanoid shapes. The dark color slowly fades out, and gets replaced by other colors. A few seconds later, standing in place of the bubbles is many women. Even modestly dressed, all of them look like beauties that can attract both male and female attention, if not for the facemask and big pair of scissors in hand. Surrounding them, white toilets are floating on the sky. They make a lot of rustle sounds as the seats and covers hit each other. When the seats are open, the toilets expose lines of sharp canines, and a loud roar echoes the whole rooftop. Like a signal, the student and teacher group are thrown in total chaos. All of them try to retreat back to the stair but the door is too small for them. Not missing the chance, the toilet monsters charge toward the crowd with the mouths open aiming at the heads. *crunch**crunch**crush**crush**crunch**crunch* Mixed sounds of meat torn off enter everyone''s ears. The students and teachers at the back either have their heads smashed or biten off from the body by the monsters. "Kyaaaahh!!" The female students scream in response to the gruelsome scene. However, before the scream can last any longer, several sharp objects are thrown in the air, piercing the origins of the sound. It is the act of the masked women throwing their weapons at the students. Realizing how hopeless the situation is, some brave male students muster their courage and charge at the women. Their aim is to steal their weapons and defend themselves. But such naive resistance is futile. The toilet monsters move in front of the women, defending them. The students try to slip through the guard, but that only hastens their death. Each toilet aims at one student carefully, then suddenly accelerates, ramming at the running students. The result is predictable as the students are knocked away with broken bones. Under Yoshida¡¯s sacrifice, the rooftop has now become the graveyard for the students. *On a certain hallway* The three students who bullied Yoshida were running for their life. Because they all took some time to recover from the knockout, they arrived at rooftop later than everyone else but that¡¯s what saved them. They were able to escape quickly without being blocked by other escapees. As they run, fear fills in their mind as they try to understand what happened. Yoshida death has summoned those monsters and they are no doubt the targets. They really regretted joining hand in this deal, regretted being blinded by money and influence of Shindou Kazama. Maybe because their mind is not working right, they all hit a big black shadow standing in front of them and fall on the ground. ¡°F*ck you, where are ¡­¡± The thug tries to shout at the blocker but his word does not come out as he looks clearly at the figure before him. A 2 meter builds with traditional Japanese black uniform appears before his eyes. The whole head is covered with bandage soaked with blood and only a cold eye with killing intent is exposed. The trio crawl back away and their faces become white as sheet when they see what the big figure is holding. It is a head of a student named Shindou Kazama, which is still dripping blood on the ground. While the other hand is holding a machete. That¡¯s enough to tell them what happened. The giant starts walking at them but the three thugs stay frozen still. Perhaps, they have surrendered their fate. The hand holding machete rises up in the air and swings down with a swoosh.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. *In a school yard* Lexar is running on all four feet toward the spot where Yoshida fell. His eyes are heterochromia with his left normal eye and right "Clairvoyance" eye. He is currently checking the whole school situation while looking at the road in front of him. This development is much worse than the nightmare. Corpses and screams fill the whole school. Monsters unknown to him and people with weapons are killing the students indiscriminately. Luckily, he did not find any corpses look like Makoto but that does not relieve his worry much. Upon reaching the place where Yoshida fell, his body was nowhere to be found, but there is a black tree instead. The tree is eerie enough like it comes out from a horror movie. The feeling it gives is the same as the dark flame in Yoshida¡¯s heart, full of corruption, malice and disgust. His instinct keeps telling him to get away as far as possible but he withstands that. He wants to observe the tree and its change, hoping to find any useful information. Black liquid starts oozing out from its root and floods the whole area. Like having its own consciousness, the liquid flows toward the school wall and runs along it. He can imagine the scene where the school will be isolated from the outside by a moat, filled with that liquid. Because the tree notices his presence. black bubbles float in the air and take form of the toilet monsters. (How much grudge must he have with the school toilets to have so many monsters in that form?) Lexar gives his honest assessment. Understanding that he cannot stand here anymore, the cat quickly escapes the site and moves to the school building, with the objective finding his owner. Screams are still echoing as the students run for their life. Due to the chaos, no one notices the presence of a cat running through their legs. The smell of blood is thicker as he goes deeper. So many students have fallen victim to the massacre. His feet move faster as his right eye is looking for Makoto. Makoto and some other students are making barricade with desks and chairs, leaving only a small space for one person to pass through. All of them are holding weapons in hands: from mop, chair, to fire axe, sledge hammer, wooden sword. The group look like survivors from a zombie apocalypse movie. Four persons are putting their hands on the desk, ready to seal off the entry at any time. Although he doesn¡¯t think their action is going to be useful, it is still praise worthy. Instead of worrying about themselves, they decide to hold off the monsters for everyone else to run away. There is fear and anxiety showing on their face but he can feel the determination. Furthermore, inside their hearts, the light balls are shining brighter than ever. Hope is still not lost in their eyes yet. ¡°Lexar! Why are you here?¡± Makoto notices the cat coming and asks in a surprised voice. ¡°Makoto, is he your cat?¡± Hinami Mashima asks her. ¡°Ah, yes. That¡¯s right. He is my cat. I accidentally brought him together this morning and left him in the garden. I have no idea how he is here.¡± She answers the student while approaching me. To his surprise, the girl next to her has the potential to awaken her inner power. Not only that, there is also another girl standing guard the blockage with wooden sword in hand. Up until now, he has met only three people with potential and they are all young girls. He cannot help but think that this is similar to the development in magical girl anime. Even so, the cat does not forget to act like a pet. He rushes to Makoto side and rubs on her legs, expressing his happiness and worry. ¡°Good cat. I can tell that he has been searching for you.¡± Kurosawa Yuuko expresses her opinion with a nod. ¡°There, there. Good boy. It is all alright now. Thank you for coming to me. I am really happy.¡± Makoto hugs the cat in arm dearly while comforting him. ¡°So this is your famous cat, huh. Even though he is a cat, he has a lot of good qualities of a dog. I am now jealous of you having a pet that knows to come to his owner in time of danger.¡± Hinami lightly teases Makoto. ¡°Remember that he is mine alone. I am not going to give you.¡± Makoto sticks out her tongue while declaring her property. The atmosphere becomes relaxed at the arrival of the cat. The students gather around Makoto with admiration and try to touch the cat. Although it is expected that people will become agitated and mean in the time of crisis, the students here are different. Not only their courage, their attitude and determination make them special from those running students. They can relax when time allows them to. They are not staying here to sacrifice for the other but to fight back against danger with determination and confidence to survive through. ¡°Enemy incoming. Please block the entry.¡± Yuuko interrupts the gathering with a warning. ¡°So they finally come. Everyone, please proceed as planned. We will survive through this.¡± Hinami acting as a leader gives command to everyone. With the gap filled, the barricade is now completed with 3 stacks of desks and chairs, blocking the entire hall. Makoto puts Lexar down and gets back to her position. She takes out a bunch of strings and warps them around the hand. Following the lines, those strings are connected to both sides of the barricade. For the other students, beside weapons, they also hold many things that are not considered as weapons at all: white bags, hand shovels, lighters, spray bottles and sparkers. Looking at them, Lexar makes a smile because he understands the reason behind their confidence. A loud smashing sound occurs. The students become tense and back away from the barricade several meters. The stacks are more sturdier than they looks as they only flinch a little. The monsters are also surprised at the defense too that they stop for a moment. The next instant, several monsters slam the other side at once. The stacks are now shaken heavily as some chairs seem to fall down any time soon. ¡°Ready!¡± Hinami raises her voice as signal. The loud thud sound keeps vibrating the hallway as the chairs start to fall down one by one. Finally, when they can see the other side, the monsters are ready to give their final ram. ¡°Now!¡± The order comes out. Some students carrying the white bag use the hand shovel to scoop the flour inside and throw it toward the empty air between them and the barricade. A loud crash sound comes as the toilets break through the defense and charge at the white air with vigor. ¡°Makoto!¡± Hinami calls out. The person answers by pulling the strings in hand. The intact sides of the barricade crumble and the chairs fall down on the monsters, burying them beneath. The toilets are hit hard and struggle to get up while roaring. The leader, Hinami, still keeps a straight face and lights the match. With the fire lit, she throws it at the mess in front. ¡°Get down!¡± Her order comes and the students all lie down on the floor. After that, a deafening explosion occurs. The dark red corridor is now bright red and heat wind blows. Several explosions start blowing up like a chain. A few second feels like an eternity as the blasting sound is ringing in the student ears. The explosion finally comes to a stop and sound of flame burning fills the place. Lexar timidly move his head out of the cover. The white wall now is scorched black with small flames burning. The remains of the barricade are all over the place in pieces. But more importantly, the toilets all fell on the ground with holes on the body. They moan in pain a while then dissolve into black bubble and vanish in the air. The cat just stays there and be in awe of the scene. (Are high school students in this world that capable?) This is his honest thought. Chapter 8: The fight at the school gate Cheers rise up as the students get out of the cover and witness their result. ¡°We won! Yes!¡± ¡°How was that, you fucking monsters? Don¡¯t underestimate humanity. Hahaha, serves you right.¡± ¡°We can defeat those monsters. They are not invincible at all. We can be safe now.¡± They all cheer for their first victory against the abnormality. Some students hug each other and shed tear that they can feel hope surviving this situation. Some sit down and sigh out of relief. Even though the defeated monsters may be a fragment of what invades this academy, this victory has a special meaning to all of them. They can protect themselves until help comes or they escape from this place. Makoto joins with the her friends and the rest of the girls. They are hugging each other, expressing their relief. "That was amazing, Hinami. To think that those dust could explode that much. And you were so cool at that time too. The moment you light that match and throw at the monster was so handsome. I wish that I can go back time to take a picture." A girl gives Hinami her admiration. "Makoto is also amazing too. I did not think that those stacks could hold back those monster that long. That arrangement is like magic."Another girl gives credit to Makoto. "Un, there is also her trap. If it wasn''t for them, the monsters might charge at us during the explosion. That would be dangerous. Great job there, Makoto!" Hinami also gives compliment to Makoto. "Good job, both of you." Yuuko makes a thumb up. After two minutes celebrating, Hinami gathers everyone together.. ¡°Everyone, although this kills your joy, you must remember that this is not the end yet. Our situation is still dire. The monsters are still out there and we have not escaped yet. We still have to regroup with the other students and teachers, then find a way to escape here.¡± Being awaken by cruel fact, the students return to the serious mood anymore and gather the equipment. The students holding the flour bags and hand shovels even take more caution like they are handling gold. Their destination is the school gate because it is where the running students went to. When they arrive, things are not as expected. There are fewer students than they expect and all of them are being chased by the toilets. Many bodies are seen lying on the ground with their heads missing. The students who ran to the school gate have been under attack. The running students see Hinami group and run toward here with the monsters following behind. The girl adjusts her glasses that and gives order out "Fire team gets ready! We are testing it." Two students with spray cans along four holding weapons come out. They hold the spray cans in front of them with the sparker in another hand. The moment the running students pass by them, their fingers press on the buttons and two lines of flame burst out. The handmade flamethrowers breath out directly on the toilets. The surrounding is brightened with orange as the monsters withdraw back a little. Lexar is again in awe of what this group can do. First, a chain explosion and now flamethrowers. The horror movie directors must have spread out bullshit that high school students cannot do anything in front of horror. Although the visual effect is amazing, it is ineffective against those toilets as they only backed off a little. Hinami seems to expect that and orders "Fire team falls back. Close combat team forward. Yuuko, I am counting on you." Yuuko swings her sword strongly in the air "No problem. Everyone covers me. I am drawing their attention." She charges forward right inside the group of monsters. Seeing the prey offering its life, the monsters seem to laugh wickedly and jump on her. With only a second apart from contact, Yuuko slides down and passes through beneath all of them. Unable to stop, they all crash on the ground. Yuuko turns back and swings the sword on the tank of one monster. The clash makes a "Clank" sound, showing how much force behind her arm. However, the monster is unhurt and Yuuko has to take a step back.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Perhaps embarrassed by the fall, the monsters roar in anger after recover and only target Yuuko, ignoring those in front of them. She further taunts them by making a "Come here" gesture. Learning that their prey is not easy, they do not charge in easily but surround the girl first. Yuuko still remains calm on her face and prepares her stand. A monster flies on her and its seat is opening wide, ready to devour the girl''s head. "Kurosawa armor breaking style: throat slitter" The sword girl mutters. The sword is raised the same height as her head and thrust strongly at the cover. *Clang* Sound of porcelain shattered comes and a hole on the cover is made with a sword through. Her hands grip the handle with force then slash upward., cracking the cover in half. Without screaming in pain, the toilet monster vanishes into black bubbles and disappears. "Kurosawa armor breaking style? I thought that the Kurosawa dojo only teaches judo?"One student who knows Yuuko asks the question. "The Kurosawa family is not simple as it appears. They are well versed with many types of arts: from hand combat to close weapon combat. Although Yuuko knows them all, she is most proficient with sword and judo. Her special combat ability is the reason I am confident to make her a vanguard." Hinami answers the question with pride. That student is amazed by such fact and when he turns back to the fight, Yuuko already finishes the 2nd monster. "Their weakness is the cover. Everyone deals with them in group of three: one restraining them and two attacking the weak point. I will scatter them." Yuuko gives her finding and command to the hand combat students. Two monsters come at the same time. They intend to ram against her body, knocking her out and do not open their mouths anymore. However, Yuuko also changes her strategy. The moment they get close, she throws away her sword then puts her hands on the cover. Mustering strength, she jumps up and then flips in the air, dodging the attack. "Takeda, hammer" She calls out to a student holding a sledgehammer. Understanding her word, he throws the hammer without hesitation. The throwing speed matches his big build as the hammer spins very fast in the air. It hits right at one of the toilets, smashing its tank. It screams painfully then vanishes. Losing the momentum, the hammer slowly lands near the girl. The other monsters notice that and charge at the same time, intending to block her from getting the weapon. However, Yuuko is quicker as she grabs the hammer and rolls many time on the ground, dodging the ganging up. She spins the hammer around like using a stick. The spinning force behind is scary as it''s making *swosh* *swosh* sound, making the monsters retreat back. Not missing the chance, she steps forward while still spinning her weapon. Understand the danger, the monster horde spread out in all direction and run away from her. "Now!" Yuuko makes her signal to everyone. The students who are waiting with weapons in hand charge forward with a war cry. Perhaps influenced by excitement from watching Yuuko, the students forgot her command and just attack the covers of the toilets. But luckily, it works well surprisingly. The monsters are taken by surprise and do not have a chance to retaliate back. In just a few minutes, several of them are defeated by the students. For Yuuko, she chases after the monster running away and finishes them off. The battle has ended without any casualty on the group. The fighting students all shout out their victory cheer. "Good job, Yuuko." Makoto congratulates Yuuko and she replies back with a thumb up. "Thanks for your work, everyone. Especially you, Yuuko. I know that you can pull it." Hinami praises the whole group and Yuuko. "Yes, you were so awesome back there." A female student says. "I never knew that Kurosawa-san is that powerful. How can you spin that hammer so easily? Are you a destroyer class?"A male student says his amazement. Many voices also follow, asking about her ability. Replying all of that, Yuuko only makes a striking pose. "Kurosawa dojo open for every person. Monthly fee is 5000 Yen. Year membership comes with only 40,000 with special service. Registration is open 24/7, at Square Plaza in Shibuya. Register to get stronger." She says with an advertising tone. A banner can be mysteriously seen behind her. Her friends all laugh hard at the scene. Yuuko has been promoting her family dojo non-stop since entering school. Even in this situation, she still has not forgotten to advertise her family business. In contrast to that, the students who were rescued all stare at Hinami group in shock. They had been running away from those monsters for so long that they know how scary and dangerous they are. Despite their ridiculous look, they can chow off a person''s head in a matter of second and their ramming power is same as a car. They could not believe that a normal human can win against them. The look they give to Hinami''s group and Yuuko especially is filled with disbelief but also hope. If they can stick with them, they can survive through this hell. Lexar has been observing all of these with the "potential eyes". The students'' hope are shining brighter than before and lit in those who have lost it. Suddenly, his hair all stands up, signaling a danger. He hisses at a hallway connecting to the school gate. Surprised by the sound, the cheering also comes to a stop and everyone looks at the direction the cat is looking. A two meter build slowly appears from the shadow while dragging something. When the light shines at his legs, it is a body with the head chopped in half. The inside is spilling out as the big body drags it by the hair. Blood makes a trail wherever he goes. His other hand is holding a bloody machete. Although there is only one person, he instills fear in the students more than the toilets do. A saying "Human is more scary than monsters" perfectly describes this situation. Chapter 9: The fight with the bandage man Hinami shakes her head then looks straight at the man. She then asks in a loud voice "What are you doing !? And who are you !?". The man just keeps walking toward the group, not paying any attention to the girl''s word. "Stop right there! Don''t make any move. If you don''t listen, we will response with force." Hinami threatens the man but he ignores it. "Careful. This guy is full of killing intent. I can tell that he already killed a lot of people. He is definitely no human." Yuuko warns everyone and gets into combat stance. Everyone gets tenser by second as the man walks nearer and nearer. Hinami silently signals everyone to prepare their weapons. When the man is only 5 meters away from the group, the leader finally gives out her order. "Fire team, maximum output." Unlike before, there are 6 guys with spray cans this time and 6 streams of fire come out from their hands. The man is completely engulfed in red flame but that figure is still walking. To make it worse, he starts to speed up and breaks into the run. The sudden development scares everyone and they all break out of the formation. They are able to evade the fire charge by scattering in all directions, except for one person. That male student is unlucky, because he was aimed from the beginning. The corpse in the killer''s hand is thrown away, and the empty hand grabs for the boy''s neck, hanging him on the air. Being suffocated and burnt at the same time, the unlucky student screams painfully and tries to break out the constraint by attacking that arm. The rest of the group realize the situation and gang up on the man. Makoto takes out a string and makes a hangmans noose. She throws it over the man''s head and attaches the other side of a string with a pen. By spinning the pen, the string on his neck tightens, aiming to choke him. However, the man just ignores the string, completely fine with his neck being strangled. Yuuko steps in with the sledgehammer in hand. She swings the hammer with all she has at the killer, intending to go for a kill by smashing his head. But reality betrays her expectation. A loud *thud* sound and the man is only slightly shaken. But fortunately, that is enough for him to drop the poor guy on the ground and stands dazed. Not missing a chance, the others use their own weapons, hitting him with all their strength. Yet the man does not flinch even a slightest like the time with Yuuko. "How dare you hurted him, you murderer!" A girl runs out and throws a bottle at the him. The glass breaks and its content pours on the target. The liquid makes a sizzling sound with contact. Part of his exposed face quickly shrinks and blackens like charcoal. "*Roar*" The man reacts by howling in anger and pain. For the first time, the man is finally injured, but that only results in a more terrifying development for the students here. The killer swings his machete 360 degrees, slashing everyone near him. "Arrghhh!" x4 Due to the suddeness, four nearest student are not able to dodge in time and get slashed at their stomachs. Their contents can be seen and start to fall down on the ground. They moan a bit then all collapse with their last breath. "Isshi, Nikota, Hyuga, Shin!" Hinami calls out to the victims. "No! It''s not my fault. I did not mean to do it." The girl realizes what she did and starts shaking her head, denying her action. (This guy is really not human. Even after taking on that hammer on the head, he can still be fine. That attack just now was not normal either. He slashes through all four human bodies without having any resistance at all. The amount of force behind that arm is not joking.) Lexar calmly analyzes the man as if the death of those students means nothing to him. He was already desensitized by such thing a long time ago.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. (But still...) He looks at the surrounding students. The cat is not the only who still has his calm. Yuuko and Makoto are still staring at the man intensely. The other students who also managed to avoid that attack all have cold sweat on their spines and step back with a scared face. Even Hinami who also called out the victims'' name regains her calm after a few second. (They are really special, after all.) He thought. It is not unexpected for the teenager girls to break in tears in such a gruelsome and near death situation. For them to be able to organize and fight back the monster, he has already given them high credit for their brave will. However, the mentality they have right now is even comparable to soldiers: calmly analyzing the enemy while facing death. Their movement also say it: they attacked the bandaged man with decisive killing intent. If their opponent was a normal human, he would die right on spot. Comparing to what he saw in the anime, the girls standing in front of him now have more quality to fight as heroes to protect the world. Lexar feels that there is no problem if he helps them awaken their powers. (Brute force is not working at all. That body is like a mass of iron. Even striking at human''s weaknesses is useless. Only acid seems to be effective but we do not have that much to dissolve him. We need to deal with that machete first before trying anything.) Makoto thinks of a strategy. "Yuuko, do you think that fireaxe can cut through his skin?" She asks the person who hit the monster with hammer in a loud voice while making a cutting sign behind her hand. "The toughness came from the skeleton, not from the skin or muscle. I saw the meat deformed a bit when we stroke him at various places. If we stab or slash the parts without bone structure, we can probably damage him. " Yuuko gives out her analysis in the same manner. "How much acid do we have left?" Makoto then shouts to ask Hinami, who is far away. "Three bottles worth!"Hinami answers with a big voice. "Good. Throw one bottle for me." "Catch!" Hinami throws a glass bottle in the air. The bandage man hears the conversation and charges toward Makoto. While on flame, he raises the machete high, intending to chop the girl in half, but he is blocked by Yuuko. The long hair girl makes a full spin and swings the hammer right at the face. The target of the machete changes to the attacker as the big build brings it down. Yuuko makes a side step, avoiding the slash by a hair breath, and her attack lands on the shoulder joint. At the same time, Makoto drops a heel kick on the killer''s wrist, forcing the man to drop the weapon down. However, the attempt fails as the hand holding the machete loosens a bit but does not drop. (Still not good enough...) Both the girls think the same thing. Suddenly, a small black shadow appears. It extends its claws and scratches at the fingers. The hand opens at that moment and the machete falls on the ground. It was Lexar and he immediately snatches the machete in his mouth then runs away. "Nice work, Lexar" Makoto smiles at his good timing support. Realizing what happened, the bandage man roars in anger and swings his arm to punch the girls, but misses. They already retreated back and regroup with Hinami bunch along Lexar. "Good cat, nice support there." Yuuko pats on the cat''s head. "We have taken away his weapon now, it''s time for a counter attack." Hinami holds the machete in hand while excitedly saying so. Hope returns back to the student body. They hold firmly the weapon in hands and surround the bandage man. Being in disadvantage, he observes the surrounding while groaning. Looking at the machete in Hinami''s hand, he stops looking around then stands straight. "noinim ,emoC" He says in an unknown language. The black sea blocking the school gate creates big waves. Hundred bubbles fly out and float on the air, surrounding the bandage man. The students break the encirclement, avoiding the black bubbles hitting their bodies. Those bubbles fall on the ground and create a small black puddle each, then toilet monsters come out. There are more than a hundred of them, completely reverse the situation.The students are now surrounded instead. Despair comes and strikes them. Everyone did not expect such development. They are confident that they can defeat a handful of monsters with their number superiority and tricks. However, in front of such overwhelming number, all the tricks are useless. "It''s all over. We can''t win against them."A student mutters. "We are going to die here." Everyone becomes hopeless as the light inside their hearts dwindle a lot and some have completely disappear. Only three persons left with their hopes still shining more than ever: Makoto, Hinami and Yuuko. Among them, Hinami is now the biggest and Lexar can see it spreading out her body. And then he discovers it: a small transparent box enveloping the center of the light. It is blocking most of the light out of her heart. At that instant, he knows that it''s time for his main job. : ¡°Hear my voice, inner desire of thou Thou desire shall wake up from slumber and guide thou through the illusion of this world. Thou shall be reborn from this world and create your reality.¡± A bright light engulfs the whole area as Lexar finishes his chain. Chapter 10: Hinamis awakening *Hinami''s POV* "Is it too difficult for you?" A woman voice echoes in my head. Her voice interrupts me thinking on how to escape this situation but I don''t get bothered by it. It was due to her that I can survive this far with my friends. I don''t know how but her voice is like an advanced hypnosis technique that allowed me to concentrate better while discarding my fear and worry. If it was a normal me, I doubt that I would be able to come up with the current weapons and plans to fight against these monsters. Right now, she is the hope I need to break through this ordeal. A chant comes from somewhere. My head starts to become fuzzy and the eye lids feel so heavy. My conciousness starts to drift away. When I open my eyes, I am in an extravagant room with many luxurious decorations. The center of the floor is occupied by a whole skin of a bear and an elegant tea table with diamond ornaments. On the wall, many medals and heads of many animals are hung. The total value of this room may worth even billion yen. I realize that I am sitting on a sofa and opposite of me, across the table, there is another woman enjoying tea on her seat. She is wearing a extravagant white military uniform with many badges on her right chest. Even inside house, she still has military cap on her head. She has a beautiful face brimming of confidence and elegance, which is only seen in women in high rank of working society. I have a strange feeling that I already know her and expect that she would look like this, despite our first meeting. I look at her and patiently wait until she finishes her drink. Her closed eyes open when she puts down the cup. The aura around her has completely changed. I feel pressure all over my body like I am in front of a king. Not a king in name only but one with absolute dominance over people and complete authority. In her case, a queen is an appropriate word. Her gaze is piercing enough like she can see through me. An anger surges within me despite the pressure. I don''t know the reason but her dominance over me is something that I cannot accept no matter what. My entire life is controlled by my father, who is the head of a zaibatsu, and thrown all over the places by the suggestion of many people. I have tolerated their dominance over my life because I have no power. However, this woman alone will not have that privilege. Even though she is many leagues above them in term of power and wealth, I cannot accept that. "Stop this insolence at once!" I shout at her face. Contrary to my expectation that she becomes angry, her face shows a satisfying smile. A smile of someone who is glad that people have passed her test. Such an arrogant attitude but it fits her so well. Her aura from before has gone and silence fills the room as we stare at each other. I look at her with a mix of anger and tension while she has a calm demeanor. Thought races in my head as I inspect her. Memory of my whole life starts to be recollected: the moment my father became the head of Mashima zaibatsu and received the Mashima name, the moment I had to accept the challenge to succeed my family and the moment when my grandfather gave me the lecture on the quality of Mashima. The figure in front of me now has all of the things I want to have in the future: power, authority, wealth, success, and upholding of one own value; except that military uniform as I have no intention going in the army. Tension and anger subside as I organize all these thoughts and now, I see her as someone I will become. Without exchanging any word, a link between us is formed as we both stand up and recite it, the teaching of Mashima family. "...................." We both say the content in sync while looking at each other. Our recitation comes to an end. Silence is again filled inside the room but the atmosphere is different now. "I understand now." I say to her. "Yes, and I do expect it." She replies. "You are me." "And I am a reflection of yourself, your hope and desire."Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "Quite an image of hope and desire, you get there." I laugh lightly at her image. "Because it is what you are wishing now, after all." She replies with a nonchalant voice. "I need your help. Now." I ask for her help. "Let''s go save our friends" She agrees to my request. White color starts to cover my vision and my consciousness is once again drifted away. *At the school gate* The scenery becomes visible again after the light dissipates. Everyone is stunned by what happened. Even the monster army stops making sound. Every person here gazes at Hinami and is at loss of words. She is now covered in white transparent fire. The flame burns intensely as smoke disperses in the air. Her friends all become worried at such scene but the person herself does not pay any attention to it. Her eyes are closed with relaxed expression as if the fire does not harm her at all. "Hinami." Makoto calls out to her. "Hu hahahahahaha." Hinami suddenly breaks out a loud laugh, which surprises everyone here. When she opens her eyes, they feel like we are looking at a different person. Unlike the gentle charisma of a capable leader from before, she now eludes an aura of a queen with complete confidence and absolute dominance over everyone here. The pressure she emits has prevented all person here from speaking and captivated them. A strange thought comes to the students¡¯ mind that ¡°She is our queen. It is our duty to serve her.¡± Even Lexar is also affected slightly. He knows that he has succeeded awakening her power but for it to be king authority related, the person himself is very surprised. Hinami puts her right hand on the left shoulder, gripping her blazer. ¡°My name is Mashima Hinami.¡± She suddenly introduces herself in a loud voice. ¡°This school is the place where I go. That fact is enough to prove that this is my area, my territory. Those of you evil who spread terror here are no doubt invaders of my land; those who dares to shake and question my authority as a ruler.¡± ¡°Under the decree of the Mashima, I shall hereby sentence you: purification judgment. CLOAK UP!¡± She grips her blazer strongly and then tears it off. The flame around her suddenly intensifies and becomes thicker, covering Hinami''s figure. Strong heat winds blow the surrounding area and carry dust with it, creating a white storm with her at the center. The students cover their eyes to protect from the dust. When the wind subsidizes, they open their eyes and gasp. A different girl stands at the place where Hinami was. She is wearing a white military unifrom with gaudy decoration and a cap. Her long black hair is tied as a bun behind her head. Her beautiful face has many points similar to Hinami but more mature, and the glasses are nowhere to be found. People may mistake her as the older sister of Hinami but her friends do not mistake it. That large build man seems to realize the danger as he orders his minions to charge. ¡°Hinami, be careful!¡± Yuuko shouts out when she recovers from the shock. Hinami remains still as the minion horde get closer. Her eyes lock on them with intimidation and disgust. Being stared so intensively, the monsters roar louder while speeding up. "Don''t you dare approach me, you dirty creatures!" She shouts in anger. Her hands lower down and in the space between them, a minigun materialzies. She holds it up and aims at those toilets. The revolving cylinder of steel sings a deadly tune of destruction as the bullets rain on them. The monsters are pierced with many holes on the body and fall on the ground, dispersing into black bubble after a small moan. Pieces of porcelain fly all over the place as the bullet stream sweeps through the monster army and annihalate every toilet stand on its path. A complex feeling surges in Lexar''s head. The magical girl''s debut entrance is so epic yet her opponents have to be the toilet monsters. Not only that, he feels lucky that those toilets are quite clean as only clear water and porcelain come out of them. If they had poop and urine inside, this whole place would become a source of biohazard. The girl also realizes it as her face is showing a bitter smile and the dominating aura disappears. The suffocating area is now empty as the monster corpses all vanish in the air. Only the bandage man remains, lying on the ground. He used his underling as the cover to escape from the bullet hell. Hinami has already stopped shooting, and the minigun disperses into small particles then vanish. "To think that my debut stage is such a disgraceful scene." She bits her lip with an angry voice. She creates a handgun out of the air and walks toward the lying man. Her boots hit on the marble ground with loud sound, showing how angry she is. No one dares to approach or call out to her. Her target keeps lying on the ground despite no serious injury. *Bang* The gunshot echoes the hallway. The bandage man is hit right in the head. White flame suddenly surges from his body and consumes him, leaving only white ash. The battle has finally ended yet no one says a single word. The students are either shocked by what happened or afraid of the current Hinami, or even both. The military girl herself is humiliated by the fight with her opponents and lost the chance to show her glory. Yuuko and Makoto do not know what to say. The situation becomes awkward with nobody speaking. Feeling tired, Hinami takes a deep sight then raises her hand up with a loud shout "Victory is ours!" All the students break the awkward atmosphere and cheer after her. Chapter 11: Hinamis ability A strong wave of tiredness comes from Hinami''s body as she walks back to her group. A white flash comes and she turns back to her normal appearance. Her legs give in the gravity and collapse on the floor. However, Yuuko is quick and catches her. "You OK?" Yuuko asks while pulling Hinami''s arm on her shoulder. "It''s probably just exhaustion. The activity spends more energy than I thought." Hinami smiles in return. "Just what was that? You suddenly laughed like a maniac and acted haughtily. Then you transformed into this military girl and shot the monsters with guns out of nowhere." Makoto asks her as she comes to help. "That was so chuuni of you, Hinami. Never thought that you were that serious." Yuuko also adds in her opinion. "Is that how you treat your saviour? Embarrass people and make them think they are chuuni? And here I thought that I showed my glory and coolness." Hinami makes an angry face as she is commented by her friends. "Even so, there is no denying that you looked so cool at that time. You have really saved us there." Makoto says. "Yes, thank you for saving us." Yuuko agrees. "Haiz, forget it. It does not really feel good to hear thanks after being called a chuuni like that. I am not sure you girls had such abusive mouths before." Hinami makes a awkward smile as she looks at her two friends. The persons themselves just chuckle without replying. The other students surround them and ask all types of questions regarding what happened. Makoto and Yuuko block them, telling that Hinami is now tired and need to rest, but she gives them a stop hand sign. "Silence!" A dominating voice reaches all the students'' ears. They are chilled by the fearsome aura and now step farther away from the trio. Her two best friends are also surprised and looks at her with wide eyes. "I know that you guys all have a lot of questions that want me to answer. But I myself don''t know much what happened either. It just simply occured without notice. You guys should check the damage and equipment first. I will analyze what happened and tell you the results later. OK, dismiss." Hinami says to everyone Perhaps influenced by her queen aura, the students do not talk back and obdiently follow her command, though there are still curiousity and dissatisfaction in some eyes. They leave the place, leaving the trio alone. Makoto and Yuuko look at her seriously with a questioning attitude. "Yes, that was my power just now. It''s not only the transformation, I can also give command and lead people easily with it." Hinami conveys the truth. "What is the limit of it?" Makoto asks. "Right now, I can only makes people obey reasonable commands more easily. However, with enough condition, I can make people perform suicide bombing for me."This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it "Then isn''t that brainwashing?" Yuuko worriedly ask. "Not really. There are two requirements to do such an extreme action. The first thing is that I have to make the person recognize me as someone higher than them in social stand. It also depends on how high I am according to the person. The less difference in status the less degree of command I can give them. The second thing is how much obligation they have to follow me. For example, company A manager can command company A employees but can''t do so with company B''s. In addition, the person in control can still retain his own thinking. The power of authority is a more suitable word." "Do you remember your action during the transformation?" Makoto asks another question. "Yes, I can still vividly remember." "Then did you realize that your personality changed?" "... Yes, I did." Hinami gives a short pause before answering. "But that''s also a part of my personality. A side that I have never shown you before. It''s not the side effect of the power that you are thinking." She stops Makoto before she can say any word. "It all occured to everyone here, not just me: your friends who fought with us, those students whom we saved, and even you, Makoto, Yuuko. Everyone showed a side that they had never shown to everyone ever since this incident happened. I did not know that you were that proficient in setting traps and using the strings in that manner. Those are not normal things student will learn. And Yuuko too, I know that your family teaches a lot of real combat techniques because I researched it. It''s not an open fact to anyone. The way you fight just showed that you do not receive normal training at all." Hinami points to her friends. Yuuko just remains silent while Makoto still wants to say something. Under Hinami''s eyes, she realizes that the person herself does not want to dwelve in this topic anymore and decides to change the topic. "Hey Hinami, can you create those guns again?" Makoto asks with an expecting tone. "Ah, creating those things does exhaust me mentally. I have to keep the gun image clear inside my head for it to keep it existing. Otherwise, it will disappear. So if the gun leaves my hand, it cannot exist anymore so I can''t arm anyone here with them. Sorry to disappoint you. It is not that a convinient ability." Hinami replies with an apologizing tone. "No, no, it''s okay. As long as you are here, we are still safe." Hinami says. "Un, we are not so useless that we cannot defend ourself. We can at least buy time for you to shoot the enemy." Yuuko also joins in. The girls discuss many things about her ability, what they can do, what to say to the other students and how they escape to the gate beyond the black liquid. Lexar observes them and get amazed by how mature these girls are. Even after getting such powerful ability to defeat the monster, they do not rely on it too much but discuss many options and possiblities instead. They are still cautious against those monster without underestimating them. From their conversation, the real background behind these three girls are not simple at all, including his owner, Makoto. While thinking, he is called by her. "Lexar, come here." The cat walks toward the trio and jumps into Makoto''s arm, enjoying the sensation of being hugged by a young girl. The girl praises his action while happily playing with his ears. The topic of conversation now turns to him. "Lexar, the one who said the chant when I transformed was you, right?" Hinami suddenly asks him. "Meow (Yes)" The cat replies. For Yuuko and Makoto, they just hear a simple "Meow" but to Hinami, she hears a clear japanese "Yes". Hinami face stiffens a little bit. She has a hypothesis but she was surprised when it is true. There are many things she want to ask. "Ok, Lexar, can you ...?" "Mashima-san. We have already treated the injured and gathered our equipment." A student comes and interrupts the conversation. "Mewowow (We will talk later)" The cat makes a long strange sound. Hinami is slightly angry that the timing of interruption comes too well but she holds it as the matter with the other students is also important. She decides to delay the questioning with this cat later and focus on dealing with the students first. Chapter 12: The student escape The casualty is as expected. Excluding the 4 students slashed deeply at the stomach by the bandage man, everyone else do not suffer life threatening injury. The heaviest injury belongs to the guy who was grabbed by the neck. The choking mark is still visible on his throat with some burnt area. He was in a critical state but thanks to good first aid technique from a student with medical background, he is now safe but should be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. Those who managed to dodge the machete also suffered some injuries. The machete sliced a bit on their stomachs so they still need a lot of care. Most of those injured are from the students at the school gate. They had to pass through a lot of monsters so they were attacked many times. God of luck has blessed them that the injuries they have did not affect their running ability or they would had not reached here. After confirming the report, Hinami gathers everyone and tells them the basic information of her ability. Of course, she only tells them the transformation power, no mention of the authority power. Since nobody expects a second power, they only ask about the transformation. Many aspects are asked and Hinami gets to understand more about her power after testing several hypothesis proposed. Except questions on capability of her power, other questions like why she wore military uniform, how she got the power; she only answers them: "I don''t know". Despite being dissatisfied, they know that they still need Hinami''s help to escape here so they do not press the questions further. The next part is information gathering. According to the students they saved, it seems that beside bandage man and toilet monsters, there are also women in mask with knife or scissors in hand. They were the main killers of the students who stayed classrooms. Unlike the toilet monsters or bandage man, they both have number and brutally simple killing method: slashing victims until they die. The students here admitted that they were lucky because they only saw the massacre from a far and decided to escape just before those women noticed them. The women were very fast as many people were caught while escaping. Hearing how gruesome the scene, Hinami group find themselves lucky that they were near the lab area, where they were able to find the weapons and only had to face the toilet monsters. If what they encountered had been those women, they would have died already. Another strange thing is the absence of adults. When the world became red, the teachers suddenly disappeared. Hinami group also found it strange that there was also no school worker: lab technician, janitor, cafeteria lady. All of these seem to point that only the students come to this world. After analyzing the information, they have come up with the worst possible scenario: all the students probably already died by those masked murderers and they will find them soon. They decide to hold a poll on the next course of action. A majority of votes consider escaping from this place immediately while only three people vote finding the remaining survivors. The three voters are those who want to find their family who also study at Hakugawa academy. Their insistence is so strong that they want to stay here even if the rest decide to escape. As leader, Hinami is very troubled what to do.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. In the end, she decides to divide the student body into two groups: majority of them escape outside and call for help; and one will stay back to find survivors. The latter only has the three voters and Hinami, Makoto, Yuuko (Lexar also included). The main reason why the trio decide to stay back is sympathy. They have experienced the pain of losing sibling so they want to help those three. There is also another reason: to investigate the cause behind this red world. Hinami originally opposed her friends staying back but got convinced otherwise: Yuuko has real combat training while Makoto showed her different methods to escape from danger. Both her friends and her cat were shocked by what she stores inside her clothes and bags: a rope, an iron hook, smoke bombs, pepper spray, and mysterious durable transparent string. Lexar did not even know that those things were hidden in the bag even he was inside it. The escape route is already decided. Hinami discovered that explosive throwable like grenades do not disappear even she gives it to other people. She experimented by throwing grenade into the black liquid and the result was satisfying. White flame burned the liquid away and a small path to outside was formed. It was quickly filled by the flow but this proved that the grenade worked. After several trials, the optimum solution is to throw a large amount of grenades on both sides of the path, creating flame walls that block the flow for a few minutes. "Everyone, ready?" Hinami asks. "Yes, ma''am." The guys who hold grenades reply. "Ok, on my mark. 1st wave ready. One, two, three, THROW!" Hinami gives out command. Five grenades are thrown in the air and land on the surface of black liquid. They all explode on contact and white flame spreads out. The black liquid vaporates rapidly and soon, a path of 5 meter is open. "2nd wave ready. THROW!" This time, more than 20 grenades are thrown. They land both side of the pathway and create another two seas of flame. further widening the path. "The path is clear. Go." With that signal, the escaping group all run to the gate in order. Thanks to the authority power, there is no cutting line or disruption in the formation. They all follow her order obdiently. When the first student passes through, a splash wave forms in the air and the blue sky world can be seen on the other side of the gate. The leading student can finally see the blue sky and shouts out in joy. The group become excited and one by one passes through the gate, hoping to see the nostalgic world. Hinami group are also touched by the scene. When the last student passes through, the blue sky world dissapears and the red world replaces it. The white flame also burns out and the flow moves again, blocking the path. "Sorry, we got you involved in our issue. If it was not because of us, you would already escape this hell." A student named Sugihara Takagi bows his head down to the trio. The other male and female student also follow his head and bow to them. "It''s alright already. We have power to protect ourself now so it should not be that dangerous. We should hurry and find your sister." Hinami makes a smile, comforting them. Yuuko and Makoto also nod. "Thank you very much. We are very indebted to you." Sugihara Takagi again bows dow along with his two followers. "Enough of this already. Let''s go." Makoto becomes irritated by their behaviour. Chapter 13: Sugihara siblings Sugihara Takagi is a descendant of an old line of Japanese nobles. Although they are not rich and powerful as the current zaibatsu, their ties in politics world are still very important. The other two who follow behind him can be said his servants. Their family have served the Sugihara family for many generations and that relationship still continues until now. Sugihara Meiya is Takagi''s younger sister and like his brother, she also has two followers, who are also siblings of his followers. Lexar is surprised when he learns this. To think that such outdated relationship still exists in the modern world. He probably does not understand Japan well or this world''s Japan is not the same one as he knows. As nobles, they have special communication device to tell each other''s location. This measure is to deal with kidnapping and it turns out to be useful in this situation. From his story, they originally intended to meet up at the school gate but Meiya had to hide from those masked women and locked herself in the changing room with her followers. Until now, they are all alive so the brother wants to save her no matter what, even risking his own life. The school at this time is very dangerous. The screams from student have already gone and only eerie silence remains. On the hallway, there are many spots for ambush and there is no guarantee that the monsters or those women will not use strategy to kill them. They have to go with caution. Luckily, Hinami finds that Lexar can speak and understand human speech. She asks for Makoto''s permission and the cat himself to work as a scout. He accepts her request without objection. With keen sense of animal and small size, he can detect any danger and alert them in time. To the Sugihara family, Hinami explains that Lexar is only a very smart cat. The formation is already decided. Lexar is ahead as a scout. Hinami in her military form works as vanguard with Makoto behind. The Sugihara trio are in the middle and Yuuko serves as rear guard. They follow the path to the changing room on 1st floor. Along the way, many headless corpses are seen while some are slashed brutally with organs on the ground. This was definitely the work of those toilet monsters and bandage man. As they approach the stair, there are fewer headless corpse but more corpses with a different type of wound. They were cut cleanly at the vital parts, thus the organs do not fall around like the bandage man victims. Even so, all of these are too gruelsome for the students. The group try to hold back but end up vomiting halfway. Luckily, they do not have any encounter with the monsters or those masked women. Lexar is used to such scene but still finds it disturbing because all of the people here are just only teenagers studying in school peacefully. There is no reason for them to meet such a cruel end. His anger toward Yoshida rises as he looks at the terrified face of the deceased. "May you have a good after life." He offers a praying for them. Suddenly, violent sound comes from Takagi''s communication device. He quickly puts it on his ear and calls his sister. "Meiya, what''s wrong? What is happening there?" "Big brother, please hurry. They are coming. They are trying to break the door to the changing room." Her crying voice reaches everyone''s ears. "Hang in there, Meiya. Big brother is coming. You have to keep the door closed before I arrive." Takagi impatiently replies his sister but what responds him is a louder banging sound. "Please, you have to save my sister. I will do anything to pay you back, Mashima-san." He begs Hinami with tears in eyes.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. "Sugihara-san, you have to calm down first. We can''t just charge recklessly at the enemy without knowing anything." Hinami tries to calm him down. "How the hell can I calm down? Did you hear the loud sound just now? The door is gonna... Fine, I will just go ahead and save my sister." Takagi shouts to Hinami then decides to run ahead. "Young master!" His two followers call and follow him. "Stop right there!" Hinami activates her authority to command them but to no avail. "Damn it! His head is boiling already. Girls, we have to follow him." She rushes her other two friends to run. "Meooww (Let me go ahead to confirm his sister''s situation)" Lexar says to Hinami then runs ahead. His speed is much faster than human. In just a few seconds, he already runs pass Takagi and leaves him behind. After turning two corners, he sees two toilet monsters ramming on a door. The cat makes a big "Meow" to attract the monsters'' attention. They turn their faces to him but when they realize it is just a cat, they resume the task and keep ramming the door. Angry for being ignored, he makes a dash then jumps on one of the monster''s cover. He musters his strength and punches it. Unfortunately, the hole is not formed but he succeeds drawing their aggro. It thrashes around, intending to shake him off but he holds firm. At the same time, Takagi and his followers finally reach the changing room, with Makoto, Hinami, Yuuko behind. "Lexar!" Makoto calls to him. "Takagi-san, step aside." Hinami takes out a handgun and shoots the monsters. *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* Six bullets are fired and pierce six holes on two monsters. Flame consumes them into white ash and Lexar gets down on the ground. The group of six hurriedly run to in front of the changing room. "Lexar, you really made me worried there. How dare you made your owner worried like that?" Makoto hugs him tightly and pinches him hard with an angry face. "Meeeeeeoooow (It hurts!)" The cat makes a painful scream and tries to break out of her hands. "Please don''t do that, Tachibana-san. If he did not buy time for us, my sister would be in danger. I even need to thank him for that. I also have to thank you for having such a wonderful cat." Takagi frantically tries to stop Makoto and protect Lexar. "Ok, I already get it. Geez, be thankful that someone else speaks for you, stupid cat. You should only serve your owner, not other people." Makoto softens her expression a little and relaxes her hug. The cat does not miss the opportunity and jump out of her arms. He quickly hides behind Hinami''s feet and turns his face away, not looking at Makoto. "Hahahaha. Looks like our hero dislikes his owner now." Hinami teases Makoto. "Being too possesive is no good." Yuuko also comments. The girl in person has no word to say and can only smile awkwardly. ''Meiya, are you inside there? It''s me Takagi. Open your door for me." Takagi knocks on the door while calling out. "Takagi-sama?" A surprised voice comes from inside. "Is that Enjou? It''s me, Takagi. You can open the door now. It''s already safe." Takagi replies to the voice from inside. Sound of things moving inside is heard. After a minute, the door is open and a male student comes out. "Takagi-sama. Thank you for rescuing us." Enjou bows his head to Takagi. Another person suddenly comes out behind him and hugs Takagi tightly. In return, he also welcomes her in embracement. The girl presses her face and cries out loud. "*Sob* *Sob* Where were you, big brother? I was so scared. I thought I was gonna die before I could meet you." Sugihara Meiya cries in her brother''s chest. "It''s all safe now, Meiya. Everything is ok now. You don''t have to be afraid anymore. Big brother is here for you." Takagi kisses her hair while comforting her. "*Sob* Un, I know. I know that big brother will always be there for me." Meiya makes a happy smile while still crying. "Big brother will not be away from you anymore" The brother happily combs her hair with his hand.. On the other hand, "Urgh, to think that the rumour is true. The Sugihara siblings are both sis-con and bro-con."Hinami makes a disgusted face. "Incest is really no good. Should stop them" Yuuko closes her eyes tight, trying not to look at the couple. "This is too much sugar for me. I don''t really like this." Makoto covers her mouth with her hand, pretending to be sick. The four followers of Sugihara family have no choice but to smile wryly in front of the usual exchange between their masters and the remarks from the outsiders. Chapter 14: The fight with the slit mouth 1 After spending some time for the lovey dovey siblings, Sugihara Takagi introduces Makoto, Hinami, Yuuko to his sisters, and tells about how they rescued everyone. "Thank you very much for helping me and my brother. And you too, Lexar, thanks to you, I am now alive." Meiya bows her head and expresses her gratitude with a bright smile. Her scared and childish attitude has disappeared, and now looks like an elegant lady, fitting the noble title. His brother too now has composure and acts like one as well. Perhaps he wants to show his best side in front of his sister. "What should we do next, Hinami?" Makoto asks for the leader her opinion. "So far we have been safe but my anxiety does not go away. Personally, I think that we have already rescued 3 people, maybe there are other survivors we can save. I also want to gather as much information about this world as possible. However, our safety is not really guaranteed and having more people makes it more difficult to protect. Mashima-san, this is my first and last warning: Don''t break out the formation like that before. It was a very dangerous action. We may have been ambushed by the monsters and wiped out. If you do it again, I will completely ignore you and your sister''s safety. I am the one who is the leader here." Hinami gives out her thought and warns Takagi. "It will not happen again. I promise" Takagi answers her with affirmation. Hinami nods then keeps talking "Now, back to the topic, in the case we are able to save more people, the danger also increases as well. From what we have seen so far, the enemy also can think logically and have command structure. We have to face against beings with intelligence yet there is not much we know about them. The safest course of action is to send the survivors we save outside as soon as possible then go back to search for more. The bad point about it is that it takes time and the more time passes, the less chance of survival they have." (If we have one more person with power, we can divide into two teams for each task.) Hinami looks at Lexar while thinking so. To keep thing in secret, Hinami hasn''t approached Lexar to talk about her power at all. There is no problem if it was just Yuuko and Makoto but there are Sugihara family here so she resisted the urge to ask. "You are a little bit confident here, Hinami. We have never fought those women before so we are not even sure we can survive when encountering them. You are already assuming that we can fight them off safely even with few people." Yuuko makes a point. "You helped me there. I did not consider enemy''s capability that much. I was too focused on rescuing more people." Hinami admits her mistake willingly. "Saving people is really important but that is when you can survive first. I believe that we have enough to protect ourselves but such matter should be carefully considered." Yuuko says. "Do you have any plan, Yuuko?" Makoto asks. "First, we need to secure and prepare the escape route first. We will send the Sugihara back then find those women near the school gate and fight. If they are too much for us to handle, we can immediately escape. If not, we can proceed with the rescue with more certainty." Yuuko gives out her plan. "It''s not bad. What do you think, Takagi-san and Meiya-san?" Hinami agrees with this plan then asks for the siblings for their opinions. "I will follow any instruction you give. But personally, I''d prefer if you can send my sister outside first, this world is too dangerous for her." Takagi says. "I hope that you can save the remaining survivors as soon as possible. But for your safety, I think we should Yuuko''s plan." Meiya gives her opinion.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "How about you, Makoto? And you guys too." Hinami asks the four followers. "We want to send Mashima-sama back home first." A representative answers the question. "Let''s go with Yuuko plan. I believe we can fight back those women then proceed to save the others." Makoto answers. "It''s decided then. We will send you guys outside first..." Hinami concludes the discussion but gets interrupted by a "Meow". "Meow meoow maoow (We are going to be surrounded. Run!)" Lexar warns everyone. Only Hinami hears what he said but everyone understands that the cat is warning them something. "We need to run. Lead the way, Lexar." Hinami gives command to the cat. The group starts running with the cat leading. With the help of "Clairvoyance", he already sets a path with the fewest monsters possible or with only toilet monsters. The masked women have appeared and are now chasing them. The clothes are wet with blood and hands are holding knives or scissors, making them look like a group of psychopaths. He even saw them playing around with the carcasses. The bandage man gave a feeling of brutal violence while they have a feeling of creepy insanity. Their eyes are full of murder, terror and excitement. Just looking at them gives a chill in the spine. Makoto group finally reach the school gate but the masked women are already behind them. Seeing them in real eyes gives everyone goose bumps. The two groups stand still and stare at each other. "Hahahaha, you can''t escape now, cuties. Because you are gonna die here." A leading woman talks to them. "You can talk?" Yuuko asks in bewilderment. "Does it matter that much? Because I''m going to kill you right now. Girls, get them!" The leader does not have any intention to talk anymore and orders her group to attack. "Just defend yourself. I will do the attack." Hinami creates 2 SMGs from the white flame in her hand and shoots those women. Those get shot have holes all over the body and burn into white ash, similar to the toilets and bandage man. However, it is a difficult battle. Different from the previous enemies, the women are quite agile as they run fast and knows to crouch down or move in complex pattern, evading the bullet. Not only that, more and more masked women appear and charge at them. *Clank* *Clank* The SMGs are out of bullets as Hinami kills the 10th woman. She clicks her tongue and throws the empty guns away. A cylinder forms on her back with a gun attached to it with a hose. She holds the gun and points it toward the nearest woman. "How about this?" Hinami sneers A stream of white fire comes out from the gun, burning the target into crisp in only a second. Different from the handmade flamethrower, the one in her hand shoots a stream of 20 meter long and its flame is more than 2000 degree Celsius, a degree enough to melt iron. Unlike the SMG bullets that they can withstand a few hit, any woman who approaches near Hinami is burnt to ashes without any trace. The masked company all stop in front of such weapons. The heat is so terrifying that their faces are burnt a little bit despite standing far away. The students side cheer for Hinami as the monsters are pushed back. However, things turn to unexpected development. Hinami suddenly kneels on all four and sighs heavily. The flamethrower disappears and her clothes changes from the military uniform to student uniform. She did not expect that using that flamethrower could take her so much energy. Now she does not have any power left to transform, not mentioning fighting. The leading masked notices her condition and laughs evilly. ¡°She already does not have any power now. Go and revenge our sisters!¡± She rushes out to the front and raises her butcher knife high, with the aim right at Hinami¡¯s neck. The girl is too tired to move and can do nothing but to close her eyes out of instinct. *Clang* A metal sound hitting vibrates the air. Yuuko stands in front of Hinami with wooden sword in hand. She hit the handle of the side of the butcher knife, knocking it fly away. Makoto approaches the leading woman and gets behind her. The string in her hand circumvents the woman¡¯s neck and tightens it. The woman struggles to get away but Hinami stills pin herself on the woman back and further tightens the string. Black smoke gathers in the woman¡¯s hand and another butcher knife is there. However, before it can be used, she is kicked then a slash from the wooden sword comes at her head. The force Yuuko used is enough to crack a human¡¯s skull. The woman collapses on the ground and stops moving. Blood flows from her head. ¡°You have done enough, Hinami. Now it¡¯s time for us to protect you.¡± Yuuko¡¯s voice enters Hinami¡¯s ears. She is feeling too tired and her eyes are feeling heavy, but she struggles to stay awake, to protect everyone. However, a chant comes from behind along with Yuuko¡¯s voice. She finds it acceptable to close her eyes a while. ¡°Cloak up¡± That word enters her ears before her consciousness drifts away. Chapter 15: Yuukos awakening *Yuuko POV* Hinami is fighting. She is fighting right at the front line while I am here to just to protect myself or cover her. No, I doubt that she even needs my help. I am the one she is protecting. Why am I still so weak? Why can''t I fight like her? Is my training not enough? Strength. I need Strength. I need more Strength. Without strength, I can''t protect anyone. My life is meaningless if I can''t protect what is important for me. I intensely watch the back standing in front of the fire. It is a back of a normal girl, but to me, hers is as big as my brother''s. Being protected by her makes me remember that sense of powerlessness. "Do you seek further strength?" A man voice echoes in her mind. "Yes." I answer. "Then let us meet." That voice says flatly. A hazy sensation comes to my head but I do not resist. I close my eyes and let myself sink into that feeling. When I wake up, I find myself standing in a smithing workshop. The sound of hammer striking iron vibrates the air as an old man swings his arm. He is wearing a blacksmith outfit with the protection mask hang on top of the head. In his other hand, a katana is glowing red. Just with the first look, I become attached to it. For unknown reason, I know that that katana belongs to me. It is not because of desire for its quality that I think so. There is a connection between us that tells me so. I just stand there waiting for the old man to finish. The forging is already near the final stage. He cools down red blade with the mysterious cold air and the weapon is ready. Holding the finished product, he finally turns his face to me. "You yourself is a crazy person after all." The old man suddently judges me. "..." I don''t understand why he says so but decides to keep silent. "Originally, this place was a dojo. However, the outside world has made the owner of this place change it to a smithing workshop." The old man continues while looking at his product "I myself should not be allowed here but the owner forces me to come by force and create this. Although it was against my will, I still ended up working on it until the end and realized that it was not a bad experience after all. Hahaha." ",,," "The owner here is very unique, you know. So unique that out of all the persons who seek strength, only she alone stands as one category. She said it very clearly. "True power only comes from oneself and grows by oneself. Strengths coming from the other ways are just borrowed things."" He reminisces his encouter "But yet, she also realized her own limitation as a human being. In front of such dilenma, do you know what she did?" "I don''t know." I answer while looking at the katana. "She decided to offer herself for the creation of this thing. Her bones, her skin, her blood, and her flesh. All of them were used to create this katana. Isn''t that insane?" The old man then laughs in ecstacy. "It was such an marvelous request that I decided not turn down. And luckily, I did not fail to meet her expectation. I should have to thank you and her. If not for that, I would not be able to create this marvelous master piece." The katana blade shines in his hand. A film of memory plays inside my head: the day I knew the history of my family, the day when I first practiced real combat, and the day when my brother passed away. The feelings in the past all surface at one but then calm down in a few seconds. And then the memory of the encounter with this old man plays. A woman in white dougi appeared. She has the same appearance as me but looks older, probably a version of me 10 years later. In a dojo, she had a conversation with the old man then the scene changes. The place became the current workshop but there was an altar at the center. The me in white dougi was lying on top but not in one piece. She was dismembered into many parts yet her face did not show painfulness or suffering, there was only resolution. Although it was another me being dissected, I don''t feel any remorse for her. The feeling that I have for her is only respect. For the other''s sake, no, it was my sake, she sacrificed herself for me to have the power I need. The blacksmith made some kind of rituals and the altar was set ablaze by a white flame. After the fire was extinguished, a big ingot of white metal was on the ground. The memory comes to an end. Seeing my face, the old man makes a sincere smile this time and offers the katana "There is still one final step. You should know what to do."The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I nod and accept it in my hand. *Swoosh* The sound of cutting enters my ears. The long hair I cut with the blade flies in the air and then gets absorbed by the katana. It starts shining brightly, telling that it accepts me as the owner. The blacksmith smiles satisfily "My job is finally done here. I hope we can meet again, samurai girl." and vanishes in the air. My consciouness becomes hazy and drifts away again. *At the school gate* Knocking out the leader, Yuuko and Hinami now stand in front of the army of masked women. They are all holding knives and scissors high in the air with bloodlust in their eyes, demonstrating the horror they gave to their victims. However, such intimidation is useless for the two girls in front of them. "Makoto, take care of Hinami for me. I will handle this." Yuuko says to Makoto. "Un, I got it. Be careful, Yuuko." "No problem." Yuuko makes a confident smile. White flame engulfs her body, similar to what happened with Hinami. Takagi and his followers widen their eyes while his sister group look in confusion. "We can really survive this." Takagi says in excitement. "What do you mean, brother?" Meiya asks him. "Watch carefully, Meiya. Another heroine is going to be born before your eyes." Takagi replies her sister while not moving a gaze from Yuuko. The white flame extends to the wooden sword in her hand and also covers it. The fire suddenly intensities then a second later, a real katana replaces it. It is 1 meter long and hits the concrete surface. Yuuko raises it with two hands and hold horizontaly on her at her eye level. "I offer my bones to be the steel of my blade." The girl says her chant. "My flesh for the armor." A gray samurai armor warps her body. "Skin for the scabbard." A black scabbard hangs on her waist. "Blood to paint them all." The blood red color pains over her armour. "And hair for the contract. I am - the miko of my own sword." White flame surrounding Yuuko erupts like a volcano and then gathers on her katana. A strong gale blows the area where she stands and the person herself disappears from everyone''s eyes. *Splurt* x6 Blood splashes out as six heads fly in the air. In just a blink of eye, Yuuko dashed toward those women and beheaded six of them. The headless bodies fall on the ground and turn into white ash by the flame. Realizing what happened, the women all raise angry scream and charge at Yuuko. The samurai girl sneers at their actions then puts her katana back in the scabbard. The monsters surround her and just as they are going to swing down their knives, Yuuko draws out her blade in a 240 degree arc. The katana slices through their stomach, separating two halfves of the bodies. Flame again surrounds her area as those body halves burn in the air. *Splash* *Splash* The sound of blade cutting flesh fills the area. Yuuko slashes her enemies with her katana without mercy. Arms, legs, heads are separated from the bodie with each swing she makes. Different from Hinami, her fighting scene is much more violent accompanying with gore. The corpses do not vanish immediately but stay chopped for a few seconds before set in blaze, while splattered blood remains on her armor and the ground. In a few minutes, the women have all turned to dust and only a big pool of blood remains. Yuuko leans on her katana which pierces on the ground. Red blood has covered her body entirely and with the shape of the samurai armor, she looks like a bloody demon. The intimidation from her comes from the fear of absolute power, different from pressure of those who stand above of the military uniform Hinami. The students, including Makoto, are also afraid of her. Noticing their gazes, Yuuko stands up and creates flame on her body. The blood evaporates. leaving an image of a mighty warrior instead of a demon. "Sorry for looking like that" Yuuko apologizes to everybody "There is only one left now and we can finally escape here." She readies her weapon and approaches the lying leader but something unexpected happens. A sound of big wave suddenly comes. The black river blocking the school gate suddenly moves violently and flows in direction to the knocked out masked woman. Realizing the danger, all of the students get out of the way and watch the black wave hits the woman body. However, the wave does not hit the body but gets absorbed instead. Like a drain hole, the woman absorbs the black liquid river like nothing. The amount that is enough to isolate the school from outside is now completely drained by a human body yet there is no change to the body at all. In the next moment, sound of explosions comes from the school building and the whole place is now in flame. The free path to outside now is blocked by a fire wall that is 4 meter high and black smoke starts filling the area. Yuuko prepares her stance as she stares at the masked woman lying on the ground. "Hahahahaha" A sudden evil laugh comes from her. The next second, the woman disappears. Yuuko raises the katana behind her neck and blocks the incoming blade. She looks back and sees the true form of the woman behind her. The mask is removed and a mouth slit from ear to ear appears. Lines of teeth are fully visible even she is smiling with her lips closed. The eyes filled with terror and killing turns yellow. A lot of hair disappears, leaving many bald spots on her head. The beautiful sicko now turns into an ugly monster. The knife in her hand is pressing hard on Yuuko''s blade. "Let us settle this somewhere else, little girl." The monster smiles wickedly at Yuuko. Two of them suddenly disappear from the place. The rest of the students do not know where and how they vanish from their eyes. Makoto, who is supporting the sleeping Hinami, frowns her eyes at the sight in front of her. A big build man comes out from the fire. In his hand is the machete that is glowing red from the surrounding heat. His body is also in flame yet he walks normally. On the head, parts of the bandage is burnt, revealing the face suffered from burnt injuries. It is the bandage man they have encountered. "No way, there is another one!?" Someone mutters those words in fear. "What are we going to do now, Makoto-san?" Takagi asks Makoto. "Please take care of Hinami." Makoto moves Hinami''s arm on his back. "Because it is time for me to be on the stage." She says when the white flames surrounds her body "Cloak up." Chapter 16: The fight with the slit mouth 2 "This place..." Yuuko mutters as she looks around. Surrounding her are wooden Japanese building in the style of the first half 20th century. Based on how sparse the scenery is, she concludes that this may be a village somewhere in Japan. She is outside the school yet it is still unsafe because the red world also covers here. The bright sun is right above her head yet there is no sun light at all, only the red light shone down. This world''s sun is eerie like a moon in a cloudy night. With the void of human presence, this place looks like a desserted village commonly seen in horror movie. It is too quiet that sound of tree branches moved by the wind can be heard clearly. The samurai armor girl surveys the surrounding to look for that slit mouth woman but there is no sign of her. Instead, she finds a notice board right next to a house. The picture posted on there catches her attention and she approaches to read the article about it. "June 28th 1956 Culprit of the mouth ripping incidents is on rampage: 38th victim detected." The title of the article says. It reports that a serial murder was going on with the victims all have their mouths ripped off and bodies cut in many places. The crime took place mainly in the countryside, at the center of Japan. Police has begun their investigation for more than 3 months but there is no result. The number of victim just keeps increasing and citizen has lost their trust in police. The victims are all beautiful women in 20s without any common traits. One strange thing that occured to all of them is that their corpses disappeared right before funeral day. Even with tight protection, the corpses still mysteriously vanished without explanation. People suspected that the culprit is actually a ghost having grudge against beautiful women. The picture is the face of a woman with her mouth completely gone. Between the jaw and the nose is only ground flesh. Her eyes shows the terror she saw when facing the murderer. Reading the article, Just when Yuuko frowns her eye brows, her sense of danger ticks off. A hand holding a knife suddenly appears on the notice board and stabs at her eyes. She swings her sword cutting that hand off then moves her leg to kick the board. The hand burns into dust and the board turns back to normal. However, the noise has stirred up the silence of the place and footsteps can be heard in all four directions. Surrounding her are the women she killed at the school gate but they are different now. Firstly, their masks are gone, revealing the faces behind. Their mouths deform in many terrible ways that describe how crazy the culprit who did that is. Some have their cheek skin torn off, some have teeth all pointing out of the mouth, some have mouths bended in strange angle, and there are persons without a mouth. Comparing to them, the leader''s mouth is the least deformed as it is only slit from ear to ear. If a normal person sees this scene, he may faint on the spot. Even Yuuko feels shiver all over her body. Their eyes are all focusing on the girl in armor. If piercing people with gazes was possible, Yuuko would be dead many time. She gets into combat stance and concentrates only in one thing: kill them all again. Unlike before, they use many weapons this time: pitchforks, hatchets, shovel, scythes, axes. Their equipments make Yuuko more serious as she waits for them to come. Three hatchets fly towards her, deflecting them a high pitched noise bounces off of her katana. Like a signal, the whole crowds charge at her at the same time, intending to overwhelm her with number. Yuuko also dashes toward them with low stance. She swings her sword in an arc, opening the stomachs of those in front of her. The pitchforks at the same time pierce through the air, aiming at her head. Yuuko further crouches down to evade by a hair breath and cuts those pitchforks at the handles. Her weapon is swung again, beheading those who hold the pitchfork. The women who stand behind do not flinch from their comrade deaths. They step forward and attack in the same manner. Yuuko has no choice but to step back. A woman with axe circled behind and brings the blade down on her head. The samurai girl steps sideway, dodging that axe, and holds that arm with her armpit. She then sweeps the feet of one behind her then throw herself on the back. The woman''s body get slammed heavily on the ground along with the head, only to have it crushed by a strong stomping later. Yuuko throws the picked up axe, splitting another head in half, charges at the horde and continues with the slashing. *After 30 minutes* Yuuko is still swinging her katana around but her rough panting shows that her limit is near. After killing a hundred of them, she stopped counting and just continued on slashing. She does not understand what happened. Those women just keep coming and coming without limit. Her muscles are crying in pain as they demand for oxygen and rest but she ignores it and keeps moving her arms. (I cannot afford to continue like this. I need to escape to get some rest.) Yuuko thinks. After slicing a white dress woman in half, the katana in her hand suddenly shines with white light, blinding the surrounding. Two heads fly in the air and in Yuuko''s hand is a naginata. Like Hinami, she can create any weapon by imagination but it is limited to melee weapons only. With it, she intends to break through them and go to the church located 500 meters away. She spins the pole with great force, hitting those near her away. Getting a clear area, her knee bends forward, the other leg extends behind, the two hands hold tightly the spear, pointing it forwards. Yuuko makes a sprint and thrusts her weapon. The blade pierces through one stomach, then another one behind it. She keeps running and five persons get skewered on her naginata. The five person skewer is lift on the ground then thrown at another crowd of ripped mouths. A pathway is now open for her to pass through. The spear shines then returns in her hand.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. With desperation, she finally gets inside the church and locks all those women outside. Luckily, there is no one inside. The reason she chooses this place is because the building is sturdier than normal house with very high windows. With no simple way to get inside except the front door, she can be safe for a while and take a breath. Her armor becomes a mess with all the blood on. She cleanses it with the white flame but the uncomfortable feeling still remains. Hunger assaults her as her stomach is rumbling. She could not eat much when the incident started. In addtion, her throat is dry, seeking for water. All discomfortable sensations come to her just when she can get a break. (I need to get back to school and regroup with Makoto and Hinami. I already have enough of this. I really want to go home.) Wishful thoughts come in her mind as she leans her back on the bench. Even in this creepy world, the Jesus statue in the middle of the hall still looks holy. She is not a Christain but looking at the statue brings peace in her mind. Her eye lids become heavy and somewhere in her brain tells her that it is okay to sleep. (Just only 5 minutes. Just only 5 minutes. Just only...) Yuuko keeps reminding herself so then gradually falls asleep. Right at the feet of Jesus, a cat statue is shining with white light. *Outside the church* Lexar is standing on the rooftop of the church. Surrounding the building is the wall of white flame. The disfigured women voice their inhuman scream of anger outside. No matter what method they do, they cannot get in. The cat is glad that he can be useful in the situation like this. ?"Sacred base?": it is one of his newly acquired abilities when he gave power to Hinami, Yuuko, and Makoto. It can create a protection area for the partners to rest in a period of one hour. The requirement to set it up is a place with a lot of positive energy. It?''s probably that he leveled up by unlocking the girls'' power. More information flows to his head. The concept of positive energy and negative energy comes from that. Positive energy is generated from the positive feelings such as happiness, hope, dream; and the negative energy is the opposite. The lights inside any person?fs heart is actually a representation how much energy they have, not the dream like he hypothesized. His thinking from before is proven false, thus information needs to be analyzed again. However, he doesn''t have time for that now. The important issue is to help Yuuko escape here. His right eye changes into "Clairvoyance" and surveys the whole village. There is no sign of normal people except those crazy women shouting below. He tries to find their leader but it is also unsuccessful. He does not know what her scheme is but it is definitely very dangerous for Yuuko. Suddenly, Lexar discovers a strange point about those ripped mouth women. There are total 190 women but for every appearance, five of them have the same look. This implies that there are only 38 different inviduals. 38 people match with the 38 victims of the serial murder. He also finds 5 persons with the same appearance with the 38th victim. (Did they multiply? If it is their ability, perhaps there is a real one among the fakes?) Lexar thinks as he activates his "Potential" eye. In his eye, the women turn into lumps of black liquid. Only 38 of them still have human bodies with black flame covering. The flame is much weaker compared to that Yoshida''s so he is not affected by it. With this,he has a clue how to defeat this endless wave. An hour nearly passes but he was not able to find anything useful. Discouraged, he goes inside the church while carrying a bag containing sausages, snacks and mineral water. Those are things he fetched from a store not so far from the church. With the leveled up body, he was able to jump between houses that are even 20 meters apart and went to the store without using the ground. Yuuko is still sleeping soundly on the bench. The atmosphere inside "sacred base" can help people relax and improve regeneration with positive energy. He does not understand why this church has so much positive power while it is in a world of negative energy. Perhaps, this church is also an important clue to escape here. The cat lands on her lap, caressing the girl''s face with his tail. With her sleep disturbed, Yuuko slowly opens her eyes and wakes up. "Hm?" She finds a cat tail, dangling in front of her face. Annoyed, she gives a slap on the cat body, throwing him off a bench with a loud "meowrr". His call completely wakes her up and her head starts thinking fast. The samurai girl is scared at how much she slept. This place is dangerous yet she dozed off for a long time. If the enemy was here, her head would separate from the body. But then she calms down that she realizes she is still in safe. "That really hurted." The cat speaks in Japanese. Shocked, Yuuko prepares her katana and points it toward him. "Wait, wait, wait. I''m not your enemy. I don''t have any intention to hurt you." The cat hurriedly speaks. "Lexar?" Yuuko recognizes her friend''s pet. "Correct. Lexar is the name. Nice to meet you." The cat speaks happily. "Are you really a cat? Cat cannot speak." "Of course, I am not a normal cat. Normal cat cannot give people power, you know." "Give people power? Is that you who sang that chant?" "Correct! And that''s my job, a magical girl selector." Lexar says with a prideful attitude. "I don''t think there is any magical girl who is old as me or so bloody violent." Yuuko denies being a magical girl. "You girls are magical enough for me. Anyway, I am sure there are a lot of questions but we have no time. I will tell you what I found about the bunch outside."Lexar then starts teaching her about the duplicate women and the real ones. "So my job is to defeat the real ones, right?" Yuuko asks after being given a clue how to defeat those women. "It is expected end the wave but I am not really sure what will happen next. We must not let our guard down. The time is up now. Get ready, Yuuko." "Un, I understand. I''m counting on you for this." Yuuko gets into fighting stance while looking at the door. The silent door until now makes a great "Bang" noise. The firewall isolating the church is extinguished and those women are breaking door. Knives pierce through the door with many holes. They are big enough to see the horrible faces on the other side. A second loud "bang" comes and the gate is open. The women immediately fills the church hallway as they run toward her. "It''s time for round three. Let''s go, Lexar." Yuuko makes a confident smile then charges ahead. Chapter 17: Makotos awakening? *Makoto¡¯s POV* I wake up in a museum. A very strange museum. There is no set theme for it. Everything are mixed together in a big hall way. From stone age picture of the first fire, an old model of compass, the wall full of ancient characters, to modern age symbols: a passenger aircraft, a culture of bacteria, a VR headset. Even jumbled together, it gives a strange sense of harmony that can tell its visitor how great the human invention is during the flow of history. In the center, there is a fountain with a big globe representing earth floating in the air. Sitting on the fountain border, a girl is reading book. Her outfit gives her appearance of a witch but with a very unique style. Her silk black cone hat has an emblem of platinum pair of bird wings at the bottom of the cone. The solid brim is decorated with golden embroidery. She wears a white long sleeve blouse with brown corset on the waist and black pant. The way she sits cross leg while reading is elegant, emitting an aura of intelligence. Noticing my gaze, the girl closes her book and it disappears in the air. She raises her head up and I finally see her face. A face looks exactly like mine but has a mysterious feeling that I do not possess. ¡°Who are you?¡± I ask. ¡°I am you.¡± She replies shortly. ¡°How can you be me while I am in front of you?¡± ¡°This place is inside your heart and I am a different side of you.¡± She answers as if she expects that questions. ¡°But this is not important. You come here because you are desiring strength, right? Then I should be the one asking and testing you, not the other way around.¡± The other me stands up and adjusts her hat. ¡°Can you give me strength?¡± I ask in doubt. ¡°Yes, the power same as Hinami and Yuuko. They probably experienced the same thing as you right now, meeting the other self of their. However, the requirement to have their help is different from person to person though. Ok, enough of questions from you. Let me ask: How do you see this room?¡± The witch me answers me willingly and asks back. ¡°It is strangely amazing. Even all of the things here are not the first of their kinds, they can display how mighty the human history is with their antiqueness. Each of them solved a very big problem or helped mankind advance into a new age. Although the order is messed up, I do not find it disturbing. I can¡¯t really describe this feeling well in words.¡± I answer honestly ¡°I will take that as compliment. Although they are not the first when they were invented, they are the first model that were commonly used by the whole population. In fact, there are also a lot of other inventions that fit your description, they are not used by the whole mass, thus they are not included here. But I have to admit that this collection may also miss many things as well. Now another question, what did you feel when you saw the red world and everything you encountered so far?¡± ¡°It is a hell, a nightmare. Many people are dead, killed brutally for no reason. And we are forced to go through hardship just for survival. There is nothing but bad feelings to describe this situation.¡± I answer her with a little bit angry voice. I am not sure why she is asking that question but I feel that I do not really like it. ¡°No, that¡¯s a lie. It¡¯s not just bad feelings alone.¡± The other me refutes ¡°Really? Right, I did feel glad when Lexar came for me, when we were saved by Hinami and Yuuko, and hope when we knew that we can escape here. Is that enough an answer for you?¡± I impatiently answer her. ¡°You know that¡¯s not what I mean, do you? It¡¯s just only two of us here. There is no one else. Remember when you first saw Hinami transformation.¡± She says in a enticing voice. Why does she want me to say it? She is also me so she should know how much I hate that thought when it came to me. ¡°Remaining silent? Do you really hate me that much? Why can¡¯t you embrace yourself more? People often say ¡°Be yourself, be unique¡±, right. You can at least be honest to yourself. Nobody is going to criticize you here.¡± She keeps persuading me to say it out. After several minutes of conflicting myself, I decide to say it. I don¡¯t want to lie to myself at least. ¡°It¡¯s excitement.¡± I answer ¡°Oh, can you elaborate it?¡± She asks in anticipation. ¡°When I first saw Hinami military form, I could see the hope to escape but at the same time, for that one moment, I felt lucky for this situation to occur. Even people death looked so trivial to me in this situation. I realized this whole world may be a big discovery, a very big discovery that can change humankind if we can understand it.¡± I stop for a moment ¡°I do not know what this world is, but I understand that it is not just a random mysterious phenomenon. There is definitely a reason behind and a high possibility that someone controls it. And if such a world can be controlled, I want to know how. The whole thing happening right now can help the history turn a new page and a new era is born.¡± A smile tries to form on my face but I stop it.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°And now, you are right inside that page, the page that is the beginning of a whole new era. You¡¯re excited about what you are going to do to write yourself on the history book.¡± The other me finishes the rest with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s the reason I find myself disgusting: to even think about fame at such a time when my friends are in danger fighting those monsters. You are perhaps that ugly side of me or else I can¡¯t even think of a reason why you make me say all of these.¡± I face her with complex feeling. ¡°It looks like you still don¡¯t understand much about yourself. But that¡¯s enough for now. You have accepted me as yourself and it¡¯s time for me to lend you my power. With the current you, I doubt that you can use my full potential but dealing with that monster is probably no problem.¡± The witch claps her hand and a book appears in her hands again. I suddenly feel hazy and the museum starts spinning in front of me. ¡°Remember, your desire is not really fame and it¡¯s not as negative as you think. See you later.¡± Those are the last words the other me says. *At the school gate* Makoto stands in front of the bandage man but her appearance is not in the student uniform. She is wearing a costume of a witch, similar to her other self. The Sugihara house are already lost at words. Their mood has swung too many times that they feel there is something wrong with their heads. The only thing in their mind right now is to expect Makoto to say something. However, the witch girl remains silent after her entrance. Due to disagreement with herself, her personality is not influenced much like with Hinami and Yuuko. Her power is also limited as she can only inferior form of her true ability. Even so, Makoto still finds them very powerful and thinks that she can defeat the monster in front of her with them. Seeing the transformation, the bandage man roars in anger. The hatred from being killed by Hinami once still remains and now there is another one same as her. Understanding the danger posed by two people, he does not underestimate them anymore and act with a strategy in mind. ¡°ustuj on nihsub nigaK¡± Unknown language comes from the man. The fire in the surrounding intensifies and 50 flames taking form of human gather around him. They all have the same build as the bandage man and hold machete made of fire in hand. After given the order, they move around and corner the students in a circle. Their plan is to attack both Hinami and Makoto at the same time. Since one is unconscious, Makoto has to protect her and the others at the same time. This will leave a gap in her defense and the true attack will come when it is found. Makoto luckily finds a fire extinguisher near her feet. Most of the equipments the previous group brought were left at the school gate in case Hinami still needed them, near her position. With them, Makoto finally finds a chance to turn this situation around. The fire extinguisher in her hand suddenly vanishes into white particles and gets absorbed into her body. She then picks up the other things and absorbs them. The other students look at her in confusion while the bandage man immediately orders those flame clones to attack. ¡°Too late though.¡± Makoto smiles and snaps her fingers. A whirlwind of white foam envelops her and the students. The moment those fire bodies get contact with it, they are swept by the flow and fly in the air. Holes form on their bodies as the flame is gradually extinguished. In a few seconds, all of the clones are finished. ¡°Now, it¡¯s my turn.¡± Makoto claps her hand two time as she says. All the white foam gathers in front of her and shoots toward the bandage man in a form of torrent. It knocks him in the air and quenches the fire on his body. After hitting the wall, he slides down then vanishes like he is fire extinguished by the foam. Noticing something no right, Makoto controls the white foam wall around her. Suddenly, many fire arrows glide in the air at her direction. The arrows are washed away before they can hit her. Suddenly, two arrows pass through the foam and hit her on the shoulder. They are not made of fire but real arrows made of wood and feather. Makoto claps her hands again and a wall of ice forms behind the foam layer. Multiple crashing sounds come as the real arrows hit the ice. She breaths a sigh out of relieve but gets interrupted by a new attack. The bandage man abruptly appears in front of the barrier. His machete becomes many time bigger and gets covered in fire. He swings it horizontally, cutting through the 2 layer barrier and the girl behind it. Makoto figure is cut by half behind the ice wall. The students scream of fear while the man laughs in victory. However, the two half suddenly become hazy then disperse. White mist covers the whole area round the man and suddenly explodes. When the smoke are clear, the bandage man is in tattered clothes with burnt on his body. Behind him, Makoto makes her appearance with a hammer in hand. It was the same sledge hammer that Yuuko used to hit his head but now it has white flame covering the head. The witch spins around for momentum then strikes heavily the man¡¯s head. A loud thud comes and the man rolls twice in the air before falling down. His head is smashed to pieces. The surrounding becomes quiet as the fight ends. Everyone stares at the headless corpse with uneasy feeling. ¡°Is it over?¡± Meiya makes a sound. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. His corpse has not turned to white ash yet. There may be something else.¡± Takagi says while staring at the corpse intensely. As if confirming his word, black liquid flows out vigorously from the carcass and engulfs it. Makoto frowns her eyes then makes a white fireball, throwing it at the black puddle. Unfortunately, the liquid is many time denser than the amount blocking the gate. The flame is extinguished right after it makes contact. The puddle boils furiously as it extends and a figure rises from it. It is the bandage man again but his build reaches 5 meter this time. His machete is now replaced with a two meter long scimitar. His shirt disappears and reveals a whole skeleton on fire inside. The eyes are glowing in red with madness inside. The man now turns into a monster completely. Makoto looks at the monster with a calm face but inside, she is already confused what to do. The enemy becomes stronger each time they defeat it. Her current power is not enough to face head on with it. Her white foam cannot even reduce the fire intensity, let alone damage him. Right at the moment she is stuck what to do, a voice calls out to her. ¡°Sorry for making you wait, Makoto¡± Hinami says while smiling. Chapter 18: The fight with the slit mouth 3 *At a church inside the red world* ¡°The one with white dress on the left of 3rd row and the brown hair in office suit next to her¡± Lexar points to two women in crowd. ¡°Got it¡± Yuuko answers then jumps high. With the strength recovered, Yuuko is able to fight with her full potential. She jumps 3 meter in the air then drops forcefully on a woman¡¯s head. The gravity force with the stepping force push the head inside the body, smashing it into pieces in the process. She keeps jumping like that two more time to reach the target. Lexar, who still keeps the ¡°Potential¡± left eye, observes the whole battlefield. A change in the layout of the black flames occurs. The clones who were killed by Yuuko have the main body and other clones of same kind switch the position, and a replacement appears in the back. Yuuko killed one of the white dress clones so the target she is heading for is not the real one anymore. ¡°Yuuko, don¡¯t kill the clone of the target. They will switch their positions each time you kill a clone.¡± The cat warns her. Hearing the warning, the samurai girl, who is going to behead a clone of the office suit, moves the blade and cuts the arm only. She punches the clone to knock it down then charges toward her targets. A swift cut comes and two heads fly in the air. All the office suit women groan a few second then vanish. ¡°Keep it up! Their size has gone down by 5 people. Remember don¡¯t kill the those who look same as the one you want to kill.¡± Lexar cheers for her achievement. Giving a nod, Yuuko resumes her action by looking for the one her partner points out. The slaugther keeps going on and the crowd of ripped mouth victims become thinner and thinner. When the last woman falls down, the church hall is already dyed with blood. ¡°Good job! You are amazing, Yuuko. You really deserves a one-man army title.¡± Lexar praises. ¡°Hahaha, thanks. Your support really helped too. If it was not for you, this battle would be an endless struggle.¡± Yuuko laughs happily being praised. ¡°Ok. The underlings are now gone but the boss is not really defeated. Do not let your guard down yet, Yuuko.¡± He reminds her. ¡°Did you find anything about her?¡± She asks. ¡°The leader is outside the church, right behind the door. Something is very strange about her. It looks like she is expecting us to come out instead of coming inside. Apparently, there is something special about this church that makes she do not want to enter. What are you going to do?¡± The cat checks with his clairvoyance eye. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a stalemate if we just stay here. Let us go outside and take a look first.¡± Yuuko brandishes her katana and approaches the door. ¡°Be careful.¡± The cat follows behind while warning her. When the duo open the door, the leader of those women are in front of them. It is the same woman yet there are so many things that make them doubt so. The clothes is clean and tidy without any bloodstain. Black eyes look bright and beautiful, filled with gentleness. And more importantly, the mouth is in perfect condition without any injury. All the traces related to her psycho behaviour disappear. If this was not the red world, they would think that she is just a normal pretty lady that coincidentally looks the same as the ripped mouth leader. ¡°Am I beautiful?¡± She asks with an alluring voice. Yuuko and Lexar remain silent at such question. The story of Kuchisake onna is well known so they don¡¯t know what is the right answer to say. Lexar checks her with the potential eye and discovers something unexpected. Unlike the disfigured body on black flame before, she now looks like a normal human with a black flame inside her heart. For unknown reason, he can see that the black flame is struggling to spread outside but it is contained by a box, similar to those inside the magical girls. (What the hell is going on?... ) He is confused and starts thinking about the nature of these white flame and black flame but a voice breaks his thinking. ¡°Yes, you look beautiful¡± Yuuko answers with a straight face. ¡°I see. But unfortunately, being beautiful is a sin, you know? If I had been ugly, all of these would not have happened to me.¡± The woman answers in a sad voice. The flame inside her heart breaks out of the box and she turns into the slit mouth form again. Yuuko and Lexar brace themselves for the attack when the whole world becomes dark. When light returns to their eyes, they find themselves in a Japanese style room. It is the type of luxurious room that can be found in a high class inn in Japan. However, the scene happening in front of them take away all of their attention to notice that. Four half naked men are restraining a woman in the middle. She is screaming for help and rejection as her clothes are torn apart. Watching that are a bunch of men look like yakuza and a woman acting like a boss. Yuuko, who saw the despicable action, dashes forward and swings her sword at those rapists. However, her blade passes through them and hits the tatami. ¡°Yuuko, this is an illusion. Those people are not real.¡± Lexar says. He adjusts his potential eye to see what is happening. They are still standing outside the church but the tatami room scene keeps overlapping dimly with what he sees. The woman is nowhere to be seen but he can sense her presence slightly in the illusion of the two females in the scene.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Yuuko, we should go back inside the church. Who knows what this illusion can do to us?¡± The cat tells her. ¡°No, Lexar. We will face this until the end. That woman is definitely still here. Even if they are probably all illusion, my warrior instinct tells me that our victory lies in defeating her right here.¡± Yuuko says with certainty. Seeing her confident face, the cat knows that he should trust her and follow her decision to the end. The raping is still going on as the bossy woman laughs hysterically. Yuuko looks at the scene with a calm face but the cat can feel the anger inside her as she grips the handle tightly. The raped woman gasps weakly and weeps as she curses her fate when the men finish their act. Their boss gives them a signal and one of them takes out a knife then proceeds to cut his victim''s mouth. The woman gives a loud cry and starts thrashing around but it only makes the cut become more horrifying instead. Right after that, the door is suddenly broken open and a different yakuza gang appears and attacks everyone inside. The boss lady yells out of anger that they interrupt her. The man who seems to be the leader of the intruders enters with an angry voice, telling her that she is just a jealous bitch that went too far. The pair starts arguing while their henchmen are fighting. The argument escalates to the point that the man is too furious that he takes out a katana and slashes at the woman. Not expecting he will do that, her eyes are full of disbelief then she starts laughing madly before dying. The man checks the raped woman but she already passed away due to a cut on her chest. ¡°What a crazy situation.¡± Yuuko says observing how the situation escalates. However, Lexar does not care about that. He is looking at the face with cut on the mouth, Lexar asks Yuuko ¡°Have you noticed it, Yuuko?¡± ¡°I am confused here. Even the injury looks the same and both of them have similarity in some areas, she and that slit mouth woman are totally two different people.¡± Yuuko gives her assessment. ¡°No, she is the leader, no doubt. There are actually two dead women here. You should also inspect that lady boss over there, too.¡± Lexar signals her to look at the other corpse. ¡°Wait, do you mean ¡­?¡± She is struggling to find the correct word. ¡°For unknown reason, those two''s grudges fused together and formed that woman we saw. She has all the traits from both women. This implies that we may not be fighting only one enemy. Prepare for a pincer attack, Yuuko.¡± Lexar states his observation and warns the problem. The world becomes dark and the raping scene replays in front of us once again. However, with the potential eye always open, the cat notices a significant change this time. They are not in the illusion anymore, but inside that luxurious room. The negative energy thickens in the surrounding area and a knife image is blinking at different places. Right at the moment the rapist penetrates the woman, a vivid knife image appears right below Yuuko and stabs her. ¡°Yuuko!¡± Lexar calls her. With fast reflex, Yuuko takes a step back and the knife flies pass her body. However, it still hit her thigh and shatters her leg guard. Blood begins to flow out from the crack. The man moves his hip and a series of attacks from underneath Yuuko begins. With each thrust, an attack will come and the target is the girl''s lower body. Yuuko keeps evading those knives by constantly moving but they are too close for her to dodge completely. Figuring out the attack pattern, Lexar immediately leaps on the rapist''s back and slash his claws at him. Three straight lines of blood on the man''s back forces him to stop his action to yell out of pain. The whole room suddenly notice the presence of the intruders like they were never in the room. The attack at Yuuko also stops but blood already flows out profusely from her legs. ¡°Heal¡± Lexar uses one of his new abilities on Yuuko. A stream of warm light reaches her lower body and heals her wound. The ability works like the healing spell in game but its mechanism is still unknown. He did not have a chance to use it and was afraid to test it out. What if the healing spell has a long cool down and he accidentally loses the chance to assist right at the crucial time? ¡°Thank you, I owe you one.¡± Yuuko thanks him. The men surrounding the boss lady, who suddenly have black flame in the eyes, stand up to apprehend the intruders. The four rapists ignore everything and continue their despicable act. Lexar becomes angry and tries to attack another time. However, a knife suddenly flies from below him, nearly cutting his tail. The slit mouth woman now recognizes him as a threat and starts targeting him. The cat has no choice but to put all of his focus on avoiding the knife and the yakuzas, missing the chance to stop the attack. But that does not apply to Yuuko. Noticing this is the only chance before the yakuza men close in, Yuuko creates four daggers and throws at the four half naked men. Their heads are pierced through and they all fall on the ground, stopping their breath. The series of dirty attack comes to a stop. However, Yuuko does not stand still but takes out her katana and charges at the lying woman. ¡°What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?¡± Lexar yells at her. The standing men who realize what she is going to do block in front of her but their action is too slow for her. Without hesitation, the sword cuts off the rape victim''s head, ending her life in the worst possible way. Lexar is scared whether another attack will come and serve his partner''s neck, but fortunately, there is no attack coming. Confirming that there is no attack, Yuuko smiles and prepares to finish off the other woman. The world abruptly becomes black again and the raping scene rewinds to the beginning again in front of her eyes. ¡°Yuuko, how can you act so reckless like that? Do you know how much dangerous your action was? You should ...¡± Lexar immediately gives her a lecture. ¡°There is no time for that. We have to kill both of them at the same time or this loop will continue forever. Help me finish the lying one when I give signal¡± Yuuko interrupts his word then creates four daggers in her hands again. Before the men can start their activity, Yuuko already ends their life then dashes toward the woman sitting on the mat. A wall of men in black suit stand in front of her, defending their boss. They are also armed with katanas and hatchets, some guys even have guns in their hand, but that is not enough to stop Yuuko. A tower shield forms in her hand, blocking the incoming bullet. The surface is full of sharp spikes and Yuuko rams it on those men. The katana in her other hand makes an arc, cutting those who get out of their formation. The others try to attack her with their own weapons but it is blocked by either the shield or the katana. Using the confusion, Lexar sneaks up near the lying woman and takes out a knife from the man who damaged her face in the first loop. He is prepared to stab her heart when the signal is given. Although he feels bad for the rape victim, when he thinks that her grudge has killed so many people, the sympathy toward her is completely gone. Over there, the fight with the men has ended and Yuuko is now stepping on that lady boss''s head with the katana on her neck. ¡°Ready, Lexar?¡± She asks. ¡°Yeah¡± Lexar answers. ¡°Okay - three, two, one, now!¡± The moment she gives her signal, both the knife and katana end two lives at the same time. And the world becomes black again. Chapter 19: Battle conclusion and regroup ¡°Where is Yuuko?¡± Hinami asks while observing the bandage man in his second form. ¡°The masked woman took her to another unknown dimension. Don''t worry, she is safe. My double is supporting her right now.¡± An unexpected voice answers that question. ¡°!!¡± Makoto gasps in surprise as she hears her cat talking. ¡°Can you tell me what happened?¡± Hinami asks, unfazed by the fact that the cat can speak. After listening his story, Hinami is surprised by how many things happened during her collapse, but at the same time sighs in relief knowing that everyone is safe somehow. She was worried that everyone was going to be killed, but luckily, both Yuuko and Makoto have awaken their power and fought the enemies in her stead. She is really thankful for him helping them out of this situation. With more capable persons at hand, they can have higher chance surviving from this hell. On the other hand, Makoto stares in disbelief how normal those two are talking normally like there is nothing wrong. She is the owner of her cat yet doesn''t even know that he can talk like a human. There are other things like his double and his skill. She does not understand any of it yet her friend is nodding like it is expected. ¡°Hinami, can you explain what is going on !?¡± Makoto shakes her friend''s shoulder and questions her. ¡°He hasn''t said anything to you?¡± Hinami asks while looking at the cat. ¡°Sorry, there was no time and no opportunity to speak. And we don''t have much time now, either. Look.¡± Lexar answers then points to the bandage man. The huge figure in flame begins to roar loudly. His voice does not sound anything like human anymore, proving the identity as a monster. Makoto clicks her tongue as why this monster finds such a right time to interrupt her. Why did it just stay there when her cat talked to Hinami? Looking at her friend behavior, Hinami smiles bitterly. She knows that Makoto can be quite obsessive toward things she likes, and realizes that her friend thought that she knows more about her cat than its owner and gets dissatisfied. However, the truth is that she only knows that he can talk and give people power. When Lexar mentioned his abilities and double, she just only nodded to keep the conversation flow. ¡°You girls, your tension has dropped quite a lot when you are together. The enemy is still here, you know. And he is much stronger too. Please get serious.¡± Lexar observes the two girls'' attitude and reminds them. ¡°Sorry. You are right. The enemy is still in front of me. However, with Hinami here, I believe we can win this and go home.¡± Makoto says with confidence. ¡°Don''t worry. I was quite desperate when there was only me. But now it''s different. We will show you that.¡± Hinami smiles ¡°Oh, I forgot to ask. What is your ability, Makoto?¡± ¡°I call it ¡°ability extraction¡±. Basically, I can absorb thing and get a special ability from it. I absorbed a fire extinguisher, a water bottle with some ice cubes in it so I was able to manipulate carbon gas, water, and ice.¡± Makoto answers while creating small whirlwind having water, white foam and ice mixed in. ¡°Any limitation?¡± Hinami asks. ¡°Quite a lot. Right now, I can only freely use carbon gas as mean to attack and defend. Water and ice have limited number of use and they are hard to control. I did absorbed many things else but either I could not get any ability from it or I had to discard an ability I absorbed before. Three is the maximum I can have.¡± Makoto lists out her power''s limitation. ¡°I see. Can you demonstrate a little bit?¡± Hinami asks and points her finger to the bandage man. ¡°No problem. Watch.¡± Makoto snaps her finger as she says. A big whirlwind of white foam moves with everyone in the center. A clap is heard and all white foam gathers in a sphere then shoots at the monster. He is knocked back a few centimeter and fire on its body reduces a lot but soon burns ferociously again like nothing happened. Being agitated, that big build runs toward the two girls while raising his weapon high. The witch girl and military uniform girl separate and run to both sides of the attacker. ¡°Makoto, cover me. I will do the attacking.¡± Hinami assigns the job. ¡°Roger that.¡± Makoto replies. A shotgun appears in Hinami''s hand and she fires repeatedly on many parts of the monster: head, chest, arm, back, lower body, and legs. The shots hit the body and ignite many white flames. Black liquid spurts out from the wounds like blood but works more effectively. It helps extinguish the white flame and recovers his body. The bandage man roars in anger and now looks at Hinami only.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°No sensitive or weakness spot. Shooting anywhere is the same. Black liquid comes out of the body and recovers the wound. Possible solution is to keep shooting until all the liquid is used, but that is too time consuming.¡± Hinami analyzes while running. The monster''s movement is much slower comparing to before. However, because of his build, his step can cover a large distance and his attack range is much wider. Soon after that, Hinami is in the range of his scimitar. The monster swings his arm horizontally low, intending to cut the girl in half. Just when the blade nearly hits her, a clap is heard and a white torrent blows her out of attack trajectory. She stably lands on the ground more than 10 meters away then takes out a RPG. With only one second aiming, the grenade protrudes from the launch tube and strikes on the exposed skeleton. An explosion comes and white flame engulfs the monster whole body. He screams out of pain and rolls on the ground to get rid of the white fire. His weight causes an earthquake every time he rolls and black liquid, which are flowing out profusely from the chest, splashes all over the place. His dangerous state urges everyone to stay far away from him. Makoto and Lexar gather on Hinami''s side while watching the monster suffering. They all remain silent, not saying anything until all the flame on the monster ceases. When he stands up, the body looks completely fine but the posture reveals that he is severely weakened. ¡°It seems that the RPG works better than expected. I guess that with one more hit, we can end this.¡± Hinami assesses the enemy''s state then loads another grenade on the RPG. When the bandage man brings up his face to find the girls, another grenade enters his view and shatters the head. The whole upper body is blown up to pieces and the lower half collapse on the floor. The white fire remains burning even if the black liquid is flowing out profusely from the lower body. Soon after that, no more liquid flows out. Without obstruction, the flame incinerates the body into white ashes then fades out. ¡°Is it over?¡± Makoto asks. ¡°Yeah, probably so. I don''t sense any more danger though.¡± Hinami replies with uncertainty. ¡°It''s alright now. I check that there is no more monster around here.¡± Lexar assures the girls. ¡°And rejoice. Yuuko is going to come back soon.¡± He turns his head to one direction and says so. A black portal suddenly appears and a white light comes out, aiming at the cat. However, he does not evade but just stand there and let it hit his body. The cat shines brightly with white light for a few second before dimming down. Then a person wearing a samurai armor jumps out of the portal before it disappears. Her armor is broken in many places with traces of blood and the person herself struggles to stand up steadily. ¡°Lexar! Yuuko!¡± Makoto and Hinami call both persons'' name. ¡°It''s okay. I just received the information from my double. Right now, I am just only tired a little bit after processing the data. More importantly, you guys should worry more about Yuuko. She is done quite badly¡± Lexar tells them to go to Yuuko side. ¡°Double guardian¡± is also the new ability that he obtained from awakening people''s power. For each person he helped with awakening the power, they can summon him or his double to help them with various tasks. Although he cannot share vision or thought with his double, he can absorb them to know what they have experienced. The light before was his clone changing into the form that can fuse with him. The girls hurries to Yuuko after learning that Lexar is fine. Looking closely, the armor is broken many places with skin exposed but there is no wound. However, they still get close to her and lend her their shoulders. ¡°Are you hurt anywhere? Blood is all over your body.¡± Makoto asks worriedly. ¡°You don''t have to do that. I can still walk fine. The blood here belonged to the enemies and all my injuries were already healed. You are the one I should be saying that to, Makoto.¡± Yuuko denies while lightly shaking their shoulders off. ¡°It''s only light injury and it''s not even comparable to yours. The attacks must have been quite heavy for your armor to be like that and I can bet that you also lost a lot blood too. Your face pales and the legs are shaking.¡± Makoto insists on letting Yuuko''s hand on her shoulder. ¡°It''s no good pretending like that. Don''t act strong when it comes to injury.¡± Hinami also resists her struggle.¡±Can you tell me what happened?¡± ¡°Fine, fine. Right now, I am completely beaten up, okay? About what happened, I was teleported to a strange village with a lot of those masked women. After killing all of them with the help of Lexar, I managed to meet their leader then got dragged into her past or something like that. And after several trial killing her, we were able to escape.¡± Yuuko gives in their insistence and tells them the summary of what happened. ¡°Is she really that powerful? To give you that much wound?¡± Makoto asks in doubt. She looked at how Hinami fought those women before and won without taking a hit. ¡°That woman''s attack was very strange. It was easy to predict where she was going to hit, but the frequency and shrewdness behind were the biggest problems. Its strength was also not underestimated. I was quite confident in the hardness of this armor but it still ended up like this.¡± Yuuko sighed in depress. ¡°So, what happened with you girls? Why are you Makoto wearing that clothes? But I have to say that it looks good.¡± She asks while inspecting the witch costume. ¡°The bandage man came and I had to borrow the power from my other self to fight back. Then he transformed into a huge monster. Luckily, Hinami woke up right in time and we defeated him together.¡± Makoto explains what happened. ¡°I see, you guys were also in the danger too.¡± Yuuko pauses a bit. ¡°This world is full of danger. We should get out of here. I don''t feel good with all the surrounding fire.¡± Yuuko suggests so. ¡°Un, let''s join with the the Sugihara group. They are the reason we are here so we stayed back in the first place. We should at least bring them out with us.¡± Hinami says while heading to the other students. Chapter 20: Outside the school The cold temperature of winter can shun away anyone from going outside, even if the sun is high on the sky. The heat transmitted from it is not enough for people to be comfortable outside, not mentioning the strong wind blowing right at their faces. Even so, there are a whole crowd standing in front of a certain academy. The reason they can tolerate all the hardship being outside is just to satisfy their curiosity. They are just boring citizens looking for a new stimulation in their life. However, there are two groups of people in front of them standing for a completely different purpose. The 2nd line upfront composes of journalists, camera men, reporters, all the people who work for the media. They are busy preparing to broadcast and gather every information that can be obtained from the event going to unfold. This is a very big job that can even be broad casted around the world. And the final group, who stand on the very front line, are the polices. Barriers have been constructed to separate the outsiders and media from obstructing their duty. From the overall look, the formation the polices are taking is used to fight bank robbery and terrorism. A whole line of special squad agents in black combat suit hold the shield in front of them. Normal officers stay behind the cars with weapons ready. Their equipments are not non-lethal weapons used for suppressing the crowd, but real guns with gun powder filled bullets. In fact, those polices are prepared to kill off their targets, not just apprehending them. All of these preparations show how severe the situation has become. On the air, a media helicopter is flying. It is the culprit for making the already cold winter more freezing and harsher, but those who stay on it completely ignore the complaints throw at them. A male reporter looks at the camera and reports. ¡°To all viewers of NHK, this is Yoshimura Takeda. We are now flying on top of the Hakugawa academy, where the slaughter of multiple students took place. The polices have surrounded the building and the special forces already infiltrated inside in attempt to rescue the students. The casualty is not yet confirmed but it is estimated to be more than 100 deceased at the moment the incident was reported. The culprits behind this crime are unknown and investigation on them hasn''t gotten any result so far¡­ ¡­ Wait¡­.¡± The reporter pauses a moment ¡°Wait! Pilot! Bring me near the gate! There are students coming out! I repeat! There are some students coming out! They are our first identified survivors.¡± The reports says in a loud voice with joy. A group of students suddenly rush out of the school gate and they have wounds and blood all over their bodies. Their faces pale a lot and ragged white breath come out from their mouth. After coming out of the school, their faces become stern after seeing a whole division of armed police officers. However, after a few seconds, they then become joyful as they know that they have found the help they need. ¡°Help! Help us! Our friends are being killed by mad people inside the school! You have to save them!¡± One of them shouts out to the polices. The special squad approach the gate and escort those students back to the ambulance with emergency staffs. Some girls break out in tear as they realize they are finally safe, and cry in the polices'' arms. The emergency staffs transport those with serious injury on stretchers immediately to the ambulance and drive away, while those with less damage receive proper first aid treatment on spot. ¡°How is the situation inside?¡± The commander in charge of the operation comes and asks the students. ¡°It is crazy inside there, sir. Suddenly, the toilets fly around then eat people'' heads. Then, there is this group of crazy women swinging knife around, slashing and stabbing us. We were lucky to escape fast from there.¡± A student reports with terrified voice. ¡°Wait. Did I hear something wrong? You say toilets fly around and eat people''s heat?¡± The commander asks in confusion. ¡°I am not joking with you, sir! Even I would not believe it unless I saw it myself. The toilets did kill us by chomping our head!¡± The students says with agitated voice. ¡°Ok, calm down! It''s not like I am doubting you. So you say there are also a bunch of women armed with knives, right? What do they look like?¡± The commander consoles him and changes to a different topic. ¡°Yes, they are very crazy¡­ very crazy¡­ They suddenly appeared out of nowhere and when my friends said Hi to them¡­ A stab sound and then my friend was pierced at the heart. The next moment, all of the students nearby had their throat slit¡­ I was lucky at that time. I was out buying bread and at the stair case when I saw it. I ran away immediately. That was all I could do. I was too scared to look at them.¡± The student trembles as he remembers those scenes. The commander pats his back to calm him down ¡°Son, I know you must have gone through a lot. But hang on a little bit more. What do those women look like?¡± He patiently asks the student. ¡°They were all wearing mask. The surgical mask that the doctors usually wear. And their eyes. There was something in their eyes. It was like¡­ madness mixed with cold blood¡­ and terror. The moment I saw those eyes. They sent me a chill.¡± The student answers. ¡°Ok, that''s enough for us to identify them. We will get them to pay for what happened with your friends. I want to ask you one more question. How did you escape? Did you run all the way to here?¡± The commander asks the next question.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°No. That''s right. It was all thanks to Mashima-san. She helped us defeat those monsters and brought us out of here. Officer, you have to get in there and bring her out. She is still inside to look for more students.¡± The student grabs the commander''s arms and shakes them. ¡°Wait. Who is this Mashima? And she defeated the monsters for you to escape?¡± The commander asks. ¡°Yes, we were able to get out of here thanks to her. She is also a student like me and she organized some students to fight back the monsters and this crazy bandage man, and then created a path for us to run outside.¡± ¡°Wait, why is there another bandage man, here? Is he someone who also joined the mass killing?¡± ¡°Yes, although I did not personally see him killing. He did drag a corpse along with him when we met. However, it is okay now. Mashima-san and her friends defeated him.¡± "I understand what was going on. It seemed that we need to have a special thank for her. She has achieved a feat worthy to be called a hero... You have also done a great job reporting this to me. I promise that we will do what we can to find and get everyone inside out of there." The commander pats on the student''s shoulder as he says. "Thank you very much, sir! Please save Mashima-san and all the other students." The student offers his gratefulness. Another officer comes and reports to the commander "Chief! There is another group coming out. This one is led by some teachers." Everyone who heard that immediately turns their graze toward the gate. This time, it is a group much bigger than the students Hinami group sent out. There are more than one hundred people and leading them are several adults who look like the teachers. Their states do look worse than the 1st group as there are people with amputated arms and legs. There are even those with extreme injury on the bodies that make people wonder if they are still alive or not. The police men and medics approach and help escort them to nearby emergency treatment area and ambulances. The commander orders his subordinate to fetch a teacher with the least injury for inquiry. A woman in light orange suit comes. Traces of tear can be seen from her face and extreme tiredness can also be seen. There is no doubt that she had a very rough time there. "I am very sorry for making you come here for inquiry while you are supposed to receive help from the hospital. However, please bear with it as we need to know the situation inside." The commander offers his apology to the female teacher. "No, there is no problem, sir. I am a teacher and have a duty to protect the students. If there is anything officer need, I would be glad to be any help." She shows a face of resolve as she answers him. What a strong willed teacher, the commander thinks so. He then starts the questioning " Can you tell me what happened inside the school?" The female teacher tells him the same information as the student before but in more details: how the world suddenly turned red, the school was isolated outside by a black liquid, the slaughter going on. "Hm, so the world inside there looks so different from the outside." The commander puts his hand on the chin and think "Is everything she said same with what you saw?" He asks the student nearby. "I am sorry that I did not talk to you about that....... " The student pauses a moment "But why don''t you know about that? Why are you surrounding the school instead of charging in?" He asks, "It''s not like we don''t want to charge in but we can''t. What happened to this school was not normal. When we received the report that a massive killing happening in Hakugawa academy, we immediately came and found a completely normal school..... That was what we thought until we was stopped by an invisible wall just at the school gate. The moment we touched it, a scene of bloody hall appeared in our mind and we realized that the that the situation was not normal. An incident has happened and on top of that, a supernatural phenomenon. We tried to get inside through many means. Climbing over the wall, flying over, destroying the wall. All of them were useless as the invisible barrier kept us from entering. The science department came but could not figure out anything or do about that barrier. In the end, we could only surround the whole school and wait for a miracle to come." The commander says with a self mocking smile at his last sentence. "Anyway, miracle did come and there are many people coming out from it. Although there are only an eight of the school came out alive. In the end, we polices are useless in front of the abnormal phenomenon." Both the teacher and student remain silent after learning that help cannot be sent inside. Trying to break apart the awkward atmosphere, the student thinks then asks the teacher "Teacher, I am curious. How can you pass through that black liquid? Do you have someone awaken in super power in your group? Or Were you rescued by Mashima-san?" The teacher is stupefied when she heard so "What do you mean by super power? We built a bridge with the desks in a nearby storage house to get outside. And we did not encounter anyone named Mashima. The reason we could get out safely was due to the leadership of the school chairman and many teachers sacrificing themselves to block the monsters." "I am intrigued by that too. Did this Mashima student have superpower when she fought with the monsters you mentioned?" The commander interrupted. The student then tells him about how Mashima Hinami transformed into the white military uniform and created gun out of nothing to defeat the enemies. (What happened to this world? A red world, a massacre by a bunch of monsters and people, an invisible wall that completely isolates anything inside, and now a student with super power. Is this the signal of the coming new age?) The commander asks himself. Suddenly, an explosion occurs and the whole school is set ablaze. The fire is so big that its height can already reach more than thirty meter. Even people from the other districts can see it from their home. Fire fighters come and try to subsidize it with the fire hose. However, the water is blocked by the invisible wall and the flame keeps burning bright in the sky. "Evacuate any personnel within 10 meter around the target. Get the civilians stay further away from the site. Make way for the fire trucks to come here and put out any fire that spread outside..." The commander gives his men new orders. An hour has passed and the fire keeps burning high in the sky. Fortunately, the fire is contained only inside the school and did not spread any further. However, no more person is seen coming outside from the school. Just when the people on site loses hope that no one else survives, a group of students composed of girls mainly come out. "Looks like we are welcomed in quite an extravagant manner." Makoto laughs seeing the entire row of police men. Chapter 21: Deduction Lexar is currently lying on top of the white sheet on top of a bed. His paws are currently playing a round with a warped onigiri, trying to figure out how to open it correctly with his cat limbs. The reason he is doing this is to waste time waiting for Makoto to finish physical examination. It is already the next day after the incident. After escaping from the red world, Makoto and her friends as well as the Sugihara house were escorted by the polices and medics to the central hospital. This incident was very major that it got reported on all news station, and even world wide. It is a combination of all elements that can make to big news: mass murdering, supernatural phenomenon, biggest arson ever in the history of Tokyo. In the end, only one eighth of the total people inside that academy came out alive, which meant there were more than 800 people not seeing the blue sky anymore. He remembered the news interviewing the family of the victims who did not come out yesterday. So many mothers passed out due the shock of losing their children and the faces of the fathers only showed emptiness. A sense of guilt arises in his heart as he remembers those faces. Although he already knew beforehand that a major incident going to happen at the academy, it still ended up with the loss of many lives. Even he knew that he was powerless to do anything, Lexar still agonizes how much better things may turn out if he could do more. He wishfully thought that if he had power same as the girls, he could have gone and saved more students, instead of retreating so early. In the next moment, he convinces himself that his job was to accompany the girls and support them. If he had not awaken their inner power, no one may have even exited the place. It was actually the best result possible for him. He knew that it was just escapism, but cannot help finding such excuse very convincing for him. Finding himself in a loop of self defense and blaming, Lexar decides to throw all those thought away and concentrate on thinking about all the questions he saved up so far. The first question was about that dream. Except the scene where the student jumped down and formed a tree, all the other scenes did not make any sense. The toilets with headless bodies were probably related to how those toilet monsters attacked their preys. The students with their slit mouth could also be associated to those ripped mouth women. And the school set in blaze had relation to that bandage man. A connection between them can be vividly seen, but without witnessing the monsters, no one can ever think that such images can be associated with those monsters. The scene with those slit mouth students is the most confusing. Why were they shown alive? They should be dead like the students in the rest room. Is there any special meaning showing that they are alive? In fact, what did his dream really show? Many questions flood his mind, but he could not find an answer to them. The only thing he found is that his dream can show some hints about what will happen in the future with ambiguous scenes. It seemed like some future reading for fortune tellers: related but not telling directly what will happen. Just when he starts analyzing the next topic, the door to the room is opened. Hinami, Makoto, and Yuuko enter with patient clothes. It appears that their medical check up is finished. ¡°Sorry for the wait, Lexar. I guess you must be bored to sit here all day.¡± Makoto hugs him as she retreats to her bed. ¡°No, it¡¯s okay. There are a lot of things I need to think after all.¡± Lexar replies while enjoying being patted. ¡°So, now we finally have time. Can you tell us what is going? And who are you?¡± Hinami cuts to the chase. ¡°There are many things I still don¡¯t understand either. So let us start with my identity first¡­. You see that I am a cat right now, but that was not what I original be. I was a human before.¡± The room is filled with shocked voices as he says that. ¡°In fact, a dead human. I had already died before. But for some strange reason, I am now alive with a cat body. You can say that I reincarnated as a cat but still have my memory intact. And you may not believe it. I am not from this world either. The reason I say that is because this world lacks an important event that occurred in my world many years ago.¡± ¡°Leaving my old past aside, the reason I came to this world was because of a contract. It was written that your world has a very strange energy. This energy can help materialize human imagination and thought, and have already created another world that is separated from this one. In one year from now on, that created world is going to collide with this world, bringing the monsters from another side and downfall to humanity. And my job is to find people like you girls, awaken their energy to give them power to fight back the monsters and stop the collision of two worlds from happening.¡° ¡°You are only making things more confusing to us. We only wanted to know what happened and now suddenly we are involved in the survival of the entire humanity. And there is this whole thing about reincarnation too. Are you sure you did not read too much novel?¡± Hinami says with denying attitude.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just accept the fact as it is? What you experienced should be already enough to break your common sense now. Chance to have a power to save the world is not available to everyone, you know.¡± ¡°You are taking this too lightly. We are just only high school girls. This is not anime or manga that people our age can take on the task of saving the world so easily.¡± ¡°I originally did not want to involve you guys in this fight too. I wanted to give the special power to some responsible and suitable adults, but there was no people with potential to have power beside you girls. Furthermore, you are already involved in this situation. It¡¯s not like you can easily brush off what happened with your school.¡± ¡°We have strayed off the conversation a little bit. Can you tell us what happened at Hakugawa academy? Why did such an absurd phenomenon has to occur right at that place?¡± Lexar then tells her what he saw from the clairvoyance on the Yoshida guy, from the moment he entered school with black flame on his body to when he confessed what happened with him and jumped down from the rooftop. The three girls listen his story with concentration. ¡°I have quite a mixed feeling about this. To think that the person who caused such a crazy crime suffered from serious abuse. You may think that I am crazy but if he lied about his suffering, I doubt he would have so much resolution to kill himself. But from the scale of his doing, he is unforgivable.¡± Hinami comments on Yoshida. ¡°It¡¯s true that he was deplorable to involve the whole school in his revenge. But still his family lost must have been the trigger to drive him quite insane to commit such an act.¡± Yuuko also comments. ¡°¡­¡± Makoto remains silent without any comment. ¡°Makoto?¡± Yuuko asks her. ¡°¡­¡± Makoto still remains silent. ¡°You are awfully quiet there.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s just that there are something intriguing that makes me think about.¡± Makoto breaks her silence. ¡°Did you notice something?¡± Lexar asks her. ¡°Let me ask you two important questions. First, did you see Yoshida looking at any device or newspaper, or hearing the news about the fire from someone?¡± Makoto asks him. ¡°No, he did not get contact with any news media while I was watching him. And his classroom was quiet so there was no one talking about news.¡± Lexar answers her. ¡°Second, did he show any hesitation or dumbfound expression when people rejected his accusation of Shindo group committing the arson?¡± Makoto asks him another question. ¡°He just only laughed at them with contempt. And his look at that time showed that he was convinced that the Shindo group did the arson.¡± Lexar answers her. ¡°Thank you. Now I am sure. That there is another mastermind behind this incident.¡± Makoto says with conviction. ¡°!¡± Everyone gasps at her declaration. ¡°Wait for me a little bit.¡± Makoto takes out the phone from the drawer nearby and navigates on it. She then gives the screen for everyone to see ¡°November 30thth 2014. Big arson leading to the death of more than 100 person in Kumamoto prefecture.¡± The big title on the screen writes. ¡°Is this the arson that killed Yoshida¡¯s family?¡± Hinami asks. ¡°Pay attention to the time of article.¡± Makoto directs everyone¡¯s attention to the small timeline beneath the title. ¡°November 30th 2014 5:35 PM. What is about it?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°This is not the first article mentioning the fire. However, this is the first article using the word ¡°arson¡±. Only starting from this article, there is mention of the police investigation concluding that this was not an accident but a man made crime. The fire started during midnight 11 o¡¯clock and the earliest news about it was about 1AM. Several reports came later not until after 5AM. All of them only mentioned that the fire suddenly started and the cause of it was unknown, in progress of investigation. The time Yoshida committed suicide was about 12PM, our lunch time. Taking into account of his behaviour when Lexar first observed him, Yoshida confirmed that the death of his family was caused by arson by the Shindo group just in the morning, before the police concluded that the fire was caused by arson.¡± Makoto gives out her finding. ¡°I still don¡¯t get what you are trying to say. But about him knowing the death of his family caused by Shindo group, is it also possible that Yoshida assumed that the Shindou group did so because how they have abused him so far and he associated all of his mishap to them?¡± Hinami says. ¡°True , there is also that possibility. But for now, let us assume that he did not think so. Here is one important question: who informed him about the big fire?¡± Makoto asks everyone. ¡°He probably heard it from the news on TV or the internet?¡± Yuuko answers. ¡°Would someone who had been bullied so long watch the news on TV or internet daily?¡± Makoto asks back. ¡°And from what I heard from the gossiping, Yoshida lived in Tokyo alone without any relative. So the possibility of him coincidentally watching the news with someone else is none.¡± ¡°His relatives?¡± Hinami asks. ¡°If they did inform him, Yoshida would be asked to come back home immediately. But here, he went to school, convinced that the Shindou group killed his parents. His family or relatives should not be aware of his relationship with his bully. Or else, they would have not allowed him to stay in Tokyo for so long.¡± ¡°His friends?¡± Lexar gives his input. ¡°Probably but it was a small possibility. He was isolated from his friends. I doubt that there would be anyone calling for him right in the morning before school.¡± Makoto denies. ¡°Then who are you referring?¡± Hinami asks. ¡°The one who told him that by offering his body to ¡°god¡±, the world would be cleansed.¡± Chapter 22: The night in the hospital ¡°The one who told him about offering his body?¡± Hinami asks with dubious voice. ¡°That''s right.¡± Makoto says with certainty ¡°Why did he have to mention god? This means that he joined a certain religion, and not a normal common one too. Mentioning god also implies that he did contact with someone or a certain group of people, beside the people you have mentioned before. And there is a high possibility that those people understand quite well about the strange energy and the friction between Yoshida and Shindo group. They also know that the fire was caused by arson and put Shindo group as the culprit behind it. They must have convinced Yoshida that the arson was caused by his enemy somehow.¡± ¡°So there is someone who knows about the strange energy and used Yoshida to create the red world and kill the students. But what is the objective for doing so? If it was terrorism, what was the message he was trying to convey?¡± Hinami asks. ¡°To be honest, I can only figure out that much. There are so many things that we don''t know. If possible, Hinami, I would like you to investigate the situation around this Yoshida guy. Perhaps, we can learn something.¡± Makoto says. ¡°Leave it to me. This is a serious issue. My father will definitely lend me strength to investigate this.¡± Hinami says with a confident pose. ¡°How dependable. I guess it''s a blessing to have someone rich in their team.¡± Makoto says with a smile. ¡°Anyway, I wonder how this strange power works. Would sacrificing oneself create such a terrifying world with those monsters?¡± Makoto changes the subject with a frowning face. ¡°I myself do not really know much. But I think there are a lot of conditions for it. First, the person who sacrifices himself must have that black flame covering his body. The second condition must be the school. I don''t know how to describe it but your school must be quite special. From the moment I came inside, my body became tense all the time and I sort of felt passing a barrier right at the school gate. The black flame on Yoshida also suddenly burst out when he passed through the gate.¡± Lexar answers while looking up to Makoto. ¡°Oh, now that I thought about it. Why were we in white flame when we transformed? Is it different from the black flame in anyway? And what is the nature of the black liquid?¡± Makoto asks him. ¡°It seems that the energy can basically divided into two types: positive energy and negative energy. Positive energy comes from positive feeling, while negative energy comes from negative feeling. They correspond to white and black color respectively. So far, most of the humans do have positive energy inside them, and quite a few have some negative energy mixed in. Only a few exceptions have only negative energy.¡± Lexar answers. ¡°Wait. Isn''t this very dangerous? Does this mean a lot of people have potential perform the same ritual as Yoshida?¡± Hinami interrupts with a loud voice. ¡°It is certainly a possibility. There are already people knowing about the strange energy and how to use it too. A disaster like what happened at your school will repeat if we do not know how to stop it. However, fortunately, people like in Yoshida are very rare. If I happen to see someone with a lot of negative energy, we can follow him and prevent the tragedy from happening again. Besides, there are many people with positive energy. Perhaps, we can find someone with potential to awaken and get them fight together with us.¡± Lexar says. ¡°¡­..¡± Hinami remains silent with a sigh after hearing. ¡°¡­..¡± The same also occurs with Yuuko and Makoto. ¡°Girls?¡± Lexar asks after seeing how strange the atmosphere has become. ¡°To fight, huh?¡± Yuuko mutters then looks at her hand. A white flame appears on her palm and forms a katana. ¡°Are you telling me to fight too?¡± She asks the sword in her hand. Looking at Yuuko''s behavior, the other two girls also do the same, create white flame in their hand and manifest their powers. Hinami holds a hand gun while Makoto makes the a small white tornado twisting around in her hand. ¡°Hey Lexar.¡± Hinami calls the cat ¡°Why are we chosen to have this power?¡± She asks while caressing the gun in her hand. ¡°Who knows? I do not know what criteria a person need to have potential for this power. I did awaken your power because the situation demanded so. You are free to put all of these aside and go back to your daily normal life. I will not say anything or feel bad about it. After all, you girls are just only kids and this job may be too much for you. However, I think that it is fate that you girls have this power. And it was not forcibly given you. You girls were the ones who desired it.¡± Lexar emphasizes the last sentence. ¡°Desire?¡± Makoto mutters as she remembers the conversation with her other self. ¡°A new era, right?¡± Yuuko closes her eyes reflecting on her pasts. Hinami becomes silent and resumes caressing her gun. Lexar observes their reactions then jumps off the bed. He knows that those girls need some time to think as this is an important decisions. They will be risking their lives so what they need the most is the resolution to do so. He approaches the window and jumps out of the room. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ *At night, in a night shift room in the hospital A TV is switched on, showing a static scene of a well in the countryside. Corrupted sound of the wind coming from it fills the whole room. The light is turned off and the only source of light is the blue light coming out from the TV. Nobody is inside the room. Fukawa is the nurse who has the night shift today. Due to the massive flux of injured students from yesterday, she has been busy the whole day and stress accumulated on her body. Opening the door of the room only to find that the TV is turned on without anyone watching it, she says with a loud angry voice. ¡°Who switched on TV without turning it off? Do you know that this TV spends a lot of electricity when turning on for many hours !?¡± She rants on while knowing that there is no one replying her. ¡°Geez. Such an undisciplined manner. I will complain to the manager about those trainees later.¡± She says to herself as she turns on the light to look for the remote to turn off the TV.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Pointing the remote to the TV, Fukawa presses the power button, but the TV does not respond at all. She keeps pressing repetitively but the static scene of the well is still showing. ¡°Strange. I remember this should be the correct one. And the battery is here too.¡± She mumbles as she checks the remote. ¡°Fine, I will just turn off the power.¡± She crouches down in front of the TV, finding the socket where the TV is connected to. The scene starts to change a hand comes out of the well. It is a long skinny hand as the skin wraps tightly on the bone. A creaking sound comes out of the TV as the master of that hand climbs out of the well. ¡°Hmph?¡± Fukawa hears the sound just after she pulls of the plug from the socket. She turns around but finds nothing strange inside the room. Thinking that it may be her imagination, she stands up and heads to the desk with a pile of documents. After taking the list of medications of those she has to check next, she exits the room and turns everything off. Her footstep echoes the entire hallway as Fukawa moves. The sound comes loudly as it is the only noise in this hallway. Combining the dark sky outside, such a scene can send a timid person goose bump. For Fukawa, this is normal but she still finds it creepy whenever she walks alone. How can a place bustling with energy during daytime become so eerily quiet at night? She herself asks that question many time. After a few minutes walking, she finally arrives at the destination, the medicine storage room. Just when she opens the door, a bone cracking sound is heard from behind. Fukawa immediately looks behind to see the source. ¡°Who''s there?¡± She asks. However, there is no one behind here and there is no reply either. Even so, an unwell feeling swells up in her. She definitely feels there is someone behind her and did definitely hear the sound clearly. Fukawa gulps her saliva as her imagination starts creating horror images of ghosts and monsters commonly seen in movies. In her head, a scene where a white person suddenly appears behind then drags her away plays. In the next second, there is a scene where she is stabbed from behind by a man in mask. After that, a monster with long tail pierces through her chest then splits her in half. In only thirty seconds, thirty scenarios where she was killed played in her head. Sweat forms on her forehead and she collapses on the ground. Her breath becomes rough as she feels like she experienced death so many time. It does not take long for her to realize the abnormality. If it was just normal imagination, those scenarios could not play so short and rapidly in such a short time. More over, she can feel the pain each time she was killed. As she is panting, a hand extends on her shoulder. Fukawa freezes on the spot and tightly closes her eyes, waiting for the sharp pain to come again. One second, two second, ten second. She is bracing herself for the incoming pain but nothing happened. Nervously, she slowly opens her eyes. There is nothing in front of her but the sensation right behind her ears tells the otherwise. A cold breath is blowing in her ear. She can even see white air flowing next to her cheek. The hand that has been resting on her shoulder is long and skinny, so skinny that she can feel the bone joints through her clothes. Her heart is beating fast as the fear reaches its climax. She is too afraid to turn back, because she knows that the moment she moves her neck, her life will end. Even she knows that her life is over, she still wants to live on for a few more seconds. Another hand touches her body, and she starts trembling in fear. However, the owner of that hand does not pay attention to that. The skeletal hand softly presses on her throat, then slowly traces its fingers upward to her chin, slide her lips, and caresses her cheeks. After that, the hand moves down and gropes her breast. Fukawa immediately jumps up when it happens, but the hand on her shoulder forcefully presses her down. A strange feeling transmits throughout her body. The cold white air next to her ear becomes hot enough to feel comfortable in this cold weather. Its blowing sensation tickles her skin, triggering a strange excitement in her. To further enhances that excitement, the skeletal hand fondles her breast gently, molding it into different shapes. Its longest middle finger moves up and down between her cleavage. The being behind her puts his other hand on her stomach and massages it. Fukawa does not understand what is going on. Her mind was full of fear and anxiety a moment ago, but all of those melted away when her body is toyed with. This is basically sexual harassment, and she was supposed to feel disgusted by it. Yet she did not dislike it. She actually enjoyed instead. The emaciated hands did not look scary anymore as they soothed down the pain she experienced from those imagination and brought her warmness. Anticipation fills her mind as she starts wondering about the one behind her. However, fear still lingers as she is afraid that it is actually a monster or a ghost behind her. "It''s all alright now. There is nothing harming you anymore." A charming male voice softly enters her ears. The nurse''s cheeks slightly redden because of the intimacy of his action. Feeling relief that it is a word of a man, Fukawa finally turns around, and sees a handsome man. Although the skin is pale white, his face is full of vigor with the dandy circle beard, completely opposite of the skinny hand he has. His exquisite face full of western features can charm any young girl he makes eye contact with. Fukawa''s heart even skips a beat when she sees his face. The man is wearing a black tuxedo with a red coat hung over. Although it is a weird combination, they fits the man perfectly, emitting the elegant aura around him. Before fully assessing the man, he brings the nurse''s chin near his face then kisses her lips. It is quite forceful and sudden. Fukawa puts her hands on his body to push him away, but the man circles his arm around her hip and tightly hugs her without breaking his kiss. After struggling for a few second, the nurse stops resisting then allows herself indulge in passion with the man. They entwine each other''s tongue like a pair of lover. Little does she know, some black liquid enters her mouth through the saliva. Her body becomes hot yet her eyes feels cold like when she eats the shaved ice, but that is not enough to stop her from engaging the sweet action. In the man''s eyes, the black iris of the nurse slowly becomes yellow and the pupils form a diamond shape. After five minutes, the mouths separate from each other. The man looks at the woman with a sharp eye. "Speak your position" The man speaks with a cold voice, contrasting his previous behaviour. "I am eternally your slave, my master." Fukawa kneels in front of him and says with a respected voice. "It seems you have finished your operation." A strange voice cuts in the conversation. The sound of a staff hitting the floor echoes the hallway. It is a figure covered in dark brown robe made of high quality material, embroidered with precious stones ornament. However, the most eye catching feature is the skull hiding under the hood. For unknown reason, the bones can change the shape and size at will, allowing the skull to form many expressions similar to the human face. "The pawn preparation is completed. All that is left is to set the pieces into place." The white skin man says. The door to the medical storage room opens. Several nurses and female doctors step out and line up by the man side. All of them have the yellow eyes same as Fukawa. "Hahahaha......... Looks like you are eager to do this, huh?" The skeleton laughs loudly. "Of course...... After all, the best preys are the ones most difficult to hunt after all." The man answers with a wicked smile. Chapter 23: The morning in the hospital ¡°Is it morning already?¡± Lexar wakes up and looks around the hospital room. It is only 5:30 AM in the morning. The light coming through the window is light blue, signifying that the sun has not risen yet. The three girls are still sleeping soundly in their own beds. Only Lexar is completely awake in this room. A strange dream caused him to wake up from the deep sleep. No, it was not a dream, but rather a recollection of his past memory. He saw back the day when he was awarded for a special achievement during his time in military. It was a special day, the day he was officially called hero by everyone present at the stage. That was one of his special milestones in the past life. It was a thing that he could brag with everyone about, yet at the same time a thing he preferred not to discuss. After all, he wasted the rest of his life doing nothing fit what they used to call him. Shaking his head, he is already set for a new life. What happened in the past has nothing to do with the current him now. He already reflected enough during the last few years of his life. The thing he should only be concerned with is to apply the lessons from that life in this new world. He exits the room through the window for some fresh air. He sees many polices cars parking outside the hospital gate. It is obvious that the polices are here. This hospital takes care more than 30% of the survivors from that incident. They want to ensure the safety of the victim, as well as wait for opportunity to question them about the incident. Makoto and her friends already got an interview the day before, but Lexar can bet that the polices want to know more, especially since they know the girls have special power. This information was hidden from the mass media, but not for those in charge of the investigation and government. In fact, they are itching to research their powers as soon as possible. Having the magical girls'' identities exposed can be quite problematic, but it cannot be helped in this case. Not mentioning the fact they did transform in front of normal people, there is an important reasons why Lexar seriously considers having the girls'' power known: the one year limit. Unlike the stereotype of mascot characters who know a lot about the world behind the scene, Lexar knows nothing crucial to solve his task. He has no idea where to look for the clue nor what to do. He cannot afford to waste time to find the clues by himself, not mentioning there are a lot of problems that need to be taken care of. What he needs is a strong tie with those in power to assist him with many tasks such as investigation, transportation, handling the aftermath of the battle, financial assistance, equipments, and so on. Of course, he also knows that nothing in the world is free. Lexar and the girls will probably have to cooperate them with the research of super power. Being treated like a lab rat is definitely not a good experience to anyone, however, that is necessary because they have to understand their own power too. There is also one good outcome from collaborating with the government. Which is to enhance human fighting capacity with the monsters from the other world. What happened at Hakugawa academy is no doubt only a small scale event, yet there was such a huge casualty already. If the red world scaled up to cover the whole city, how many people would be killed? Just thinking about it already sent him shiver down the spine. Thus, another strong reason why he should collaborate with the government. What worries him the most is the involvement of Makoto, Hinami and Yuuko with the dark side of society. As those with special ability, they are no doubt in the center of everyone¡¯s eyes. The deal with those in power is probably not simple enough to limit only experimenting their power. There is a high chance they will get involved in the vortex of conspiracy in the government. During his life in military, he knew quite well that the turbulence in the political atmosphere of upper echelon of a country is more complex than what the civilian know. He himself belonged to the low layer of the hierarchy so he is also not very well versed in politics. Therefore, he cannot help but wonder whether he can prevent them from getting too deep in that vortex. Hinami is a daughter of the chairman of a zaibatsu so her family can protect her from bad influence. However, it is very dangerous for Yuuko and Makoto as they seem like they do not have a big enough background to protect them. The top brass may turn them into political tools for their personal use. He is very anxious of that future.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. After that much thinking, he decides it''s better to return and talk with the girls on this matter. Just at the moment he turns his face away, he catches a sight of something strange. Through a window, he sees a table with some bottles lined up orderly. In the containers, he can sense a tiny bit of negative energy. Understanding that something is not right, he stealthily approaches the window to check them out. Confirming that no one is inside the room. He jumps on the window bar and inspects those bottles at close range. Under his normal eye, the bottles are just filled with clear transparent liquid. However, with the potential eye, he can see a drop of black liquid inside each container. (Why on earth there is black liquid here?) Lexar thinks. A creaking noise of a door opening comes. He quickly gets off the bar to hide away. It is a nurse coming in. She looks around to check for anyone present before putting those bottles on a tray and leaving. Peeking from the corner of the window, he sees clearly the light at her heart: a mixture between white and black. It is a very strange phenomenon. There are only three colors of light he saw: white, gray and black. There has been no person so far that can have such a distinct difference between white and black spots like her before. With suspicion, Lexar activates the clairvoyance to observe her. The nurse Fukawa walks along the corridor of the hospital. There are only few people walking around at the moment as it is still early in the morning. She reaches in front of a patient room then comes inside. There are four beds inside and all the patients are on intravenous drip. (Don''t tell me she is going to inject that into their blood veins?) An answer comes to his mind. Lexar immediately dashes to Makoto''s room. He has to inform them to stop a dangerous activity. "Makoto! Wake up!" Lexar immediately jumps on her bed and says with a loud voice. "It hurts. What''s up with you all the sudden?" Makoto massages her stomach that was stomped by Lexar. "This hospital has a problem. A nurse is going to inject the black liquid into the patients here." Lexar explains. Hinami and Yuuko who is still slightly sleepy immediately jump off the bed feeling completely awake. Makoto makes a stern face as she hears it. "Lead the way, Lexar!" Hinami says with a commanding voice while fixing her clothes a little bit. Their immediate response to the emergency surprises Lexar. Their demeanor are like well trained solders. He has some curiosity whether this is affected by having their power awaken, but he has no time for that now. "Follow me. The E area second floor." Lexar answers as he leads them. Three girls in pink patient clothes and a cat are running on the corridor. Their speed completely surpasses normal human as those whom they pass by only feel a strong wind before noticing. "Hey! You are not allowed to run inside the building." A doctor yells out as the group pass by. "Sorry! But we are having an emergency here." Makoto''s voice echoes as they are hundred meters apart. .................................................................................... "Stop with what you are doing!" Hinami yells out as she pulls the slide door strongly. The four patients and the nurse are all startled by the loud voice of the intruder. Makoto immediately checks the trolley after she enters the room while Yuuko approaches the nurse and takes away the syringe she is holding. "What are you doing? Do you know that you are obstructing a medical treatment?" The nurse says with an angry voice. "I don''t think that is the case. Do you know what is inside the syringe you held just no?" Hinami says with a calm face. "They are medicines prescribed by the doctors for these patients. What do you think they are?" The nurse answers. Makoto picks up a container and checks it. The liquid inside is clear but as someone with power, she can sense trace of negative energy inside. She looks at Hinami and gives a nod. "You may not know it but the liquid inside the medicine bottle here is directly related with the massacre at Hakugawa academy. I expect you to answer who is the one who supplied these bottles and the doctor prescribed it." Hinami questions the nurse with demanding voice. "I really don''t know what you are talking about." The nurse shakes her head in confusion. "Oh, little ladies, can you girls stop this meaningless cat fight?" A flirtatious voice comes from the door to the room. "!" The three girls gasp when being caught off guard. Even though they are still amateurs in fight, they can sense someone approaching near, or else they could not detect the surprise attacks before. For someone to approach them without noticing, it means that person is not only abnormal, but also much stronger than the bandage man and slit mouth woman. "Be careful! That man is also a monster." Lexar warns as he jumps back a great distance. Chapter 24: The fight in hospital (1) The man is wearing a stylish red jacket donned over a white T-shirt and black jeans. In his mouth, a tobacco pipe is pumping out white smoke. The westerner handsome face has an impressive circle beard that can capture any young girl¡¯s curiosity. He is leanning his back on the slide door, blocking the entry, while looking at those inside the room. Through Lexar¡¯s eye, he can see dark flame trapped inside a transparent box, similar with the slit mouth woman. Makoto, Yuuko, and Hinami all get into combat stance after hearing the warning. Their eyes are completely fixed on the man, not wanting to miss any of the intruder¡¯s movement. ¡°How troublesome! You ladies got up so early and found it out, which really messed up our plan. It¡¯s a disgrace for me to show up in front of such beautiful missies with tobacco in mouth, you know. Non smoking guys is the trend nowadays.¡± He says with a bit of annoyed voice. ¡°And it¡¯s all thanks to you, black cat. Master is right to warn me about you being a hindrance. It was because I am a cat lover that I decided to leave you alone for a while. But I guess that I should kill you first.¡± The man then looks at Lexar with intense killing intent. The cat hisses at the man back menacingly. The nurse and the four patients inside the room do not understand what is going, but still understand that a fight is going to break out. The killing intent from the man and the hissing from the cat sent a shiver down their spines. One of the patients reach out a red button to call the staffs. ¡°Oops. I can¡¯t let you do that though.¡± The man swings his arm after seeing what the patient is trying to do. A loud metal sound comes and in the next second the patient screams as the thin part of the pipe pierces his hand. The girls break cold sweat on their forehead as they witness what happened. Although they saw the arm gesture clearly, the throwing power of the pipe, which is not even a throwing weapon, is not to be underestimated, as well as the accuracy behind his technique. Yuuko also notices an additional thing. Even his posture seems relaxed, there is no opening in his defense. Unlike the bandage man and slit mouth woman, the enemy this time is skilled and proficient in martial arts. Hinami materializes a pistol and points it at the man. ¡°Who are you? What are you trying to do?¡± Hinami questions the circle beard man, ignoring the loud screaming behind. ¡°Oh, where is my manner? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jerome Garret. A gentleman as you can see¡± The man bows elegantly and introduces himself ¡°As for your question, I am afraid I can¡¯t answer that. My master did say that ¡°Villains lose because of talking too much¡±. As a villain myself, I do not wish to lose so I cannot talk too much.¡± ¡°Who is your master?¡± Hinami asks him. ¡°I am afraid I can¡¯t answer that.¡± Jerome replies. ¡°Who is your master?¡± Hinami repeats the question with a straight face. ¡°I said that I can¡¯t answer that.¡± Jerome answers. ¡°WHO IS YOUR MASTER?¡± Hinami now asks with a commanding tone and dominating aura. ¡°My master is Shindo, huh? ¡­..¡­ ! Holy crap. What did you just make me do?¡± Jerome becomes puzzled a moment then suddenly realizes what he is saying. ¡°Shindo? Now an interesting name has come up.¡± Hinami smiles satisfyingly as she receives a crucial information. ¡°You have known something you should not know, little missy. Although I dislike fighting with women, you are leaving me no choice¡­¡± A gunshot comes, interrupting his dialogue. ¡°And that¡¯s not how a lady with high status like you should act. I guess I need to teach you a lesson first.¡± He squeezes a bullet caught in his fingers. Hinami pulls the trigger several time and the bullets fly toward him rapidly. The man moves his hand in fast motion. After a second, he hold his fist high and releases all the rounds on the floor. Hinami frowns at that scene but that does not stop her hand. An SMG replaces the pistol immediately, but the man immediately closes on her before she can pull the trigger. ¡°Your opponent is me.¡± Yuuko stands in front of Hinami and blocks the incoming punch with her hand. Jerome does not flinch a bit at her interruption, and starts throwing a barrage of punches at her. His attacks make loud wind blowing sounds and form a motion blur with rapid and fast movement. Yuuko immediately materializes her arm guards and deflects the attack, or defend it with the protective gear. The loud bang sounds come repeatedly as Jerome¡¯s strikes hit her. (Fast, and strong too. However, ¡­) Yuuko analyzes the attack while blocking. With sudden speed, she moves her leg and performs a triple low kick on his knee. The man¡¯s balance crumbles after the first and second kick, but manages to jump back before the third one hits him.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. (He is too reckless with the attack. He has the strength and knows the basics but does not truly understand how to fight hand to hand combat.) Yuuko realizes the weakness of the man immediately. ¡°Wow, I was just careless back then. I won¡¯t let you get me next time.¡± Jerome says with a joking voice but his left eye squints a little from pain. ¡°My turn now¡± Yuuko dashes toward him and throws an right upper punch. Jeromes deflects the punch sideway with his left arm and counters also with a punch. Yuuko twists her back to the right, dodging his hand a narrow margin while pointing her shoulder on his chest. With a hop, she slams on his chest and knocks him back a few steps. She took several hit during that slam but she pays no heed to them despite the pain. She hugs on the man¡¯s hip, lifts him up in the air and throws him on the floor with a loud thump. Jerome¡¯s back is thrown with a strong force that is enough to freeze him for a second. And that is enough for Yuuko to restrain him. Switching her body position, she turns his body upside down, strangles his neck with a knee lock while bending his arm upward. Realizing that he is in dangerous situation, Jerome thrashes around to throw her off and uses his other free hand to try to hit the girl, but his actions are futile. The stronger he thrashes around, the tighter the knee lock on his neck becomes. His current posture makes his free hand unable to muster any force to make an effective attack. Being choked tightly, he gives up and taps the girl¡¯s leg to signal that he gives up. Yuuko relaxes the lock on his neck a little bit but still enough to seal his movement. While panting heavily for air, a sound of a gun unlocking can be heard right next to his ear. ¡°Now, do you feel like talking a little bit?¡± Hinami pressed her SMG muzzle on the restrained Jerome¡¯s head. ¡°*wheeze* Oh my, how scary, how scary. You girls seem more cold blooded than expected¡­¡­ *wheeze* ¡­. How about it? Want to join our master¡¯s side?¡± Jerome smiles optimistically in front of the threat while taking deep breath. ¡°Hinami, be careful. His negative energy is ready to burst out. Prepare for a surprise attack.¡± Lexar warns her as he sees the box containing the dark flame in Jerome¡¯s heart shaking violently. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that cat is talking, but it seems that he warned you about me preparing something. What a troublesome creature.¡± Hearing the cat meowing unnaturally, Jerome looks at Lexar and comments. ¡°Don¡¯t try to distract the conversation. Tell me what Shindo Taiga is trying to do.¡± Hinami presses the gun on his head harder. ¡°Wait! How the hell do you know his name?¡± Sweat forms on Jerome¡¯s forehead as he hears his master¡¯s full name. ¡°I actually don¡¯t know his name.¡± Hinami makes an evil smile¡° I just throw out one of my suspicions and you readily admit it. Now, tell me what he is trying do.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± Jerome remains silent without saying anything. ¡°Answer me!¡± She says with a louder voice. The box constraing the black flame inside his heart shatters and Jerome¡¯s body is engulfed with black flame. Yuuko quickly releases the lock and steps back. On the other hand, Hinami decides to pull the trigger and sprays down the whole magazine on the man¡¯s head, shattering it into tiny red pieces. The nurse in the corner sees that and screams loudly ¡°Murderer!¡±. White flame burns up from the corpse¡¯s head and overwhelms the black flame, then burns the whole body. However, something strange happens. An awful, acrid odor fills the room as the corpse is on fire. The scent is so thick and strong that even the tongue can seem to taste it. It feels like a mixture of many gases that words alone cannot describe it. (This smell. It¡¯s a human meat burning smell.) Lexar recognizes the familiar smell during his old day (Why is there a smell now? There was no such smell when we defeated those women and bandage man.) An anxiety surfaces in his head. ¡°*Blechhhh*¡± Hinami immediately vomits after jumping away from the burning corpse. ¡°Hinami!¡± Makoto and Yuuko call out to her. ¡°¡­¡­ This is strange ¡­¡­ *Blarghh* ¡­¡­ I don¡¯t know why but I felt like I did something horrible¡­¡­ Something disgusting and sinful ¡­¡­. Why?¡± Hinami asks herself in confusion. Lexar did not feel anything but Makoto and Yuuko felt awful after seeing the scene. A sense of guilt overwhelms them as the nurse¡¯s word ¡°Murderer¡± echoes in their mind. They did not experience any of this feeling when they fought at school, yet this happened when they fought monster outside of school. Seeing the pale complexion of the three girls, Lexar becomes deeply worried. He has a hard time thinking what is going on, but soon after that, the answer reveals to him. The fire subsidizes away but what remains is not white ashes, but a charred black corpse. Its burning smell becomes even stronger after the fire is off. ¡°It seems that you girls are more dangerous than I thought. I did not expect that you could pull the trigger without hesitation.¡± A man voice reaches everyone¡¯s ears. Standing at the entrance, Jerome¡¯s figure enters their sight and they all gasp in surprise. ¡°I did certainly felt that I killed him. But yet he is still in front of my eyes. ¡­.. Then does that mean the one I killed is not Jerome?¡± Hinami deduces from what happened. ¡°Oh, the missy with gun here is sharp. That was just one of my clones, one that used a living human body to act as me for decoy.¡± Jerome blows out white smoke with the pipe in his mouth. ¡°By the way, the one whom you just killed is one of the police officers guarding here at night.¡± Jerome scratches the hair behind his head ¡°But really I did not expect such a problem to occur. With only the combat ability reduced, it is supposed to be a perfect clone. However, the clone also knows the same thing as me. If one clone is to be caught and tortured, information can be leaked out. One more thing to add to the report.¡± He sighs deeply after reflecting what happened. (Clones?) Lexar associates with his double skill but then shakes his head. The clone he used and one that Jerome used are completely different in nature. His instinct tells him that the secret behind that man¡¯s clone is not simply the effect of skill. ¡°Although it¡¯s ethics to say ¡°Nice to meet you¡±, we have met already, even though that was not technically me. Is it too confusing?¡± Jerome talks by himself ¡°Nevermind. I already have a grasp of what happened. It is a shame but I have decided to kill you all.¡± He says with a strong blood lust. Chapter 25: The fight in the hospital (2) In a blink of eye, Lexar sees Jerome¡¯s figure in front of him. He tries to move his body to jump back, but it does not accept any of his command. Standing motionless, he can just only look at Jerome rising his leg and then swings it down with a loud wind sound. The cat¡¯s head is squashed like a soft tomato under the man¡¯s feet. (What the hell was that?) Lexar thinks with a terrible headache assaulting his mind. His eyes opens after they suddenly became black after the stomp. Jerome is no where to be found out, but Lexar finds himself standing in a factory. However, before being able to figure out what is going on. A black iron mass falls down and crushes the cat beneath with gravity force of 1 ton. (Arrggghhh ¡­¡­¡­) Lexar screams in his mind as he feels his bones crushed. When Lexar can open his eyes again, he finds himself above the sky and falling fast to the ground. (No way¡­¡­) His thought comes to a stop as he crashes with the ground. The cycle repeats as Lexar experiences death in different ways with only a second to perceive the pain before dying again. After the 10th death, pain has accumulated on his body so much that he wants to die for real. It is so unbearable to him that he wishes that his mind can shut off forever. Eleventh death, Lexar lies on a chopping board. There is a chef with a sadistic smile holding a butcher knife next to him. The knife hits the chopping board loudly and cleaves the cat in half. Up until now, it has been instant death for him to think anything. However, this time is a slow death and he is able to stay conscious for a few second before moving to the next place. ¡°Heal¡± Lexar instinctively mutters as he seeks a way to alleviate the pain. A warm flow spreads out his whole body and removes all the accumulated pain he has. Two parts of his body slowly connect each other as strings of meat reach out each other and connect. The surrounding world becomes distorted and slowly vanishes from his sight. When his consciousness is back, all the pain has vanished but the lingering mental strain proves that his ¡°death¡± was not simply illusions or dreams. No attack has come to him and Lexar is back inside the hospital room. Jerome is still standing there, but his appearance has changed completely. The healthy colored skin is replaced with sickly white skin. The hands become skinny and longer than normal hands. His clothes has changed to a black elegant tuxedo with red cloak. Through potential eye, Lexar can see the negative energy emitting from his body, especially the eyes where it¡¯s concentrated. Jerome¡¯s current eyes definitely do not belong to human as the irises are yellow with the diamond shape. Turning to the girls, Lexar notices that they are staring at Jerome¡¯s eyes absentmindedly. (So it was the work of those eyes. But first I need to release them from the illusion first.) Lexar figures out what happened. ¡°Heal¡± The cat casts his skill on the three girls. After experimenting yesterday, he figured out that his skill consumes a certain amount of positive energy and there is no cool down or other limitation, which means he can use it continuously as long as he has enough power. After waking up from the ¡°death¡±, Makoto, Hinami, Yuuko all fall on the ground with hands holding the body and breathe heavily. Their backs are drenched with sweats, sticking the clothes on their back and showing the bras beneath. Fear can be seen on their faces and trembling bodies. If Lexar performed heal several seconds later, they would become unconscious at the moment. ¡°You stupid cat! What did you just do?¡± Jerome screams angrily while covering his eyes. Blood flows down from his eyes after having the targets escape from the heal spell. The heal spell is beneficial for normal creatures, but poses dangerous for the beings made of negative energy, as its nature is same as the white flame. Jerome was connected with the targets in some senses, which allowed Lexar¡¯s skill to inflict damage on him. Turning to see the trio, they are still shaking in fear deeply. It seems the shock from the ¡°death¡± affects them more seriously than Lexar. With their current state, he doubts they can fight anymore. Jerome who has recovered his eyes with the black flame takes his hand off the face and looks at Lexar with a furious expression. Not only did he detect their plan earlier than expected, he also negated one of his special abilities so easily. Right now, the cat which has no fighting power is the top priority target. Noticing the intense hostility, Lexar realizes that he is the target of Jerome. (This is good. At least, the girls will have some time to recover. I don¡¯t know if I can do much but I have to hold him as long as possible.) Lexar plans in his heart. Mustering the positive energy within him, Lexar enhances his body strength and hardness, and covers his entire body in white flame. The claws protruding from his pawns are sharp as blades and longer than what the normal cats have three times. Strengthening his body with positive energy is one of the new applications he found yesterday. Along with the strength gained from ¡°contracting¡±, Lexar has the power that can rival with those called ¡°super man in real life¡±. A full body slam from him can break a normal brick wall, and his claws are sharp to the point that metal alloy can be cut like a cake.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Noticing the cat¡¯s fierce aura, Jerome becomes more cautious as he analyzes his opponent. The weak domestic cat has become a dangerous beast in his view. Although he does not want to admit it, the cat in front of him now is even more dangerous than the girls. It is not about special ability or fighting power. It is the feeling of fighting a seasoned warrior. That cat is like a blade only showing up a little from the sheath, and when the blade is completely drawn, it will cut down any enemy in an instance. Jerome has already understood that the cat is special, but he is still taken by surprise again. His intuition warns him that the cat will be the biggest obstacle to his master¡¯s plan. ¡°I will definitely kill you.¡± Jerome says while creating a rapier and a pistol in both hands. Jerome¡¯s forte is actually sword and gun play, not hand to hand combat. In a serious battle, he would not let someone approach too near and grab him like Yuuko did. Moreover, he did not expect a girl to practice such an ungraceful martial art. They were two reasons for his clone to lose against Yuuko. However, the current he is fighting with full power from the start. It will not be an easy battle like with his clone. One man and one cat are staring at each other in silence, waiting for the other to strike first. Jerome who has aimed perfectly for the cat pulls the trigger first. A gun shot comes and at the same time, an air blowing sound vibrates. Lexar shots himself toward the man head on. As the bullet approaches him, the cat twists his body in mid air, evades the trajectory of the bullet, while extending his claw and cutting the bullet in half. The cat flies like a spinning rocket toward Jerome¡¯s face. He swings down his rapier to intercept the attack. Spark flies as the claws and rapier clash. With the left front leg holding against the rapier, Lexar pushes the weapon sideway while thrusting his right front leg at the enemy¡¯s face. Jerome crouches down to evade it and the cat flies pass him. Missing the target, Lexar lands on the wall behind with four legs then shoots himself at the man¡¯s back. With fast reflex, Jerome evades sideway and counter-attacks at the same time. Metal clashing sounds fill the whole area as the man and the cat exchange strikes with each other. However, it is obvious that the cat is on the offense side. Using the momentum and his small body, Lexar jumps off between walls and the ground to attack at difficult angels to defend, while gradually increasing the speed. Jerome, on the other hand, is struggling against the troublesome series of attack. With his fast reflex and excellent technique, he could fend off any attack only if his opponent was a human. The swiftness and irregularity of the cat¡¯s attacks are hard to defend. Not only he has to break his stance to guard against attack from unexpected angels, he has to spin around rapidly to catch up with the speed, which makes him slightly dizzy and creates gaps in defense. His body is in one piece but that is because he recovered the injuries with black flame. In only 5 minutes, he was cut more than twenty times, while his opponent suffered no wound. The gun was replaced by another rapier as it was impossible to aim at the cat. Even if he shot accurately, the cat would just block the bullet with his claw easily, and the gap he made would create an opportunity for the cat to scratch him. After jumping around with high speed for a whole 5 minutes, Lexar also feels quite tired and dizzy. Thanks to his experiences driving vehicles with high speed, he is able to endure the motion sickness better than normal people, but such intense activity is still too much. He stops the attack and stands facing against Jerome. Both sides look at each other with heavy breathing. They are both tired and want to rest a little bit, in order to prepare for the decisive attack. ¡°*gasp*¡­. You will pay for stopping your attack, stupid cat ¡­.*gasp*¡± Jerome says. ¡°Meow Moe Meo Neo (Try it if you can)¡± Lexar taunts him with a provocative middle claw. A gun forms in Jerome¡¯s hand and he shoots at the cat. The same scene occurs as Lexar shoots himself toward Jerome while slicing the bullet, followed by Jerome evades his attack and Lexar lands on the wall again. However, things are different this time. As Lexar shoots himself to strike again, the gun is replaced by a tower shield with spikes on its surface. With such a fast momentum while on air, it is no doubt that Lexar will ram on the shield and get pierced by the spikes. If with a little chance that the cat manages to change the trajectory, the speed will slow down significantly and Jerome will grab that chance to cleave the cat in half. ¡°Checkmate.¡± Jerome smiles as the cat nearly rams against the shield. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ * Three seconds before contact * Time slowed down as Lexar jumped off the wall. As soon as Jerome brought the shield in front of him, the cat body started spinning in the air. The rotation speed was slow at the first second but then greatly increased in the next second. 30 cm apart from the shield, the rotation speed has reached 120 rpm. The cat figure has become a black long spindle spinning with a crazy speed. At this moment, white flame rises up and covers the whole body. The black spindle becomes a black and white fire ball. (Choukyuu Haou Den''eidan) Lexar screams out the name of special technique. With the intensity of heat and propulsion force, the metal on the shield melts instantly while the hand holding it is burnt to crisp. The fireball shoots through the shield wielder before extinguished. Lexar lands lightly on the ground near the girls then turns back to see the outcome of the match. Jerome with a still smiling face stands there. However, there is a big hole that takes more than 90% of the surface of his upper body. His arms are both gone and the only things intact are the lower body and the head. ¡°How¡­¡­ can this ¡­¡­. be?¡± Jerome speaks before his head becomes a skull and burnt into white ash, as well as his remaining. There is no pungent smell anymore. Only the smell of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide come from the burning. ¡°I never think that there is a day I will say that this is a good smell after all¡± Lexar comments after confirming his victory. Interlude 1: Animium *In an operation room * A man in a suit was tapping on the armrest of commander seat. On a desk in front of him, there were three profiles with the pictures of three girls: Mashima Hinami, Kurosawa Yuuko, and Tachibana Makoto. Story of their heroic acts was not only a hot topic in the mass media, but also among many secret and high level organizations, including his. The special power they had was something that could only exist in the realm of human imagination, yet a real fact in this world. It was not on the border of science fiction, but the work of magic. Creating weapons out of thin air? Anyone who studied the law of conservative mass knew that such thing was impossible. It could not be even explained with pseudo-science or logic. However, the man who had been sitting here, as well as those who were this room, did not bother to argue the mechanism behind that power. Because they already understood one thing: anything was possible with ¡°Animium¡±, the power to manifest the imagination of one mind into reality. In the man¡¯s view, it could be considered as the power of god due to its omnipotence. Nothing was known about its origin or property. Many thing about it was shrouded in mystery. However, there was one thing the man can confidently guess. Its appearance was just only recent, not throughout the history. It was one year ago when he first had a special ability. While rereading one of his favorite stories, he silently thought that if the antagonist inside had been real. Suddenly, the book started burnt with a black flame in his hand and dropped on the ground. From the burning ash of the book, a man with impressive circle beard in noble outfit appeared in front of him. ¡°Jerome Garret, waiting for your order, Master.¡± The man bowed down before him. That was his first meeting with his ¡°summoning¡±. From that day onward, the man found out it was due to his ability that Jerome Garret , the antagonist in the story, became a reality. This was the conclusion after ¡°summoning¡± several other characters from different stories. On top of that, regardless of the setting and personality of the characters, they all considered him as master. Driven by curiosity, he performed many experiments to test the limit of his newfound ability , and the result was astounding. There was no limit to his "summoning" skill. He could "summon" any creature: be it a ghost with different back stories and abilities, terrorists with extensive warfare experience, ancient monsters existing only in mythologies, demons mentioned in literature. Beside those existing in literature, he could even "call" them from the story he wrote himself, "summon" those only existed in his fantasy. It was then he understood his ability true nature: he could create any creature from his imagination. The stories were just blue prints for his though to be more concise. However, saying that there was no limit to his ability was an exaggerated way of saying. After all, there were some rules that he had to follow. First, any creation required energy to materialize in this world. The stronger and more complex the being was, the more energy was required. Jerome Barrote only had a few abilities but it still took him a whole day to recover from the exhaustion. With a manticore, he had to rest a whole week on bed without doing anything. Secondly, each creature needed to have a certain amount of details to be considered as complete. For example, when he only thought of a ghost with fighting ability and created it, the result was a jumble of parts of all the ghosts he can associate with. Random pieces of flesh sticked together with weapons through whitely transparent anchors. The ghost could not hold itself together and bursted into black flame five seconds after his birth. In other words, he had to clearly imagine his creation with as much details as possible for it to exist properly. In addition, the stronger the creation was, the more details it needed. Thus, writing was an important mean for him as it was the simplest way to construct his "work". After months of working as "writer", he had built himself a personal army that could be considered the strongest of the world. The army did not only have strong fighting power, but could also perform many more functions: construction, technology development, information gathering, spying, infiltration, and so on. It was an army that consisted of only demons and evil beings in fantasy world, yet it was as advanced as any modern army in the world. He believed that with this army, he could conquer the whole world. However, he was not so ignorant to think he was the only one in the world that had this power. Using his personal connection and information network, he found that the world had started moving in a strange direction during his immersion in building the army. It was not a visible change with reports of superman detected or strange phenomenon, but the activeness and breakthrough of technology in the weapon industry. In the public, the only available information was the rise in stock for the weapon companies and news of new projects being conducted. However, using the infiltration unit, he discovered a major threat that could bring his ambition to naught. An arm race that could trigger a new cold war had already started. Many companies had been developing new types of weapons with concepts that were deemed impossible or stagnant before with incredible progresses: powerful combat suits, enhanced super humans, instant wound recovery drug, firearms with mass destructive firepower, and more importantly humanoid robots with the height of over 20 meters. The experimental data was mind blowing enough that he could not even help but doubt whether all of these technologies were works of alien. More coincidentally, all of these projects began around the same time when he first used his ability.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. However, that was not the conclusive evidence indicating that he believed this could trigger another cold war. It was the report of ¡°Animium¡± that made him think so. ¡°Animium¡± was the special type of energy that suddenly appeared out of thin air. Nothing was known about its origin or first appearance. Its first official discovery was reported by a material scientist in Boston University in January 18th 2014, who ¡°accidentally¡± created a new material that breaks the current understanding of molecular bonds. The report submitted on science journal was deleted after a week of publishing, and the scientist along his research team were transfered out of the university. The term ¡±Animium¡± was given to the energy that caused the special phenomenon. The reason for that is because it is surprisingly very related to human mind and imagination. Using ¡°Animium¡±, the users were able to create materials out of thin air just from imagination. It was not changing the property of molecules to create a new substance, like changing lead into gold in alchemy, but materialization of human thought into reality. Not limiting to currently existing atoms, the researchers were able to develop a completely new system of atoms that is separated from the current system. Some even commented that this is the energy used by god to create the world. Investigation about Animium property was conducted but not going on so well. No matter which method was used, they could not figure out its nature. If analyzed with the hypothesis that it had wave property, it would react as a wave with any wavelength thought by the researcher. If analyzed as light, it would have light property. In the end, the data was nothing but fallacy as the experiments recorded the property of creations by the Animium, not the Animium itself. A hypothesis suggested that it belonged to a different dimension other than the four we had known. Luckily, its primary form in our dimensions was more than enough to satisfy the researchers¡¯ curiosity and those in power¡¯s ambition. The white flame and black flame were considered the purest and primary forms of Animium before they began any transformation, as they always appeared before the materialization process. Research showed that they were associated with positive feelings and negative feelings perspectively, but a more fundamental aspect probably lied behind the distinction between two. Both flames were believed to have the same potential and properties as they reproduced the same result with every creation experiment. However, despite the similarity, they showed oppositions toward each other. If two types of flame or their creations were near each other, they would try to negate each other intensely, like good and evil fighting each other. Regrettably, that was all he could find. The record he found was only basic and summarized information distributed in many research facility. Due to the importance of the topic, security was tight for anything related to it. The access to the report was tightly monitored, and his infiltration spy squad was immediately discovered and subjugated after sending him this report. Following the incident, security had become much tighter than ever with the inclusion of new developed weapons and security system, causing his attempt to steal information fail many times. It was not only America, but also other major powerful countries. It appeared that there were others who had done the same thing as him. All of these made him realize that the world was moving in a completely new direction that no one could have predicted. New powerful factions were forming, while the already strong factions had become stronger day by day. Would his ambition remain unfulfilled just when he already had power at hand? He thought hard how to stand up high in this soon chaotic world. A plan formed in his mind as he assessed the current state of Japan. Strangely, Japan also noticed the movement of weapon industry, yet there was no outstanding progress on the development of weapon. His secret units even managed to infiltrate the weapon development facilities very easily, and noticed that the government did not even have knowledge about Animium. After investigating throughout this matter, he confidently believed that he was the only Animium user in Japan. This meant that his first step, taking over Japan, would not meet so much resistance as he thought. Thus, the project ¡°Japan Empire transformation¡± took place. With the self developed cloning technology, the core idea was to control or replace all government higher ups and officers, as well as people in the upper class with their clones who followed his order secretly. The change must remain secretive for others to notice, so it needed to be done gradually with few people in different departments replaced at one time. Starting from that, the clones would investigate the rest of the department and the higher ups to prepare for perfect clones that could replace the originals perfectly without a gap in memory, personality and knowledge. He estimated that by the end of next year February, he would replace all the staffs in the government as well as the upper class. While replacement was taking place, strengthening his army was also an important part. Aside upgrading his army with modern arms and technologies, he also needed to create stronger units than those he currently had. He became extremely concerned after seeing the combat armors and the robots, since those weapon could eliminate his infiltration troops so easily. Stronger unit meant more energy required. Although his energy capacity had expanded after ¡°working¡± for so long, he was not allowed to spend time leisurely to rest and recover after exhaustion. He needed a more efficient method to have energy. Thus, the project ¡°Despair¡± came into being. Interlude 2: Plan D ¡°Please wake up, Master. It is an emergency.¡± A woman in secretary attire woke up the man. The man slowly opened his eyes. His body was quite stiff as he had to sleep on the chair for a few hours. The operation room where he slept was still as busy as yesterday, the day after the incident at school. Many unexpected things had occurred, making him have to command his units and arrange measures for any problem that came up. The workload was so immense that beside toilet, he needed to sit here for a whole day. Seeing the man gradually rose up from the chair, the secretary said ¡°Our plan at the central hospital was discovered by the Animium users 01 to 03. Jerome had engaged in fighting with them, but he was overwhelmed and accidentally spoke your name.¡± Surprised by the news, the remaining drowsiness disappeared and Taiga Shindou asked in a stern voice ¡°How long has it happened?¡± ¡°Approximately 2 minutes ago.¡± The secretary replied. ¡°The situation was on the monitor, sir.¡± The man shifted his focus on the largest monitor in the room. Not only him, there were also many high ranking staffs in the room watching it. A scene where the fake Jerome was killed then the real Jerome came and activated his ability. ¡°Endless death reincarnation¡± was the name of the ability. By letting the opponent see his eyes, the target would experience countless death in a short span amount of time. The shock of the deaths would assault the target¡¯s mentality, in addition to the illusory pain right after the skill duration. If the death experience was long enough, the target would die in reality as the brain accepted the ¡°death¡± fact and ceased all the function. However, its main use was to erode the opponent mind, let it be susceptible to psychological attacks. With Jerome¡¯s combination ¡°Alluring Aura¡± and ¡°Kiss of Bond¡±, he could turn any female into his slave without fail. Jerome Barret was one of his most important brain washers in his plan. In his story, Jerome Barret was originally an incubus in a fantasy setting. However, different from his peers, he was not slightly interested in following the dream to drown in endless lust. Instead, the drive for his whole life was the ambition to become a noble in the demon society while ruling the human world. Realizing that he was powerless as a lesser demon, Jerome sought a different way to achieve his dream, and that was to become of the human top figure. Using his innate charming talent as an incubus, he disguised as human and used women to work up to the top of the human society. Jerome¡¯s life was basically a disgusting yet intriguing story about man using women in political schemes. His nature was no doubt a bastard to the core, but his cunning mind and scheming ability taught him the basics and uses of beauty trap (one of the thirty six stratagem) and political marriage. The reason that Taiga placed Jerome in the central hospital was to combat against the three girl Animium users. With full set of abilities of a lady killer, Jerome could by chance turn the three girls into his slaves, thus extending his force a great deal and giving his plan more options to utilize. However, the power of the trio was not to be underestimated, and it was highly possible that the brainwashing would not work on them. In that case, the three girls needed to be eliminated on his road. For that, the incubus had a variety of skills that were specifically targeted at female. With the help of the lich sent along, that would be enough for Jerome to defeat them. Seeing the girls standing still, Taiga anxiously stared at the monitor to wait for the result. Would the ¡°Endless death reincarnation¡± succeed and make them susceptible to the brainwashing? Suddenly, a male voice shouted out ¡°Considerable amount of positive Animium energy detected. Location was VIP room 3.¡± ¡°Another Animium user?¡± A man in gray military attire with a beret cap said in surprised voice. ¡°Transmitting image¡± The operator changed the image of one screen. In the new screen, there stood a humanoid machine. It was covered in full white metal armor, with a one horned head pointing forward. The face had some human features like the eyes with green led lights and mouth part with intertwined grooves. The design was like the mechas often seen in the anime. If Lexar saw it, he would shout out ¡°Gundam¡± immediately, despite the height only slightly above two meters.The machine was making a guard stance, protecting the girl on the bed behind it. Confronting it was the lich that Taiga assigned together with Jerome. ¡°Looks like the situation was the same with Jerome, the ¡°eggs¡± were discovered during the process. What is your order, Master? I consider sending reinforcement for them.¡± The army man turned to Taiga. ¡°Is the one in that machine Takagi Sugihara?¡± Taiga asked. ¡°Judging from the fact the room only had the two siblings, it appeared so.¡± The army guy replied. While thinking with the hand on his chin, Jerome painful voice suddenly came from the speaker. White flame rose from his eyes and covered his faces. Meanwhile, the cat that had been staying at the feet of the three girl shone brightly, and his light transmitted to all three girls. ¡°One more positive animium energy source detected. It is the cat, sir.¡± The operator reported. Everyone in the room inhaled a deep cold breath as they heard the finding. Not only two new Animium users appeared, one of them was a cat. Did Animium users become so common today? Only three Animium users were enough to hinder their plan, then the number suddenly became five today. What about tomorrow? Would the number reach above ten? Next month? Next year? Just imagining that scenario made them feel crazy how to handle the situation in the future. Their faces tensed as the two battles occurred before their eyes. The cat evenly matched with Jerome, while Takagi who rode the machine was on a disadvantage at first then gradually pushed back the lich with the weapons he created. The power of the new Animium users was greater than they could have expected. They were even stronger than their commander class fighting units. ¡°Stop making stupid faces! Have you forgotten how much we prepared for the plan? The day before yesterday was only our first failure.¡± Taiga reprimanded those in the room immediately ¡°For now, just focus on the monitor.¡± ¡°Sir, how about the reinforcement?¡± The army man who was the only one not discouraged by the appearance of two new Animium users asked. ¡°No, we will not send any reinforcement. In fact, we will pull out all the troop in the nearby area. I have the feeling that both the lich and Jerome will be defeated. All units shall undergo enhancement starting from today.¡± Taiga watched the two battles unfolding before his eyes ¡°Call the lich lord and his army back. After confirming the defeat of those two, prepare plan D.¡± ¡°You want to destroy the whole hospital, sir?¡± The secretary asked with a worried voice. ¡°I have overestimated myself and underestimated the power of new Animium users. They are so strong right from the first day they have the power, while I was so weak at the beginning. I will not allow them to grow any stronger. Our plan will have to proceed at the faster pace than planned.¡± The man explained while frowning at the monitors ¡°Increase the firepower. I want that place to become dust completely. It is better to be safe than sorry.¡± He turned his head to the army man.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Shall we use the Bombers, sir?¡± The man with beret hat asked. ¡°Any mean is necessary. We do not have much time left. Hurry before the government notices any abnormality.¡± ¡°Affirmative. Relay my order: To all units in central hospital, the operation will switch to plan D.¡± The army man ordered all the operators to commence the plan. *Around the central hospital* Staying the car, the police officer made a big yawn as he was tired for pulling an all nighter. His job was to prevent any reporter from trespassing into the hospitals where the victims of the Hakugawa academy received treatment. The higher up emphasized the importance of this task many times that the pressure on him as well as his colleagues were very stressing. There were more than 30 people trying to sneak in during midnight, making it even busier than the day time. Suddenly, a loud noise of explosion entered his ear just as he intended to sneakily dozed off for 5 minutes. Rising up from the seat, he opened the door and looked at the direction of the hospital. However, his mind became dull a little bit as he stepped out of the car. ¡°Huh? Why did I step out of the car?¡± The police officer scratched his hair in confusion. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did you lose the wallet somewhere?¡± His colleague asked as he approached near with two cans of coffee in hands. ¡°Let me remember ....... Uhm ........ Ah yes, the noise. Did you hear a noise from the hospital?¡± The police officer remembered the reason. ¡°Noise? Never heard anything like that. It is still early morning. If there is a noise, we will all hear it clearly. Did you kick something while dozing off?¡± The colleague replied so. ¡°Must have been my imagination. If the noise was real, you guys would immediately rush to wake me up instead. Anyway, thanks for the coffee.¡± The officer decided to shrug off as his imagination and received the coffee can. The two men chatted outside the car, not noticing a presence right above their heads. A humanoid figure donned in a purple robe floated on the air, five meters from the ground. The legs were not visible, either hidden in the robe or not existing in the first place; but there were dried long brown hands. They were not dangling around, but seemed to hold something. One hand clutched together with the index finger pointing out, while one hand with fingers bending ninety degree. However, the most special point about this figure was the head. Shaping like a parabolic antenna, it constantly emitted and received invisible wave. ¡°Receiving orders. Plan D, phase 1. Creating camouflage for the target.¡± A female voice came out despite no mouth or speaker present. The disc on the head reddened with the heat produced from charging energy. With a soundless air blowing, a seven color visible wave shot out from the antenna and expanded in the air. If one could fly above the sky, he would notice that there were many more monsters floating around the hospital parameter, and all of them shot the same seven color waves. As the waves expanded and collided each other, a half sphere barrier formed around the hospital, separating it from the outside world. *Inside the meeting room in the hospitals* The room was packed with people. There were males and females, old and young. The common point between them was that they all worked in the hospital. However, the strange thing was that all the men were tied up, while the women stood and hold a syringe each. ¡°What do you think you are doing, nurse Fukawa?¡± A man in his 50s said angrily at the nurse who tied him. ¡°I won¡¯t answer your question, old man. This is an order from Master of Master.¡± Fukawa said in a monotonous voice as she loaded the syringe with a strange liquid. ¡°And who is that? You have no right to tie us like this. This is an act violating human right.¡± The man struggled to break free from the rope. ¡°Well, it is so sad that such thing no longer means anything. I am already not human, and so will you. Human law will not be applied to us.¡± Fukawa showed the inhuman yellow eyes to everyone. The tied men became fearful as all of the women¡¯ eyes became yellow with a diamond shape iris. To them, those eyes seemed to belong monsters with only madness and cold blood. ¡°W-what are you going to do to us? With those syringes?¡± A young doctor said while trembling. ¡°Well, I am itching to find out too. Why don¡¯t we test with you first?¡± A woman in doctor attire licked her lip and said so. The syringe violently stabbed the male doctor¡¯s neck without mercy. It was not a medical procedure for using syringe, but rather a killing strike with a knife aiming at the neck. The man screamed painfully as the needle pierced his neck, but that was only the beginning. Blood veins popped up and exposed clearly on the skin. Red and blue veins expanded rapidly in only a few seconds, and became so large that the people wondered if those veins became muscles instead. His belly swollen then shrank rapidly as the size increased. The same thing occurred all over his body. The face became so distorted that it was so unbearable to see. The meat in the eye holes expanded so much that the eye balls popped out in the process. The man¡¯s scream slowly turned down and became anguish breathing and moan as he transformed. In ten seconds, a lump of meat that throbbed rhythmically on two legs replaced the young male doctor. Inside that big piece of meat, a yellow light shone then diminished in sync of throbbing. Nobody could believe what happened in front of their eyes, even the women were shocked at the development. ¡°You, you are all demons! All of you! To think that this is the nature of the nurses and female doctors of the hospital. This world is fucking doomed.¡± Another man yelled while staring intensely with hatred at the women. The women shook violently when they heard the man yelling. The chain in their mind broke off and their conscience returned. The women suddenly realized the grave sin of what they were going to do, especially the female doctor who just injected the strange liquid into the man. She cried in great anguish as she realized that she had changed her husband into a monster. Seeing her state, some women threw the syringes or the bottles with strange liquid on the ground strongly. Glass shattered on the floor and the liquid inside spilled out on the floor. The transparent liquid turned black then evaporated into black smoke. ¡°So the slave bond considerably weakened with Jerome¡¯s death. Never mind, these females would serve as good ¡°triggers¡± for master.¡± A male voice suddenly echoed the whole room. From thin air, a figure of full black plate armor appeared. He swung his arm high and from it, multiple strings came out and stick to the women. ¡°Now, finish your job as servants of servant.¡± The black armor spoke. All the nurses and female doctors¡¯ bodies moved without their control. Those who broke the syringes prepared another one again. ¡°No, please, don¡¯t. I don¡¯t want to do this.¡± A nurse shook her head as her hand touched the cold glass syringes. ¡°Come, embrace your sin as those who threw away humanity.¡± The black armor crutched the hand holding the strings connected the women. As his order was transmitted, the needles pierced the necks of the men one by one and turned all of them into monsters full of meat standing on two legs. ¡°So these are the bombers the research team developed. Quite a dark hobby that the leader of that team has.¡± The black armor commented as he looked at new monsters. ¡°Go to your assigned destinations. Fulfill your duties at the moment of signal.¡± He ordered the monsters with the device he held in hand. After having all the monsters leave the room, the black armor turned to face the women with the absent minded look on the faces. "You sinners shall undergo the ritual at the later time. For now, just repent in the prison." A magic formation appeared and shone brightly below all the women except one. Although they were shocked and afraid of what would happen to them, they remained still in their positions. They could choose to stand up to run away, but decided not to do so. The whole room became engulfed with the light, and remained only two people left: the female doctor and the black armor man. The loud crying had turned down to quiet weeping as she kept muttering "I am sorry". The black armor kept looking at her, but there was no telling what kind of face he made behind that helmet. "Good thing that there is a "trigger" available here. Using a long time cultivated "trigger" is too wasteful for a demolition mission. I shall grant you the wish to meet the same fate as your husband." The black armor extended the hand toward the woman''s chest. Round iron fingers turned into sharp claws and pierced through her heart. Finishing modifying her heart, he pulled the hand out and the female doctor stopped breathing. Her body fell on the ground softly. From her heart, a black tree sprouted out and black liquid started oozing out from the roots. From the window, the gray blue sky in early morning changed to a red sky of hell. Chapter 26: Separation ¡°Are you girls ok?¡± Lexar asks with a worried voice. ¡°Quite terrible. Never believed that I would experience death, and that many times.¡± Yuuko holds her head with one hand and shakes around. ¡°*gasp* *gasp*¡± Hinami does not answer but her body is trembling heavily. ¡°¡­¡­..¡± Makoto remains silent with closed eyes. She seems to be deep in thought. ¡°Makoto?¡± Lexar calls her. ¡°Just now, that was not death, right?¡± She looks to Lexar ¡°No. The multiple ¡°death¡± just now was just a mind attack that let the opponent accumulate stress due to heavy and bad stimulations. The attack subjected the target in continuous scenarios of extreme pain in short span of time, resulting in mistaking the experience with death. However, if that was the case, when my head was served, why did I still remain conscious for a few second before changing to the next ¡°death¡±? Did that mean a new ¡°death¡± will not occur unless the target does not enter death stage? ¡­¡­..¡± Makoto gazes down then mumbles alone in the self questioning and answering. ¡°Makoto!¡± Lexar calls her in a loud voice. ¡°Ah! Sorry. I was so engrossed in thinking. You were asking how I am right? I am fine now, just a little bit of headache from the stress accumulated. Nothing to worry about.¡± Makoto says with a cheerful tone ¡°It¡¯s just that there is something interesting about these ¡°death¡±.¡± Her sentence ends with baffling faces on everyone, even Hinami stops trembling for a moment. ¡°Makoto, are you sure you are ok?¡± Yuuko asks with a serious face. ¡°!¡± Makoto becomes shocked as she realizes what she just said ¡°Yeah, maybe I am not alright at all. I guess those ¡°death¡± made me crazy somehow. Please forget what I have just said.¡± She makes an agonized face as she says so. ¡°Reception! Are you there? There are some mafias killing each other in my room. Send the polices or the guards to my room, now.¡± An angry patient shouts to the receiver on the wall. ¡°I guess we are going through some heavy inquires from the police.¡± Lexar sighs as he imagines what will happen next. ¡°Hey! Are you fucking listening? Hey! Damn it! No one is answering.¡± The patient swears because there is no response from the machine. Hearing his words, Lexar starts feeling ominous. Hospital¡¯s reception is supposed to work twenty four on twenty four, in case of emergency, especially when this is a crucial period where there is a large flux of patients into the hospital. Activating clairvoyance, he searches around the hospital. There is no staff found anywhere in the hall or reception room, no doctor, no nurse, no security guard. Just when his sight stops in front of a big room with a sign ¡°Meeting room¡±, a door suddenly swings open and a terrifying creature enters his view. A big lump of round red meat on two legs runs out of the room. The upper body is a mass of meat ball with yellow light blinking rhythmically inside. The lower half seems to belong to human with a pair of blue jeans and leather shoes. The balance between two half is just absurd. The upper body is as big as washing machine while the lower one is only about the size of an adult male, yet it can stand firmly on the ground. The fact that it can run fast safely, even without the arms for balancing, sends shiver to his spine. Following after it, many more ¡°meat man¡± run out of the room and scatter to different directions. It takes him five second to register the reality that there are monsters inside the hospital they are staying. ¡°Hinami, Makoto, Yuuko, stand up and prepare to fight. I saw monsters running in the hospital.¡± Lexar warns them. As if fighting instinct is instilled in them, even with exhaustion from the fight, they stand up and prepare for combat immediately. ¡°Cloak up¡± x3. White flame emits from their bodies and transforms the pink patient clothes into their battle suits: a military uniform, a samurai armor, and a stylish witch attire. The four patients just stare with dumbfounded expression. They had witnessed the fighting scene from the beginning. Although there was usage of Animium to create weapons out of thin air and inflict damage, they regarded the flame as effects created by the weapons, and both sides just drew the weapons too fast for them to see. However, they could not find any explanation for the transformation just now.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°You, just who are you girls?¡± Another patient says while pointing at them shakingly. ¡°Can you move? If you can, lock the door and block it the chairs and the shelf after we leave. That should be enough to protect you from the monsters.¡± Yuuko says to the patients. ¡°Everyone, look outside the window.¡± Lexar suddenly calls out. With the crimson sun above, the scenery as well as the sky are dyed in the bloody red. Even the white hospital room changes to such eerie color. The four men become flustered and panic, while the three girls and the cat''s expressions turn grave. ¡°Again, that crazy world again. Just why? Why won¡¯t it leave us alone?¡± Hinami tightens her fists while shaking lightly. Yuuko and Makoto lightly nod to show agreement with her words. Lexar begins to think hard what this situation means. Will there be a massacre like in Hakugawa academy? If that is the case, what is the reason to do so? What benefit does the man called Taiga Shindou get with those monsters roaming around? There is no answer to any of them and not much time to ponder those questions. ¡°What do you girls want to do now?¡± Lexar asks the three girls in a calm voice. ¡°What do we want to do?¡± Hinami repeats the question while confusing. ¡°Are we going to escape from here alone or rescue everyone here before that?¡± Lexar clarifies his question ¡°This is different from what happened at school. The mastermind did not expect your power in his plan so we were able to escape soundly. However, now that he knew, he definitely prepared more monsters and stronger enemies for us. We barely got through that hell alive, and that Jerome guy could have killed us all if he had prepared a careful plan to attack us. The moment we step out of this room, enemies like him or stronger will definitely appear.¡± The three remain silent at his words. This is not only a question about what they are going to do, but also their resolution to fight. The most common choice for people is to escape alone. They know well from when they rescued the Sugihara siblings. If they had escaped with all the students instead, they would have not fought with the slit mouth woman and bandage man in their ¡°boss¡± forms. That was a close fight that could have resulted into death with just a slight mistake. If Lexar asked this question in a different time, they would answer that they want to save other people in the hospital immediately. However, now that they understand firsthand what dying really means, they hesitate to answer. The person who asked the question, Lexar, has other intentions behind it. Not only testing their determination to fight in the future, he wants to know their attitudes toward predicament like this. This also lets him understand better their personalities as well. He is slightly disappointed yet happy that the girls all face down with hint of fear and anxiety shown on their faces. Normally, most people choose to the first option without much trouble. It is reasonable as the other people¡¯s lives are not related to them anyway. It is a good thing that they are having trouble deciding between two options, meaning that they did have to intent to save people. It is also the same reason why he is slightly disappointed. Captivated by their amazing actions before they even gained the power of white flame, he kind of hoped that they could give him an outstanding response to the situation that he could never predict. After a few minutes, Yuuko breaks the silence. ¡°I will find my friends, and save anyone possible on the way. Even though there are many that I can¡¯t meet anymore, I still have more than a few that I can see right here. What use is great power if I cannot protect what I hold precious?¡± She holds the sheathed katana high. ¡°Besides, if I escape here, I will not be able to fight again in the future. Myself will not run away in a rightous fight.¡± The katana in her hand slightly glows to show its agreement. ¡°Yuuko¡± Hinmai looks at her friend with widen eyes. ¡°I will stay back to help people too. Leaving so many people to death will probably haunt me back in the future. Also, I think that I may find more about myself as I uncover the mystery behind all of these strange phenomenon.¡± Makoto fixes the hat on her head. ¡°Makoto¡± Hinami turns to her other friend with a disbelief too. She is very confused. She does not understand why they can calmly face the fight against death like it is nothing. Did they not feel the terror of what death could bring? Are they not afraid of dying? Did they understand that everything becomes meaningless once they are dead? The world is meaningful only when one is still alive. She wants to ask those questions, but when everyone turns to her, the words cannot come out. Their eyes do not have a trace of fear left, even though they had it shown clearly a few moments ago. Perhaps they have found their own resolution to go forward with courage, but she hasn¡¯t. Right now, a strange embarrassment rises in her chest. She feels inferior to them, even though she has always excelled them in all the areas. She is supposed to stand up and lead everyone out of the trouble, not sitting here and cowering in fear. She knows very well that the right choice of action is to stand up and support her friends, just like what they did each other in the past. Yet her fear overshadows all of her logical reasoning and persistence. ¡°I will escape from here¡± Her answer shocks everyone. ¡°I see.¡± Lexar who has observed her behavior until now already expected such response. She is the one traumatized the most from Jerome¡¯s eyes. ¡°I must have made you disappointed, right? That I am not one with the material to save the world.¡± Hinami says with a sad voice ¡°Hinami, why¡­?¡± Makoto calls to her but is stopped. ¡°And please don¡¯t say anything more. It already pained me a lot to make this decision. I am not as courageous as you twos, so please forgive this coward me.¡± Hinami says while heading toward to door ¡°I believe in you two. So, let¡¯s meet again in the outside world.¡± Then she disappears behind the door. Chapter 27: The flying ram ¡°Are you sure we should leave her alone like that?¡± Makoto asks in a worried voice. ¡°She is fine. I believe in her. Even though she may look scared like that, she can put up a tough fight when the situation needs it.¡± Yuuko assures her. ¡°But don¡¯t you find it strange? It¡¯s like she has become a complete different person just now. The Hinami we know is very brave. Such a mind attack like that should have not affected her that much.¡± ¡°Human is very complex creature. Even if the person is very strong mentally, with the right psychological attack, he can waver and become weaker than anyone. I don¡¯t know what she saw but her ¡°death¡± may have triggered something in her.¡± Lexar answers ¡°However, now is not the time to ideally chit chat. We need to figure out a plan to how to deal with the problem in the hospital. We have wasted some time already.¡± Yuuko puts her hand on Makoto¡¯s shoulder, whose is about to say something ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it much. She is probably down for a while, but I bet that she will decide to fight together with us soon. She is not the type to just give up half way and abandon friends.¡± ¡°Un. Lexar, how is the situation?¡± Relieved, Makoto gets into working mode. ¡°This is a more serious than I initially thought. This is a hospital so normal evacuation procedure cannot be applied. What worse is that I cannot find any hospital staff. To add to that, there are many patients still sleeping despite the noise that we made, including those next door. Something must have happened to cause them sleep that much.¡± Lexar directs his gaze to the nurse, who has been covering herself in the corner of the room ¡°I guess there is a need for some inquiry¡± Perhaps understanding what the cat said, the nurse lifts her head to see everyone. However, such action shocks all the persons in the room. With the face skin all dried up like a mummy, red eyes with veins popping up near the sockets, and the expression of madness, her horrible appearance makes everyone jump back a few step. The human fingers suddenly extend like spikes about 40 cm long, and with that she leaps toward Makoto in a second. Makoto is caught in a surprise, but luckily, there is a person cover for her immediately. An armor hand quickly catches the nurse¡¯s neck in mid air, then slams her violently on the ground with a crashing sound. Lexar definitely heard a bone breaking sound with that attack. Even so, the nurse only flinches a little and continues attacking by swinging the hands full of sharp spikes at Yuuko¡¯s face. ¡°Grrru, gruuuu, graao¡± Her mouth gives out the screaming of a monster, rather than human. Yuuko, while still holding the nurse¡¯s neck, dodges her head sideway, then quickly lifts up the nurse and throws her toward a wall. Creating knives in an instant, she throws them toward the hands and the clothes of the nurse, pinching her on the wall. ¡°Thanks, you really saved me there, Yuuko.¡± Makoto gives her thank. ¡°No need to mention it. More importantly, what is this monster?¡± Yuuko directs attention to the woman on the wall. ¡°I think we know what is wrong with all these medicines.¡± Lexar rolls a small empty vial on the floor ¡°Probably she drank this to become like that.¡± The cat looks at the vigorously struggling woman swinging on the wall. ¡°She reminds me of the witch in Left 4 dead. I don¡¯t think she is human at this point.¡± Makoto looks at Yuuko ¡°What should we do with her?¡± ¡°I will kill her.¡± Yuuko takes out the katana ¡°There are things that I need to do.¡± With a swoosh in the air, the disfigured head of the zombie nurse flies in the air and rolls on the ground. Like the fake Jerome, her corpse remains intact without burning into white ashes. ¡°It still feels kind of disgusting, but I feel that I can get used to this.¡± Yuuko swings the weapon to throw off the blood, then puts into the sheath ¡°And you four, stay here obediently if you want to stay alive. There are monsters like that roaming out around outside.¡± She says to the four male patients who are looking at her with scared expression. ¡°Can someone tell me what is going on? Why are all of these strange things happening? And what is up with that cat? ...¡± One man throws a barrage of questions at Lexar¡¯s group. However, his sentence is cut by a knife flying close to his ear. ¡°Did I say no time to explain? I don¡¯t like repeating. Get up and block this room immediately after we are out.¡± Yuuko says with cold voice, then leaves the room.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Wait, Yuuko¡± Makoto follows her and exits the room ¡°Do you really need to act like that? They are just confused like us when we first met this situation. Besides, did you agree to stay back to save people? Why are you leaving them like that?¡± ¡°Makoto, you misunderstand me. I only want to save my friends, not just anyone.¡± Yuuko answers her friend ¡°And think clearly, Makoto. You can¡¯t save everyone, especially in this case. There are many that you can¡¯t evacuate like the drill we often do. For hospitals, moving patients is considered as the last resort, and only when the danger is immediate. The way to handle this situation is to eliminate the source of danger, meaning solving the mystery behind this red world. And that is the method to save the most amount of people. If we bring those people with us, they will just hold us back.¡± ¡°Wow, so that¡¯s the way you want to do it.¡± Makoto makes a smile ¡°And here I just thought that you are going to abandon them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really incorrect. I told you that I only want to save my friends, those who are also here in the hospital. However, they suffered too heavy injuries that they cannot move alone. Someone is needed to assist them, but I doubt that there are enough people who can help the other. The others are just extra. It¡¯s not like I want to save them¡± Yuuko says. ¡°Yuuko, I did not know that you have tsundere material.¡± Makoto giggles. ¡°No, it¡¯s not like that. Idiot, what are you thinking?¡± Yuuko turns back flustered. ¡°Hahaha. It¡¯s just a joke. No need to get serious.¡± Makoto says ¡°So, what is your plan to unveil the secret behind this?¡± ¡°Find any strange creature then beat them up.¡± Yuuko swings her katana around ¡°Mission: total annihilation of the enemy.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite an optimistic yet reckless plan you have there.¡± Lexar joins the conversation. ¡°Did you not take any of my warning about the enemy?¡± ¡°Yeah, I did. But if the enemy gets stronger, it does not mean that I do not.¡± Yuuko confidently answers ¡°They will not know what will come at them.¡± With the guide from Lexar, after a few minute walking, they meet one of the target. A large chunk of meat on two legs are standing quietly in front of a room. ¡°From the game knowledge, that design pattern signals a bombing suicide unit.¡± Makoto peeks out from behind the wall ¡°What are you going to do?¡± ¡°Lexar, are there any normal human nearby?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°This is a staff area, but there is no one here. So no normal people either.¡± The cat answers. Hearing so, Yuuko immediately sprints toward the monster. Her action is so sudden that it shocks everyone. Within a second, she draws her sword then slashes the monster horizontally right at the middle, before putting it back. Without a moment to react, the large chunk separates cleanly from the human leg then falls on the floor. The next moment, a large explosion occurs, engulfing everything around it. Even after retreating behind the wall, Lexar and Makoto can still feel the impact very clearly as well as the heat the wind brings along. When they inspect the scene, the floor, the ceiling, and the walls are completely gone. The area is now connected to both the upper floor and lower floor, while the interior of the adjacent rooms is visible with collapsed or burnt furnitures. ¡°Yuuko?¡± Makoto calls out with a worried voice. ¡°Looking for me?¡± A hand with sharp claws puts on her shoulder. ¡°Kyahh!¡± ¡°Now, that¡¯s something I want to hear. Hehehe¡± Yuuko laughs while twitching her claw weapon. ¡°How did you escape from that?¡± Lexar asks in surprised voice. ¡°Simple. I learned the trick from that slit mouth woman. You know, the skill that allowed her to get behind me.¡± Yuuko answers while restraining Makoto, who is trying to hit her. ¡°That is too reckless of you. You know that is a bomb, yet you actually attacked it in a melee. What if your skill range was still in the explosion, would you still survive that?¡± Makoto criticizes Yuuko as she tries to break free from the lock. "Get serious, you two. We have company.¡± Lexar points to a direction. In a corner, a man in patient clothes comes out. However, there is something abnormal about him as he staggers a lot. His eye balls are spinning crazily without stop, combining with the agape mouth, he resembles an image of a crazy man. Furthermore, in his hand, there is a fireaxe. Yuuko and Makoto look cautiously at the man, and he looks at them back. A moment of silence between two parties occur, before the man breaks the silence. ¡°They are fucking here.¡± He yells out, then swing the axe at the fire alarm next to him. The ringing voice echoes the whole building. With the clairvoyance eyes, Lexar sees many people who are still sleeping wake up from the beds. However, that is not something worth celebrating, as their eyes are in the same state as the man before him. As they get down from the bed, they all take something next to them as weapons, be it knife, scissor, crutches. No matter how he looks at it, it is obvious that they are up to no good. In only a minute, two girls and a cat are pincered by two group of patients with weapons in hand. Their faces show nothing but hostility toward the girls. The scene makes the girls doubt their sanity for trying to save these people. Lexar, who is still looking at them hard, speaks. ¡°Look like we are quite late already. These people are already injected with the strange liquid we saw with the nurse. I think we should change the plan to evacuate the minority of people who have not received that strange liquid outside, rather than solve the root of the problem.¡± ¡°How are the ones from our school?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°Luckily, they haven¡¯t received the same treatment as these guys. However, we must hurry. There is a group heading for them now.¡± Lexar confirms the situation with clairvoyance. ¡°Good, lead the way Lexar.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°Jump over that gap.¡± Lexar says as he jumps over the hole created by the explosion earlier. The bomber has made the hole with a diameter about 10 meters. Beyond it, the path is clear without any mad man seen. Yuuko follows with a long jump, then Makoto with the assistance of white air. Seeing the three targets escape, the patients roar in anger and chase after them, but then stop in front of the hole. ¡°See you later, old men.¡± Makoto sticks out her tongue and waves her hand at them. Suddenly, the crowd on the other side make a strange formation. They all move to both side, clearing a path in the middle. The man who has a fire axe lies down in the middle, then six men on both side grab him up by the clothes. With a synchronization like cheer leader team, they lightly swing the man back and forth, make a dash toward the hole, then finally throw the man. With a sound of wind blowing, the man shoots toward the other side like a flying ram. ¡°Oh shit!¡± Chapter 28: When mad men know how to fight properly If it was just simply a man thrown to the opposite of the hole, it would be no problem. However, the man flies like a bullet, aiming straight at the group with high speed. Makoto, Yuuko, and Lexar immediately scatter to avoid, and the man flies through them before stopping before the wall. No, he does not stop. He breaks the whole wall, leaving a big hole with a diameter about 1 meter, and disappears on the other side. It is unknown how such a throwing force can be done by normal human, but it is not time to ponder on that. On the other side, twelve men have already lifted two men and prepared for another ¡°bombardment¡±. ¡°Run!¡± Lexar calls out to the two girls. The trio immediately turn around and run in the direction to the other students in the hospital. ¡°Get down!¡± Yuuko pushes Makoto to lie down on the floor. In the next moment, two big shadows shoot directly above them. Both girls can feel the wind on their faces, and hear another crashing sound just ahead of them. By instinct, they immediately stand up right after that then turn to the corner before hearing another crashing sound. ¡°This is completely ridiculous. Mad men knowing how to do kungfu. The world must be messed up in the worst way possible.¡± Lexar says while running with the two girls. ¡°Is this time for a joke? Say Lexar. Are they sure they are still normal human, not like the case with the nurse?¡± Makoto asks. ¡°Yeah, beside a little bit black flame on the head, their bodies are no different from any ordinary person.¡± Lexar answers. ¡°Then, how do you explain the strength just now?¡± ¡°The black flame probably releases the instinctive limit of the human body. Normally, our actions are restricted by our brain to exert force under a certain limit to prevent damaging our own bodies. You have probably heard the story how a person gained unbelievable strength under death crisis. I saw the muscles on the men performing the throwing. They are breaking with blood veins damaged under the skin and muscle tissues torn.¡± Lexar answers while checking with clairvoyance. ¡°How annoying. If they were just simply monsters, I would cut them into pieces right now. But killing innocent people is still too much for me.¡± Yuuko says while holding up her katana ¡°My other self told me that they are controlled by someone. They can still be saved.¡± ¡°Then how do you intend to break through those people?¡± Lexar asks. ¡°Simple, I just need to be careful not to kill them. Although they are still humans, it¡¯s not like I am not going to hold back from disabling them.¡± Yuuko casually answers. In the next hallway, two men stand in their path. Inhaling a deep breath, Yuuko sprints forward and aims a heel kick at the front man¡¯s chin. The man makes a cross guard, defending the attack just in time. However, Yuuko¡¯s current strength is not something that normal human can block. Her kick still sends him flying backward a whole meter. ¡°Tch¡± Yuuko clicks her tongue. She crouches down and sweeps the other¡¯s legs. While they are still failing, she connects the attack with a spin kick, knocking them out in the air. Before the man who blocked her kick tries to stand up, Yuuko already sits on him and punches his face, rendering him unconscious. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Yuuko urges the others to move quickly. Right on the next floor, there are three man standing in their way this time. Yuuko inwardly curses, there is no time for small fight like this. Channeling the positive energy in her feet, she suddenly vanishes then appears again right in front of one man. However, this group is different from the previous one. Knowing how strong Yuuko is, they have begun their fighting stance a while ago. The front man delivers a spin kick right at the moment Yuuko appears. Yuuko slightly frowns at his movement. It is a perfectly orthodox spinning kick, though the performer is still inflexible. Yuuko catches the leg right at the ankle, then pushes forward, tripping the man and bending his leg nearly 180 degree. After that, she finishes him with a punch on the face. Seeing their friend defeated so easily, the other two charge toward her with a punch, one with boxing style, one with Taekwondo. Yuuko jumps back a few meter, then makes a sprinting stance. With a boom sound, she shoots herself like a drill toward the two people. She punches them in the stomach, while pushing them toward the wall with her flying force.Stolen story; please report. The battle again concluded in only less than a minute. It was an easy victory in any meaning, but Yuuko does not feel happy about it. In fact, she feels that thing will be worse later on. As they approach the destination, more people show up, and each group are more skillful than the previous one. Not only they withstand more hit from her, they even start counterattacking or block her attack completely. After each fight, Yuuko holds back less and less, that she even has to use non lethal weapons like pole or wooden sword to fight. Makoto and Lexar also join the fight with Lexar distracting the enemy, while Makoto blowing them aside with wind attack. ¡°Damn, this is getting too tough.¡± Yuuko says while inhaling a deep breath after defeating the last group approaching the area for students from Hakugawa academy. ¡°What a scary thing the nurse trying to inject into the patients. From whom we fought so far, I am pretty certain that suspicious liquid acts like a human controller. Not only the mastermind can control all these people, he can probably give them a basic of know how to fight. You probably notice too, Yuuko. They are becoming more and more qualified as martial art practitioner. From how to land after being thrown, their stances, their moves. It feels like we are challenging a dojo rather than a hospital full of weak patients.¡± Lexar analyzes ¡°If such thing is applied on mass scale, he can train a full fledged army in only a few days.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more of the reason why we need to get stronger. Don¡¯t you feel it, Makoto?¡± Yuuko turns to her friend. ¡°Feel what?¡± ¡°The more we fight, the stronger we are. I don¡¯t know if it is like the game system where you gain exp after defeating, but I know that I become stronger as I keep fighting.¡± Yuuko clenches her fist repeatedly ¡°Not only my body becomes stronger, numerous fighting techniques are imprinted in my mind. As I fight, I start to get an idea how to execute these moves and apply them. Another reason why I chose to stay back is to become stronger, by defeating the enemy in front of us.¡± ¡°Un. I also feel the same.¡± Makoto also nods ¡°After defeating that big monster, I can store five different skills. And the magnitude I can manipulate increase significantly.¡± After saying, Makoto creates numerous shards of ice around her. ¡°Why are you still hiding your hands all this time?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°I am not like you. Most of my attacks are killing moves and hard to control. I am not confident enough to control them without accidentally killing someone.¡± With a finger snap, Makoto makes the ice shards disappear. ¡°I will let that aside for now. We should wake these sleeping bags from our school. Geez, how can they sleep so soundly when we just fought outside their room?¡± Yuuko says as she puts her hand on the door handle. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t open that door.¡± Lexar stops Yuuko. (Now that I think about it. With the exception of those mad people, why doesn¡¯t anyone wake up yet? Not mentioning those from afar, even those who are right next to the area where we fought or near the explosion do not move even a slightest. Shit! I must have been senile for too long, not recognizing something as obvious as this.) Lexar curses himself. At that moment, the door is suddenly swung open. A strange smell enters everyone¡¯s nostril. Yuuko, who smelled it first, immediately jumps back by instinct. However, she staggers on her feet right after that. ¡°Cover yourself with the white flame. These gases are not normal.¡± Lexar gives advice and activates the white flame at the same time. Yuuko¡¯s mind becomes clearer as her armor emits the white flame. For a moment just now, she really wanted to lie down and sleep. ¡°Watch out!¡± Makoto makes an ice wall in front of them. A cracking sound comes when a 10 cm diameter hole forms on the ice wall. There is no sight of attacker, the hole just suddenly appears on the wall. However, if one has a very perceptive eyes, he will notices that the area around the hole is slightly bend. Fortunately, Lexar¡¯s eyes are much more amazing than any normal eyes. He can tell the identity of that invisible attack. A long tail with sharp tip covered in exoskeleton connects with a standing humanoid figure. The whole of that body is also covered with pitch black exoskeleton. On the back are two pairs of bat wings with sharp edges. The most terrifying feature is the face. Four black spider eyes are glittering, and big mouth with the shape of three petal flower knop are exposing numerous canine teeth inside the mouth. Negative energy gas can be seen emitting from that monstrous mouth. Such monster comes out of the room as a pair: one aiming for Yuuko, and one aiming for him. The cat nimbly dodges at the incoming claw which leaves three corrosive lines on the ground it hit. Missing the premetive strike, the monster throws a chain of attack aiming at the small cat. The sharp claws leave acid trails every time it moves while the tail drills hole. Even with Lexar''s speed and small body, he is almost hit several times. Noticing a gap between the attacks, Lexar begins his counterattack. While shooting himself up, the cat lengthens its claw by pouring the positive energy into it. His target is the enemy''s neck where the exoskeleton seems the thinnest. Spark flies as the claw hits the target. Black liquid spills out from the grooves, then soon stops flowing out. (Such tough defense. I intended to cut off the head, but it only left only a shallow wound.) However, his attack does more than simply injuring it. As the monster screams in pain and anger, the invisibility it wears suddenly disables. Seeing it gradually appear, Makoto and Yuuko finally understands what kind of monster they are fighting. Clapping her hand, a flow of white air passes through the whole hallway. It is only a short and light wind that is harmless to everyone, but serves its job rightly. The other monster still in visibility has its body covered in white foam. Seeing the enemy being monster in every meaning, Yuuko makes a ferocious smile on her face. "You just show up at a good time. I really want to blow all of my stress off from fighting human before." She says while holding a big hammer in her hands. Chapter 29: Predicament A thunderous crashing sound vibrates the area, followed by a screeching scream from unknown monster. By feigning losing balance by the big axe, Yuuko lures the monster to attack with its tail, and dodges it. She then swings the heavy axe with a quick turn, chopping the tail off. Black liquid flows profusely from the meat section, while the cut off part falls on the ground and is immediately consumed by white flame. While the monster is agonizing, Yuuko drops the axe on the ground, replacing it, a spiky black club materializes. Despite how heavy it looks, Yuuko swings it with only one arm easily like a baseball bat. The club easily smashes the monster¡¯s head into crumbles of meat in an instant. Following after that, the headless corpse collappses then burns into white ashes. On the other hand, Makoto creates a one meter long ice shard in the air. The tip point is aiming right at the monster that has been attacking Lexar non stop. Although the monster has noticed the danger, it does not flee, but instead becomes more ruthless with its attack with Lexar, intending to kill at least the cat before dying. However, being too eager with attacking makes it fail to notice a pond of water is spreading beneath it. At the moment Makoto makes a strong clap, ice shackles starts forming on its legs, binding it in position, while the big ice flies with a great speed. The monster receives the attack head on without being able to defend. However, thanks to its hard exoskeleton, the shard tip just only pierces into the stomach a few centimeter, resulting in heavy damage, but not fatal. Makoto clicks her tongue at the hardness of the exoskeleton. However, that is not the end of her attack. From the shard, ice starts to spread out on the monster''s body at a very rapid. The flower mouth monster struggles heavily to shake off the binding, but to no avail. In a few second, it turns into a motionless ice statue. Makoto spreads her hand out, then clenches it quickly. The statue explodes in tiny pieces, and then sublimates into white mist, leaving no trace of the monster left. ¡°Amazing, Makoto. That¡¯s one badass magic just there.¡± Yuuko strikes Makoto¡¯s back as she compliments. ¡°Shh. That hurts. Don¡¯t use the hand that swings heavy weapons to hit me. I don¡¯t want my back to bend like old people.¡± Makoto rubs her back while hissing. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. We still need to move your friends out of here. If they want to strike us for real, it is during our evacuation with your friends.¡± Lexar says with caution. The group finally enters the room. Using the wind, Makoto clears the sleepy gas inside the room. Yuuko approaches her friends, who are sleeping without care on the beds. They are all girls, and acording Makoto, they join the same club as Yuuko in school. Yuuko shakes one girl lightly. However, the girl shows no sign of waking up. Slightly agitateed, Yuuko starts shaking her in a rougher manner, then continously slaps on her cheek, but that is still to working. ¡°Why is she still not waking up?¡± Yuuko says worriedly. ¡°I guess she is affected by the gas for too long.¡± Lexar points at the air duct at the top corner. The troublesome gas is leaking out from it. ¡°Stay aside, Yuuko. I think she needs a bit more stimulation.¡± Makoto stands next to the bed. On the tip of her finger, electric spark sound is ticking. ¡°Ey!¡± ¡°Aaaaaaaaa¡± A painful shout echoes the whole room. The girl on the bed immediately jumps off the bed, then falls down on the ground. Even so, the first thing she does is not getting up, but to shake the hand that is tingling red. ¡°Morning, Kayo. Glad you had such a sweat dream.¡± Yuuko tries to get her up. ¡°Who are you?¡± Kayo is frightened at the sight of a person in samurai armor next to her ¡°Wait. Is that you, Yuuko? What is up with that get up? And why is the wall all red? Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡±She starts shaking as she realizes what happened. ¡°Just as you see, we are in that red world again. Welcome back to hell.¡± Yuuko lightly says as she taps on her friend¡¯s shoulder. Kayo rapidly changes her expression as she tries to understand the situation. First is bewilderment, then a face of shock and fear, after that confusion followed by relief as she looks at the strange appearance of Makoto and Yuuko. ¡°Yuuko. Your appearance. You must have awakened super power like Mashima, right?¡± Kayo immediately gets close to Yuuko and asks in an excitement. ¡°Well, you can think about it like that.¡± Yuuko nods. The girl Kayo goes around Yuuko to inspect the armor. At the same time, she keeps giving question. ¡°Hey, what power did you have? Are you strong? Did you have any special killing move to finish off the boss? ¡­¡±If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Ok. That¡¯s enough for questioning.¡± Yuuko presses her hand on Kayo¡¯s head ¡°We have a lot of things to do. Makoto, please wake up the others for me.¡± Hearing so, Makoto becomes strangely excited as she happily flicks her sparking finger when she approaches the other beds. Several loud screams and falling sound occur in the room. Kayo, who witnessed the progress, instinctively rubs and hides her hands behind, because Makoto shook hand with all her victims. ¡°Hey Yuuko, I did not know Makoto has such a sadistic side before.¡± Kayo whispers to Yuuko. ¡°Don¡¯t think about it too much. It¡¯s probably her way to get revenge against you girls¡¯ joke on April fool day. Probably.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°Wait. It was only a small joke, yet she has been holding that grudge for that long! And why is that uncertain word at the end?¡± Kayo is little bit frightened. ¡°Trust me. I am her best friend for so long. She is the type that never forgets to pay back when there is a chance. But there is a possibility she does this because it is interesting.¡± Yuuko averts her eyes. ¡°All finished. What did you just talk about?¡± Makoto comes back while leading the other girls. ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s just trivial chat.¡± Kayo shakes her head. ¡°Oh, is that so? I think we should move on. Lexar, please guide us to the next room.¡± Makoto turns to her cat. Due to the special request, all the survivors from the incident, except the magical girls, are placed together in the same arena. The main reason is for information control. The person who gave this request to the hospital does not want them to have any unnecessary communication with the others. The three girls, Makoto, Yuuko, and Hinami, are placed in the VIP area. Not only because they are heroes that saved the students, the higher ups want to investigate their powers by performing extensive examination. After waking up more than 30 students, the empty hall has now become too cramped with people. It is very noisy with the talking and expression of emotion. Fear, anxiety, worry, sadness are shown on their faces. Only a few of them stay calm and observe the situation, trying to find something they can help with. ¡°Calm down, everyone! Listen to me.¡± Makoto calls out loudly. ¡°Please get in the line and stay close together. We need to hurry to wake up everyone else, then escape here.¡± ¡°Wait, how many people are you going to continue waking up? Do you intend to wake up everyone in the hospital before making an escape?¡± A student in glasses rises his hand. ¡°No, we are only trying to wake up those from our school.¡± Yuuko firmly answers his question. ¡°That¡¯s right. We can¡¯t leave them here.¡± Makoto nods in agreement. ¡°Wait. There is something wrong with your plan. There are more than 100 people staying in this hospital. You can¡¯t wake them all up.¡± The guy says. ¡°What are you trying to say, Takaki?¡± Yuuko frowns at his words. ¡°Think about it. We only have 36 people here and this path is already too crowded. If there are more people, we will only get stuck and cannot move. At that moment, if there is monster coming out, we cannot fight back or even run. I don¡¯t know your power, but I suppose that it is very difficult for you to protect us in the situation like that.¡± Takaki explains. Yuuko and Makoto immediately get cold feet after his explanation. They have never considered such a problem before. They are too careless with their planning. They did not come up with a method to safely evacuate many people, because they intended to solve the mystery behind this red world and destroy it. Furthermore, this is not the only problem they are going to face. ¡°Huh, are you suggesting we should leave them alone?¡± One male student directs the question at Takaki. ¡°That¡¯s not what I am saying. I simply stated that our current course of action is very dangerous.¡± Takaki adjusts his glasses. ¡°And you are probably going to say that we should evacuate first to confirm the escape route then wake them up later, aren¡¯t you?¡± The student says with a sneering voice. ¡°That is the case.¡± Takaki nods. ¡°To hell with that!¡± That student punches the wall strongly ¡°It¡¯s the same as abandoning them. How long do you think the evacuation will be? 5 minutes? 10? And what will Makoto and Yuuko find when they get back? A bunch of lifeless corpses. Do you even consider the possibility that they cannot come back to save them?¡± ¡°Kaitou.¡± A female student puts her hand on his shoulder to calm him down. Kayo whispers to Yuuko ¡°He lost his girlfriend who was in a different class. At that time, just taking care of himself kept him too busy to think about anyone else. He later then regretted his cowardliness and selfishness.¡± ¡°I know this is my selfishness, but please save my grandma in area D. She has been hospitalized for so long here already. I cannot leave her here.¡± One female student bows her head down before the two most powerful persons here. ¡°Please, I beg of you. Please wake up Haruka and the others in the next room and bring them with us.¡± Another request comes. ¡°Please wake up ¡­.¡± ¡°Can you please ¡­.¡± Several voices come and request Makoto and Yuuko to rescue their friends or relatives. While the two girls are confused, some students who do not say anything have dissatisfied look on their faces. They want to say some objection, but then hold back in consideration for those requesting. However, there are those who say them out directly. ¡°This is ridiculous. Have you heard Takaki¡¯s analysis? We can¡¯t have too many people in the group. It will endanger everyone.¡± A female student voices her objection to everyone requesting. ¡°That¡¯s right. You can¡¯t be so selfish to risk everyone¡¯s life like that.¡± Some students follow suit. ¡°That¡¯s because your and your friends are together already. If you happens to be in the next room, do you want your friend to get help and rescue you?¡± As the argument goes on, those who stayed silent begin to take side, and the student body are divided into two groups: those who want to save more people, and those who want to get out safely with few people first. Makoto and Yuuko are at loss what to do. Chapter 30: Reunion, victory and the end? Seeing how confused Makoto and Yuuko are, Lexar makes a deep sigh. Even though Yuuko and Makoto have shown a lot of positive changes, they are still lacking in many areas. They had been ordinary girls until recently, after all. The reason for this chaotic argument is due to a lack of a good leader. Back at the previous incident, Hinami was the one leading the student body. Due to her charismatic leadership and aura, she was able to control and unite the students as one being, without any voice of objection. Perhaps it was partly because of her authority power, but her commanding and planning ability are no doubt her own talents. If Hinami was here, she would be able to solve this problem, or such problem would not even occur in the first place. Lexar himself does a solution for this situation, but decides to wait for a while. This is a good opportunity for these girls to learn how to handle these kinds of conflict, where everyone is right in their argument. The infighting has continued for more than 10 minutes, yet the two girls have not found any solution for it. Feeling disappointed, Lexar has no choice but to offer the solution to them. ¡°Girls, how do you see this situation?¡± Lexar asks them. Both girls are little perplexed at the sudden questions, but then gain calmness to answer ¡°We are lacking the fighting power to move everyone, either for self defense or saving more people. Unlike the situation at school, we are not familiar with the terrains here, as well as equipments. Thus, we cannot equip the normal people with weapons like Hinami did. Even if we could, I doubt the usefulness as the enemies are much more powerful and troublesome than those random toilet monsters. We could not even put up a strategy where the enemy have so many unknown abilities.¡± Yuuko analyzes. ¡°There is a difference in ideas between the students. As the argument escalates, both groups are more resolute in convincing their course of action is correct. They are trying hard to convince both of us to follow either one of them, but firmly rejecting the idea having us divided. They want to ensure their own protection.¡± Makoto says ¡°What a selfish bunch.¡± ¡°We could have shutted them off with our fists.¡± Yuuko makes a cracking sound on her knuckles ¡°But I am really against that. Such action will make us no less than a tyrant relying on power to rule everyone. Furthermore, that will not solve anything. What we want is to save everyone out safely, so we still need a plan to evacuate everyone without making any sacrifice.¡± Her hand relaxes. ¡°Why are you still fixated on rescuing everyone?¡± Lexar curiously asks ¡°You could have just only brought the friends who are close to you. It¡¯s not like you are closed to everyone at school that you have to save everyone from there.¡± Yuuko becomes silent at his question. However, Makoto answers that question for her. ¡°Because of possibility.¡± Makoto looks at the arguing students ¡°You can see them, right, Lexar? The light of hope and the inner strength of everyone.¡± Lexar looks at the students with potential eyes. White lights are emitting in everyone¡¯s heart, even though they are arguing. ¡°Their argument is not only to convince the two guardians to accompany them, but the rest of the other students. The ones who proposed to escape with the current number may be selfish at first, but they are now convinced by the other side about the importance of the others. What they are trying to do at the moment is to convince the other side to escape together with them, because they firmly believe that this is the safest choice that can save most people. On the other hand, those who want to save their friends are still clinging hard on that idea, but not as much as initially. If we choose to escape with only these people, they will accept it without objection, because they understand better how unreasonable their requests are. And same for the opposite case, the selfish side will fully cooperate with the rescue. There are some who are thinking hard for us how to solve this problem.¡± Makoto says. ¡°Even though they are selfish in a sense, they are still caring for each other. For those people, it is our job to create a path, a miracle that satisfies everyone.¡± Makoto smiles at Yuuko ¡°That¡¯s why Yuuko did not want to use violence to settle the argument or just take away her friends only.¡± ¡°For me, I believe in these people, in their possibilities. Even though they are in such a desperate situation, they show such an unexpected behaviour. Being selfish, yet at the same time, not selfish. I have a feeling that these people will play an important part in facing the end of the world.¡± Yuuko and Lexar look at Makoto in amazement. Lexar finds it unbelievable to hear such a philosophical reason from a high school girl. Yuuko also probably has not met such a side of Makoto before. At that moment, the white light at Makoto¡¯s heart shines brightly, as if it is touched by her speech. Feeling that, Makoto makes a bright smile like she is acknowledged by someone. ¡°We have wasted quite a lot of time. Lexar, please tell us your plan. I figured you are trying to guide us to an answer, but we do not have much time left.¡± Makoto says in a soft voice ¡°Or perhaps, you have confidence that we can escape here safely even if we waste more time.¡± ¡°I guess I cannot deceive you. Here is my plan.¡± Lexar tells his plan directly to the girls. A clapping sound vibrates the area. Eveyone stops what they are doing and focuses their attention toward Makoto. ¡°Everyone, we have decided what to do.¡± She says as she scans everyone ¡°We will save everyone you are requesting.¡± The students become rowdy with her words, but most of their responses display agreement to the decision. ¡°Have you figured out a way to evacuate everyone safely?¡± Takaki asks. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. And we will make sure to bring back everyone we need to save out of here safely.¡± Yuuko says with confirmation. ¡°I understand. Our safety is in your care. Please tell us what we can help with.¡± Takaki nods. ¡°Please turn on all the faucets in the rooms and flood the floor. We will need a lot of water for this.¡± Yuuko gives instruction. While some students are responsible for the water, the rest and Makoto help wake up the other students and teachers. As expected, the process is chaotic as the students wake up only to find themselves in the red world again, and panic. Those who were led by Hinami before have belief in Makoto and Yuuko, and calm down immediately after explanation. However, it is different for the group escaping separately from them. They do not know how powerful the magical girls are, so they are still doubting their safety despite the guarantee from the before group. Lexar, who sits on the shelf, observes everything in front of him. (Strange. These people. There is no light inside them.) Even though he has met normal people with no light before, it is still a very strange scene where there are so many people without light in them. A loud crashing reaches everyone¡¯s ears, followed by a small earthquake. The whole area becomes noisy with fear of a strong earthquake coming. Another crashing sound comes, and every objects in the room is vibrating lightly from the shock. ¡°Everyone, calm down. This is intended action.¡± Makoto yells out to explain to everyone. A series of deafening smashing sounds echo the whole area, and the floor is trembling more violently than before. Glass vases on the tables cannot withstand the shock, fall on the ground and shatter to pieces. ¡°Geez. Can she do it in a quieter manner?¡± Makoto complains. In a certain hallway, a big hole connecting to the outside is created. Debrises of concrete lie everywhere on the floor and the ground beneath the open hole. Water is flowing down from the upper floor like waterfall, sweeping the dust along with it. Next to the hole, Yuuko is standing with a giant hammer in her hand.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Yuuko, you just only need shatter the window only. Why did you have to smash the whole wall along?¡± Makoto comes at her with frustrated voice. ¡°There are people with extremly heavy injuries. It is not easy to make them jump over the wall to come down. I figure this will make thing easier.¡± Yuuko says while leaning on the giant hammer ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s your part now. Hurry up.¡± ¡°Yeah¡± Makoto walks to the middle part of the wall ¡°Everyone, please stand firm. Do not get swept up by the water.¡± She warns to the nearby students. Makoto closes her eyes and begins to concentrate deeply. A white light soon envelops her whole body, making her shine brightly in this dark red world. Her current appearance mesmerizes everyone who sees her. Not only displaying a charming beauty, her white light makes her look like a holy existence, an angle that is sent here to save them from this bloody hell. Water begins to flow fast at everyone¡¯s feet. Some people lift their legs up because they feel like a horde of rats just run pass them. More water concentrates at the hole and a magical scene appears in front of them. An ice road starts forming with the hospital floor as its base. It sticks out firmly in the air, even without support, then descends slowly as the ice road lengthens. After three minutes, a two meter wide icy slide connecting from the 5th floor to the hospital yard is created. The people who witnessed the whole process are rendered speechless, even those who have witnessed Hinami¡¯s power before. One girl who can lift a giant hammer that seems to weight over hundred kilograms uses it to break down the whole wall and shake the whole building. One one side, a girl who can manipulate water creates a nearly 20 meter high construction in a matter of minutes. Their powers are too astonishing for them to consider as reality. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go down through this slide then run straight to the outside of the hospital. There is no black liquid blocking the way this time, so we can run straight out.¡± Makoto claps her hand to get everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Is this thing really safe?¡± A student asks while looking at the slide. Because the slide is made of ice, it is quite transparent and people can clearly see the ground below. From the view of the one who rides it, it looks no different from falling down directly from the high floor to the ground. Their fear is justifiable. ¡°Well, I guess I need to volunteer as a guinea pig for this thing.¡± Yuuko steps forward while saying in a joking tone. She is now standing on the even ice part before the slide ¡°But I have to admit that this thing can be a good attraction in the amusement¡± She looks down on her feet. The debris that fell down before can be clearly seen, and her feet looks like she is just standing on empty air. Yuuko sits on the edge of slide, and begins to glide on the descending ice path. Despite its smooth outlook, the slide has quite a lot of friction on the surface, helping Yuuko slide down gradually to the ground. ¡°Every thing is OK. You can come down now.¡± Yuuko calls out with loud voice. ¡°And there you see it. We have assured you the safety of this thing. Please get down one by one without pushing.¡± Makoto turns to the people. At first, they are hesitant to come down. However, after the 10th people, there is no problem so far. They start to hurry up and urge the one before to get down faster with no more unbiased fear. Everyone wants to quickly escape here as soon as possible. When half of the group already descended to the yard, strange noises from different places are heard. Lexar, who has the clairvoyance, sees many closed doors suddenly swing open. In the area where there is water on the floor, continuous water splashing is heading toward Makoto¡¯s group. On the ground level, there are traces of something moving toward Yuuko¡¯s group. ¡°Makoto, Yuuko. Those invisible guys have come out. Be on guard.¡± Lexar warns the two girls. ¡°Roger that. Look like they have run out of patience already.¡± Yuuko readies her katana ¡°Everyone, stay within 20 meter diameter around the slide. Makoto! I am counting on you.¡± She calls out. ¡°You don¡¯t have to tell me that.¡± Makoto channels her energy on the water below her. A stream of water flows down through the slide. Reaching the ground, the water spreads out widely, forming a large puddle that nearly covers the whole yard. As Makoto gradually rises both hands up, four ice walls are constructed, surrounding the powerless students. ¡°I will guard this place. Please hurry up with the descending.¡± Makoto urges the rest who are still on the high floor. ¡°Thank you. Be careful, Makoto.¡± Kaho who belongs the later group says to her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I am quite strong, you see.¡± Makoto makes a confident pose. On the hospital yard, eight splashing sources are rushing toward the ice slide. They are coming in different directions, and it is impossible for Yuuko to protect all sides of the ice walls. However, she is not slightly worried about such thing. ¡°Graaaaahhhhhhh!¡± A painful shriek comes with a sudden appearance of a monster. A big empty hole with white smoke is on its chest. The flower monster staggers a little bit then collapses. On the highest floor of the hospital, a barrel of a two meter long sniper gun protrudes from the window. The scope is attached with a wire connecting to a mechanic eye gadget which is currently worn on a girl. She is loading another bullet on the gun she is holding. ¡°That one did not crawl, but ran on two legs, huh? I guess I have to take that into consideration.¡± Hinami mumbles. ¡°I know it. You are not the one to really run alone and abandon everyone else.¡± Makoto says in delight. ¡°Now that we are together. Nothing can stop us.¡± Yuuko says as she cuts a monster into half. The three girls¡¯ morale is at the peak with them being together. With the teleporting move, Yuuko instantly appears in front each of them and slices them in half with her sword in white flame. Hinami snipes the monsters which are running on the ground. She cannot see the monsters, but thanks to the puddle Makoto creates, she knows the position of the enemy and aims by calculating the feature of the monsters. After sending the last normal person down the ground, Makoto immediately dissolves the ice slide into water. She looks at the monsters on both side, trying to break the thick ice walls that she created to block them off. With a finger snap, the walls immediately turn into water, pushing the monsters back a bit. ¡°Pit fall trap, ice witch version!¡± Makoto yells as she punches the floor. An explosion sound occurs, and accompanied that, ice spikes rapidly thrusts out from the flooded ground, piercing everything on top of it. Her movement is so impacting that even the people on the ground floor and Hinami can see the ice spikes piercing through or behind the walls. ¡°Such power.¡± Hinami says in amazement. ¡°Amazing¡± Yuuko says with excitement. ¡°This is the true capability of these girls.¡± A female teacher who is rescued along says. As if shocked like every one else, the monster attack also comes to a stop without any more monster appearing. The whole crowd is safe for the time being. Lexar checks for the presence of any possible enemy, but finds nothing. Nodding to Makoto, he jumps onto her shoulder and prepares to get down with her. Makoto jumps off directly from the high floor and slowly descends, using the power of the wind, She then regroups with Yuuko and dissolves the ice wall protecting the normal students. ¡°Are you ok, Makoto? Your face pales quite a bit.¡± Yuuko worriedly asks. ¡°It¡¯s ok. It¡¯s only overworking. A good rest and I am back to normal.¡± Makoto says ¡°Anyway, I still need to help Hinami get down here too.¡± She then makes hand signal to Hinami. However, in return, the girl on the top floor makes a series of hand signal, refusing to come down. ¡°She said she wants to observe from high ground to detect any potential enemy. She will escape after us.¡± Makoto understand what she means. ¡°What a drastic change in behavior. She said that she would like to escape alone first, now she wants to stay back here alone to help us escape.¡± Yuuko complains. ¡°Well, girls are complex beings after all.¡± Lexar says happily. ¡°Did you know that she would not escape by herself?¡± Makoto curiously asks. ¡°Correct. I also watched over here, after all.¡± The cat answers. ¡°And you dared to hide such thing so long for us. I will teach you a lesson after we get out of here.¡± Makoto grabs him by the collar and angrily grinds his head. ¡°Ok, everyone. The path is clear now. Once we pass through the entrance, we can get out of this world.¡± Yuuko guides the whole crowd to run to the hospital gate. The group overjoy that there is only one step left to get out safely. Witnessing the girls¡¯ power, especially Makoto¡¯s special move, they fully believe that these girls can escort them to safety. Everyone hurries in the direction to the gate with Yuuko leading the front, and Makoto at the back. When there is only five meter left between the gate and the group, a ripple appears in the air. Suddenly, a container suddenly appears and runs straight at the group. ¡°Spread out!¡± Yuuko shouts out. At the same moment, Yuuko creates a sturdy big shield in front of her. A truck rams directly at her with a great force. Luckily, the shield is only slightly bent, and behind it, Yuuko still firmly stands and holds the shield. However, she is pushed back a great distance, but that creates a good amount of time for everyone behind her to stay away from the truck path. ¡°Go! Go through that gate and get out of here!¡± Yuuko shouts while being pushed back by truck. The truck does not even stop after hitting her, instead, it further accelerates, strongly pushing Yuuko further back. Being scared by the sudden appearance of the truck, the normal students immediately run to the gate after her order. Yuuko¡¯s friends who hesitantly stay back also run after being shouted by Yuuko the second time. At the end, only the three girls remain in this red world. ¡°There is no driver!?¡± Hinami checks the driver seat of the truct ¡°If that¡¯s the case.¡± Several shots immediately pierce the engines at the truck¡¯s front, shutting down its acceleration. The wheels explode by the ice shards that Makoto shots sideway. Without the any driving force, along with the strong friction, the truck rapidly slows down and comes to a stop. Its container tail tilts to the left and heavily crashes on the ground. In front of the truck, Yuuko is breathing heavily. Big cracks appear on the shield as well as her amour. On Yuuko¡¯s mouth, blood slowly drips out. However, that is not the end. The gates of the container suddenly opens, and a big mass of meat on two legs jumps out of it. Its target is Yuuko. Seeing it, Makoto immediately dashes toward Yuuko and drags her away as fast as possible with the help of the wind. Hinami immediately switches to the special ammo for this type of monster. Even with their fast reaction, they are already too late. The meat lump explodes, and a fire storm covers everything inside the red world. If there is someone who is looking from afar in the red world, he can see a red sphere incinerating in the hospital and surrounding area into ashes. Side story 1: Hinamis side (1) *A moment after Hinami separated with her friends Running while feeling deeply ashamed, Hinami wants to get away from her friends¡¯ sight as soon as possible. She hates herself for being such a coward to leave her friends behind while running away alone. Desperate to get away from that feeling, she hastily descends to the lower floor without paying attention to the surrounding. Surprisingly enough, such stupid action manages to calm her down, as she begins to regain her calm thinking. (Calm down. I am not acting like myself.) Hinami thinks as she passes by a toilet. She decides to get inside to wash her face for a refresh. The coldness of the water stimulates her skin, washing away the remaining drowsiness from waking up too early in the morning. Feeling not enough, she even pushes her head into the sink, and lets the faucet wash her hair. Standing in front of the mirror, Hinami looks at her wet and dishelved appearance. It is such a mess that a lot of hair sticks on her face, making her look like a ghost from some horror movies. Hinami brushes the hair aside to have a better look on the face. At that moment, she realizes what is going on with her. ¡°How did you manage to control my emotion?¡± Hinami asks while glaring at the other self in the mirror. (Did you forget that I am also you? You are me, and I am you.) A female voice answers in her head. (Then tell me. Why did you do that?) Hinami angrily questions in her head. (It is all for you, my little self. I don¡¯t want you to stay together with those two girls anymore.) (What are you saying? If you dare to claim yourself as me, you should know that staying together is the only way to survive this ordeal.) (No, it¡¯s not. In fact, staying as a group will actually even slower our survival rate.) Her inner voice explains. (What do you mean?) Hinami¡¯s confused face reflects in the mirror. At that moment, she suddenly loses control of her body. Her left hand which has been leaning on the sink rises up and bents behind her. A silver handgun which is much heavier than Hinami usually uses is in that hand. As her finger pulls the trigger, a white beam accompanied by a piu sound is shot toward an empty space. A sizzling sound accompanied with a thud comes behind her. Turning around, Hinami sees a black ball with two bat wings and claws attached to it. In the middle, there is a round hole with white flame burning along the border. Hinami is dumbfound at the sight of that strange creature vanishing in flame. (The enemy has been spying on us, you know. Before you realize it, you will end up dying together with your friends.) Her other self says without care. (This is bad, we have to notify everyone else.) Hinami is alarmed. (Calm down. What are you trying to do to tell everyone? Rushing upstairs and telling them out loud.) The other Hinami restrains the body from moving (And also, did you forget Lexar¡¯s ability?) (Clairvoyance!) The original Hinami realizes what she means. (Minus point for your intended reckless action. This is a very big flaw for someone who wants to be above and lead everyone else.) ¡°Uuu.¡± Hinami groans as she admits her mistake. (Back to where we left, the real reason I want you to stay away from those two is because staying together with them will only hinder your growth.) (Wh-Why?) Hinami is surprised. (Basically, you can¡¯t do anything without relying on them. Without them, you are nothing but puppets to the surrounding adults.) (Do you think you know ever¡­ ¡­) Hinami immediately retort but then remains silent before finishing her sentence. (Oh, I nearly thought you would defend the life being thrown around by everyone, but it seems I was mistaken) Her other self says with amusement (If it had not been for my intervention during the time at Hakugawa academy, you would have run around trying to search the teachers for protection or guidance, instead of fighting back yourself.) Hinami hesitates a while before arguing back (But that was an obvious course of action. I was just only a normal high school girl at that time. I didn''t know whether I have ability to fight against those scary monster.)If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. (Another minus point trying to find an excuse for making the wrong decision. You are only a student and relying on the teacher is what normal students do when things are more than what they can handle. But remember Hinami Mashima, you are a daughter of a Mashima zaibatsu. Your rank is higher than most of the teachers out there. They are people who give you knowledge, and deserve respect, not the one making important decisions for you..) Her other self makes a dissatisfied voice (Let me change the other way to view. How about the case with your previous fianc¨¦?) Hinami tightly closes her eyes as she remembers the terrible memory just a year ago. Although arranging life partner for children by parents is considered obsolete practice, it is still common among families with high social position. As a daughter of the man who rules a zaibatsu, she was required to select a partner. Still being na?ve about the society, Hinami chose a boy about her age who was also heir of another zaibatsu. Excellent academic performance, handsome appearance, same background, well manners, no history of bad scandal. He was supposed to be a perfect partner that any girl can hope for. After a few meetings, Hinami also found him to be a good person. Although she had no romantic feeling for him, she did not think it would cause any problem, as she believed her mother¡¯s words ¡°Love comes after marriage¡±. However, after six months being engaged, Hinami discovered her fianc¨¦¡¯s disgusting hobby. Being repulsed by it, she wanted to cancel of the engagement, but was stopped by her relatives. Due to their relationship, cooperation between two big conglomerates improved and as a result, many big projects had begun. If she was to suddenly cancel out the engagement, friction would form in the relationship between two zaibatsus, leading to tremendous cost in terms of economic. She also could not report his hobby. Not only it would damage severely the other family¡¯s reputation, the relationship between two big families would be broken beyond repair. In the end, she was suggested to wait for a few more year until the projects would be completed. There would be no problem if she could ignore him. However, his strange hobby kept haunting her as she was still conscious of the relationship between them. Makoto and Yuuko realized what happened and tried to disclose his secret hobby, but Hinami stopped them, told them all the bad consequences they would face if they did it. Even so, they did not stop and devised their own plan without telling her. Instead of disclosure, they blackmailed her fianc¨¦, forcing him to initiate the break off from his side. The financial damage was quite considerable as many projects were canceled. Hinami did not receive any criticism as she was not the one to initiate it. Despite being dissatisfied with how reckless their action was and the consequence, she was very grateful to them. The other self was correct in her assessment. Although she thought of the blackmailing method, she did not use it because of the surrounding adults. Under their persuasion, she was not allowed to be selfish, causing trouble to everyone. From the time she gained the status of the chairman¡¯s daughter, the freedom to do anything by her own will was taken away. For a child of such important position, she has to consult everything with the adults, from the choices of school to her life plan. Even her daily life is controlled as they want to drill all the good habits into her body. She understands all of that is for her good. However, by the time she realizes it, she has become a puppet for them, instinctively looking for their guidance in every thing. (Do you know what makes a true leader?) Despite asking, the other Hinami answers it (It¡¯s the ability not to get swept up by people¡¯s opinion. A leader is the one who leads everyone, not the tool for people to realize their thinking using the whole group. Sure, it is important to take in everyone¡¯s opinion, but do not make a mistake. Leader is the one who leads, not the representative. The current you right now is nothing but the manifestation of tool for those adults.) (Then what am I supposed to do?) Hinami asks. (Learn to be selfish, learn to be independent. Remember, you are now part of a different world, a world that the power of a zaibatsu means nothing. You have to stand on their own, create your own group, and lead them, not under anyone¡¯s name nor anyone¡¯s sake, but yours.) The inner voice says. (And the reason to separate from Makoto and Yuuko?) Hinami asks. (They are too much of help for you. Together with them, you may overcome all the challenges, but that will not help you develop your qualities as the one who stands at the top. They are too excellent that they will cover everything you are weak at. You must climb at the top by yourself, suffer through hardship alone, and agonize over the mistakes without consultation of the others.) The inner voice makes a deep sight (There is still a lot of things to learn. But we must overcome the current trouble first.) A sudden surge of information rushes into Hinami¡¯s head, causing her a slight headache. Very complicated machines and weapons she has never seen before appears in her head. There are also details and uses of them. ¡°Thank you¡± Hinami nods with a smile on her face. A metallic headset materializes on her head, and next to her, a flying drone floats above the ground, waiting for her order. In Hinami¡¯s eyes, a camera view from the drone is displayed, with many menus on the side. With just only a thought, she can navigate the whole menu, and perform a quick check on the available functions. The more she reads the information, the more she is amazed with the drone. (Two rifles with silencer, one portable minigun, one flamethrower, eight small size missiles, one laser cutter. My god, this thing is like a mini tank. Multilayer armor made of organic compounds and metals, capable of defending against anti-tank bullet. Mirage colloid stealth system for vision concealment. Camera capable of night vision, x ray vision, infrared vision¡­) Sweat forms on her forehead as she reads the details of the machine. No matter how she views it, the drone next to her is the best multifunctional weapon she knows. Aside the firepower and defense, its stealth system and camera can allow it to perform the toughest infiltration mission in the military. Despite the weight of equipments, it is still floating nicely without a sound. The engine which is used to support is ¡­ (Thermo nuclear engine) Hinami gulps as she reads the text. If the drone is set on self destruct mode, the radius of the blast is a whole one kilometer. Luckily, this thing has a safety device that restricts the explosion range to only 50 meter, but that is still a wide range to her. (I had better be careful not to let this thing get damaged too much) Hinami swears in her heart. Side story 1: Hinamis side (2) Finishing memorizing the whole instruction manual, Hinami made a plan to utilize this drone. (I need to eliminate those bat like creatures. If Lexar is not able to detect them, they must have a special mechanism to hide from his sight.) Hinami thinks. Little did she know, the bat like creature that the other Hinami shot down accidentally exposed itself by emitting killing intent behind her. This creature, which is called Spybat by its creature, has many functions suitable for spying activities, including: X ray vision, night vision, thermo vision, invisible cloak. Not only that, its big one eye that is basically the body are capable of hypnotizing, stunning the target for one to two second. Its claws have paralyzing poisons, if one is careless to be hit, a normal person will stay motionless for a whole one hour. Suspecting of Lexar having ability to see hidden objects, the commander of the operation ordered the Spybats not to get into the cat¡¯s line of sight. This bat which recorded Lexar¡¯s battle with Jerome hid at the corner of the window behind the cat, thus it presence was not detected so far. Even if Lexar used Clairvoyance, he would not be able to detect it either. Its invisible cloak is impossible to see through with Clairvoyance, which uses normal vision. Seeing Hinami leave the group, the Spybat silently followed her. Seeing her defendless state, it closely followed her, finding an opening to assassinate. When Hinami was submerging her head in the sink, the opportunity came and the bat flew straight at her neck. However, unluckily for it, the other Hinami had been paying attention to it all the time. Influenced by the sudden intimidation air, its attack halted in mid air, and as a result, got shot down. Opening the door, Hinami slowly step out, with the drone flying behind. Leaning hand on the door, she kept the door open wide for the drone to move out without touching anything. Her trying to make movement look as natural as possible is to prevent the other Spybat from noticing anything coming from behind her. And her carefulness is correct, in a far corner of the T section, with the drone¡¯s thermo vision, there is a flying bat. Seeing Hinami¡¯s strange headset, it quickly hides behind the wall but does not flee away, because Hinami is facing another direction. However, not knowing that, Hinami stiffens a little bit, worried that the drone is detected. (It has not detected the drone yet, The colloid mirage system is not such an easy thing to be seen through so easily. Have confidence in my ability.) The other Hinami says. Calmed down, Hinami makes a deep breath and analyzes the situation. She touches her head, realizing how dump she was, not hiding this strange headset. Because the headset is too comfortable while wearing and she is too focused in reading and thinking, she forgets about it. (I am only lending you the drone and shooting skill. This time, you have to train your strategic view and thinking. I will only give you a hint when things turn to a bad situation.) The other Hinami¡¯s words echo in her mind. Now that the enemy thinks that she can see those things with her headset, she will make them think so. Looking around, Hinami walks toward the corridor, opposite of where the Spybat ran to. The Spybat peeked its eye from the wall, confirming Hinami¡¯s position. Seeing her unaware of its presence, the bat ascends and flies toward her. It is being careful, moving from behind one cover to another like a real professional spy. Sadly, such skillful movement is useless as it does not notice the drone that has been flying above it. Through the headset, even Hinami pities it while praising at the same time. When the bat flies out behind a door, Hinami abruptly turns around and shoots at it with handgun equipped with silencer. Black liquid splashes around as the flying creature falls on the ground. The second Spybat is terminated. (There should be no more observers following me. For my next step,¡­) Hinami looks at the emergency door stairs then the elevator after checking there is no more bat around the area. She controls the drone to move next to the elevator control. As a tool for infiltration, it has some basic hacking abilities. Just by scanning the control with a blue light, the drone can hack into the system and control the elevator just by sending wireless information, despite no receiver on the system.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! (This feels totally like magic in the form of science. If I have time, I should figure out how it works.) Hinami thinks as she observes the elevator door open. Inside is a pitch black area with two ropes hanging in the middle. She sends the drone to go inside and investigate. As expected, the elevator cabin is below on the ground floor, while there is no bat detected inside. Perhaps, they cannot even get inside or do not even bother checking this place. When the drone flies outside the elevator, Hinami jumps in and grabs on the rope. Having been set the instruction, the drone makes the elevator door shut then flies along the stair to go up. While climbing up, Hinami watches the drone¡¯s journey through the headset. There are two flying bats moving up and down in the stairs area. Their eyes are spinning around, scrutinizing every place for any trace of movement. Despite so, the drone just floats and moves right next to them without trouble. Even having discovered the bats, Hinami just directs the drone to go up without doing anything. She judges that there are many bats in the hospital. Eliminating one or two of them will not solve anything. When the drone reaches the highest floor, it moves toward the elevator where Hinami¡¯s place is connected to. There is one bat patrolling the area. Right when Hinami is thinking how to deal with it, a sudden explosion occurs in the hospital. The rope Hinami hangs on sways a few time. She tightly grips it while worrying (Has fighting finally occurred? Makoto, Yuuko, Lexar) . With the explosion occurred, the bat that is hanging around in front of the elevator moves away. Seeing the chance, the drone opens the door and Hinami swiftly jumps out and hides in nearby room. The top floor is a staff dormitory. It is built for doctors and nurses who stay overnight at the hospital. At this moment, the whole floor is empty without any person except Hinami. It is also due to this reason, the whole floor only has one bat patrolling around. The one in charge of this layout expected the survivors would escape by going down to the ground floor, not going up. Even if the girls try to escape through airway, the bats outside the hospital can detect it. As Hinami uses the drone to scan the surrounding through the window, she finds more than 20 bats flying around. (Good thing, no one is here. I can concentrate on operating this thing with ease now) Hinami hides in a wardrobe then changes the view of the drone to full screen. Using an already open window, the drone flies out then turns to have a good overall look on the hospital. There is a hole that is big enough to see interior structure of three floors. Next to the hole, she can see her two friends with a cat being surrounded by a bunch of people. Judging from how ferocious their faces are, something must be wrong with them. However, if it is only to this extend, they should not pose a threat to Makoto group. Hinami continues to survey the whole hospital. What worries her is the cause of the explosion. Out of the four people with special power, Hinami is the only one who can cause such a destructive explosion. However, she was not the one who caused it, which means the explosion was caused by the enemy. Finding the monsters capable of that is one of her top priority. Using the thermo vision, Hinami surveys the whole hospital again. Except the heat source generated people and some machines, there are intense heat at multiple locations. From the shape, they have one big glowing bag on two legs, which are enough for Hinami to judge them as monsters. They are spread out at different places on different floors. However, the places where they are all concentrated are the lower floors. Luckily, her friends are heading upstairs, where there seems to be no such monster, or else they are going toward a bomber lair. That is not only her discovery. At a different place, Hinami detects two groups of people are fighting each other. A group of two, one fighting and one hiding, are facing against a group of armed people. Switching back to normal vision, Hinami realizes that it is Meiya Sugihara who is hiding, and the one covering her is a strange looking robot like from a mecha anime. Though unsure, she highly suspects that it is Takagi Sugihara. Meanwhile, on the opposing side are a bunch of men dressed like tactical squad with black mask covering their faces and bulletproof vests. Both sides are exchanging fire rapidly while taking covers. Using a laser rifle and a large shield, Takagi seems to have an upper hand, but is still struggling against the torrent of bullets. The shield is punctured with numerous holes that is enough to scare anyone with Tyrophobia. Witnessing the battle, beside Hinami, are two Spybats, one on each side. One is calmly observing the battlefield, while the other one is slowly approaching Meiya. At that time, Hinami knows she cannot stay silent anymore. If Meiya is attacked, Takagi will be distracted and get in danger immediately. Still being invisible, the drone crashes through the glass window behind the armed men. While everyone is shocked at the sudden development, the two rifles lock on the two bats, while the miniguns and flamethrower aim at the men. There are some crystal shards on the drones, but one second is not enough for everyone to process what it means, and that costs one fatal second to make a good decision. As the miniguns spin its deadly tune, the two rifle bullets pierce through the two bats at the middle of the eyes. At the same time, a ray of red fire sweeps through the corridor, swallowing anyone in its range. The fire is so intense that the concrete shows sign of melting. The bodies are immediately incinerated into ash immediately in a matter of second. The intense gunfight finally ends with the complete annihilation of armed men. Chapter 31: Being in another world *In a certain place in a world called Tristina ¡°Welcome, heroes from another world.¡± A loud dignified voice echoes the hall. In the middle of the hall, there is a giant magic circle. At the middle of it, several teenagers wearing high school uniforms are standing with confused faces, wondering what is going on. ¡­. *Inside a cave in the middle of nowhere *Slap* Makoto facepalms so hard that the sound of her hand hitting her face vibrates several times in the small cave the group is staying in. ¡°Or so that¡¯s how our story in a different world is supposed to be.¡± Yuuko chuckles and decides to end the storytelling after seeing such a reaction from Makoto. ¡°Isekai is such an overused genre. Though they were quite appealing at the beginning, a flood of cheap copycats of such genre makes the genre become nothing but a joke.¡± Makoto says while still covering her face. In contrast to Makoto, Lexar listened to Yuuko¡¯s story wholeheartedly while wagging his tail. Normally, cat wagging tail signifies that he is upset. However, looking at his face, such behavior does not imply so. To Lexar, although the genre was also overused in his world, it is a story of distant past. Hearing it again brings a lot of nostalgia to him. Before the explosion had the chance to engulf the group of three, at that moment, Yuuko¡¯s katana suddenly shone brightly and a strange chant reached everyone¡¯s ears. When they regained their consciousness, they were all lying outside a wild cave in a forest. It is dark and raining outside so they have to take shelter inside the cave. ¡°Ironically, we are now in the same situation as those stories. The fact that I can open this table is still quite surprising.¡± Yuuko fiddles her finger in the air and a small table appears.
Yuuko Kurosawa Race Human, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 1
Strength 84 Vitality 130
Resistance 120 Agility 140
Magic (error cannot process) Magic resistance 60
Skills:
Language Comprehension, (error data overflow)
Makoto and Lexar imitate Yuuko and create tables in front of them
Makoto Tachibana Race Human, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 1
Strength 25 Vitality 80
Resistance 20 Agility 30
Magic (error cannot process) Magic resistance 200
Skills:
Analyze (Max), (error data overflow)Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Lexar Race Cat, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 1
Strength 56 Vitality 70
Resistance 66 Agility 152
Magic (error cannot process) Magic resistance 80
Skills:
(error data overflow)
¡°Setting aside the stats, don¡¯t you feel this irking feeling when you summon these tables?¡± Makoto slightly knocks on her temple like her head is a jug. ¡°Yeah, my head feels kinda weird too. It must have been because of these errors.¡± Yuuko shakes her head around to dissipate the unpleasant feeling. ¡°(error cannot process), (error data overflow). This really feels like we are in a computer program. Or the world where we are in now is operated by a system working like a computer. Anyway, I don¡¯t think we should feel happy for these bugs. In novels, this may imply we have some cheat power or hidden op trait. But if the system clearly indicates the error type, combined with our unwell feeling, these bugs are bad for our bodies.¡± Lexar analyzes. ¡°Urgh, I hate this feeling. I am going to take this out of my body for a moment.¡± Makoto closes her eyes to concentrate. After five seconds, her body shines brightly then slowly dies down. From her open empty hand, a ball of white light starts floating up. ¡°Phew. Now that¡¯s better.¡± Makoto makes a relief sigh and massages her neck like she has just put off something annoying. ¡°Even though I have already seen it before, it is still unbelievable that you can just take in then extract the status table out of your body like nothing.¡± Yuuko comments on Makoto¡¯s power. ¡°Although I know my power is pretty strong, manipulating a system installed in the body is something I did not even expect.¡± Makoto nods while examining the ball of light. ¡°System, you say?¡± Lexar twitches his ears. ¡°No, not system.¡± Makoto corrects herself ¡°I think this thing is rather close to a program instead. A program made by this world to be installed inside our bodies.¡± ¡°Can you elaborate on that?¡± ¡°Remember when we were first thrown into this world? Aside from the pain we received from being swallowed in that explosion, there was this uncomfortable feeling, like having bugs crawling around our bones. It was actually this thing scanning and analyzing our bodies. While analyzing, this so called program also started merging with us, connecting itself with various parts of our bodies.¡± Makoto manifests a small human model with various places attached to the ball of light through the cords made of white air. ¡°And through the program, we are connected to this world¡¯s system, allowing this world¡¯s rule to be applied to us. The first rule is the status table.¡± Makoto points at the status table in front of Yuuko. ¡°This table is a world¡¯s rule?¡± Yuuko surprisingly asks. ¡°Like the other RPG world novels you have read, every creature usually has its own status recorded in its table. That is one of the rules of this world. The majority of the rest you should be familiar. Defeat monsters, get experience, get stronger by level up. The higher level the skill is, the stronger the skill is. Class influences heavily our status and development route. No different from an RPG game.¡± Makoto dissipates the white human model ¡°However, things are not really that simple.¡± She expands her hand out at the direction of the white ball. A lot of tables suddenly appear in midair, surprising everyone else. ¡°This is¡­¡± Lexar mutters. ¡°The true form of the program installed inside us.¡± Makoto examines each of the tables. However, all of them only have hazy white mist covering all the content. ¡°When I first extracted the table out, I tried to absorb back and turned it into skill. However, instead of a skill, I learned about its true form and some information about it. Perhaps the reason for our unwell feeling when using table is because of our abnormal power. Although my power is still limited and I can read only a part of this program, I¡¯m still able to learn what happens to us. Basically, the program cannot understand our white flame power and anything strongly related with it. As you can see from the table, our class, our race, and our skills are the things that the program failed to comprehend. And because of failure to understand, it needs to keep analyzing our bodies until it comprehends us. When we summon the table, the program activates the analyzing process until we close it.¡± Hearing so, both Yuuko and Lexar immediately close the table. Makoto continues on talking. ¡°That¡¯s all I can figure out at the moment. There are still a lot of things that cannot be read at the moment. But it will be no problem. As I get stronger, I can read more from the program. At that time, we can uncover the true nature of this world.¡± Makoto says with a lot of excitement. ¡°Then we can figure out the way back to our own world, right?¡± Yuuko asks with anticipation. ¡°Uh¡­ yes, that¡¯s right. Figuring out more about the system can help us find a way to exit this world.¡± Makoto lightly stumbles before speaking fluently again. Lexar slightly tilts his head. Makoto¡¯s behavior just now was weird, like the time when she talked about the fake ¡°death¡± experience. He does not want to think about it much, but her action reminds him of a mad scientist he met in the past life. Although he was outstanding with his genius intelligence, he was the kind of person who could kill millions of people just for his idea. Lexar does not want to associate such a good girl with that psychopath, but her manner just now strikingly resembled him, the obsession with world-changing idea. Realizing that he is having such a strange though, Lexar furiously shakes his head. They are two completely different people. Obsession with world-changing idea is a good quality that any great person has. It is stupid to relate Makoto, a high school girl, with a madman. He should be optimistic and encourage her to develop in that direction. Perhaps, in the future, she can become a great person that will change the world. ¡°Although it is possible to find the way back through understanding the world, it is still only a possibility. Not mentioning how complicated it is to understand the world, it is still unknown whether we can develop a way to travel back to our world based on the knowledge.¡± Lexar gives his opinion. ¡°True, there is also that possibility.¡± Makoto nods in agreement. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a difficult problem though.¡± Yuuko interrupts ¡°Based on the pattern of these RPG stories, it is bound to have summoning hero or a reincarnating person. Although it is just illogical intuition, I believe this world has the former type. Since being transported here, I have had this feeling that I am familiar with this world. This sword¡± Yuuko holds her katana up ¡°It has been telling me that there is a trace of me in this world and the reason we ended up here .¡± ¡°To summon a hero from another world, a special ritual is needed. If we can analyze it, along with the knowledge of this world system, we can modify or create our own ritual and teleport us back to our own world. Yes, that way, we have higher chance to succeed.¡± Makoto realizes Yuuko¡¯s plan ¡°So our objective is to find a human settlement first. From that point, we will investigate the story about the summoning heroes and find a clue where the ritual for summoning took place. During our journey to find it, we will also defeat monster, train and strengthen ourselves. Not only to be able to read the world information, we will get the strength to counter the mastermind behind those red worlds.¡± ¡°Correct. I really want to get back to our world and kick that man¡¯s ass. I will make him remember for sending me a truck and a terrorist bomb.¡± Yuuko punches her hand together makes a ferocious smile. ¡°However, we need to get a hold of time. We don¡¯t know whether there is a time difference between two worlds. Let¡¯s hope that by the time we get back, the world is not destroyed already.¡± The cat reminds them. The two girls nod at the same time. Having set up the general outline of their plan, they move on discussing the details: how they will survive in the forest, where to look for human settlement, what they should do when in contact with humans. The meeting goes on for an hour and they start to feel sleepy. Although they are also hungry, with the outside still raining and very dark, they decide to wait inside the cave until the next day. After blocking off the entrance, the girls quickly fall into deep sleep. (Hinami, please hang on there. You are now the only one back in your world that can fight back the evil force. I promise that I will help your friends become stronger and find the way to go back.) It is Lexar¡¯s last thought before also falling asleep. Chapter 32: Encounter with goblins *In a royal palace of a human kingdom
Hitomi Yamashita Race Human
Class Martial artist Level 1
Strength 60 Vitality 90
Resistance 80 Agility 87
Magic 40 Magic resistance 30
Skill
Language comprehension, Close combat (Lv 5), Endure Pain (Lv 3). Focus (Lv 2), Combat instinct (Lv 1), Limit break (Lv 1)
¡°Oh, my goddess!!!¡± A person who makes the identification process for the heroes who are summoned from the other world suddenly shouts in surprise. ¡°Eh!? Is there something wrong with my status?¡± The girl Hitomi Yamashita who is standing nearby is startled by the sudden shout. She takes the status plate back and looks at it with a confused face. "Identification": It is a process where one measures his/her own status through an intermediate and has it recorded in a device called "status plate". The status plate is a divine artifact which allows oneself to check the status without having to go through an intermediate anymore. Before her turn, quite a few people finished their identification process already. Among the entire class, her status values only belong to the below average group. Many classmates are stronger than her, not only in number but also the skills. At the beginning, the priest who performs the process already shouted out in surprise when knowing it. She does not get why the priest got surprised when seeing hers, (To think that this class finally appears again. Even though I have already prepared for it, seeing that class again brings shiver to my spine. My majesty, we are currently making a very big gamble here. Will we be able to fulfill our wish or perish under a name of a new sect? Ohhh, ancestors of the kingdom Vahalad, and goddess Tristina, please guide us to the path of glory) The priest silently prays in his mind. ¡°Priest?¡± Hitomi worriedly asks. ¡°Oh! Sorry, I was so baffled by your status. Don¡¯t worry about it. You are very amazing in a lot of ways. I will explain it to you and everyone else later.¡± The priest assures the girl. ¡°Eh!? Me? Amazing?¡± Hitomi is now taken by surprise with the sudden development. ¡­¡­¡­.. * In a certain forest ¡°Basically you pull all the skin toward the ankle. Pinch it hard, there, then strongly twist the skin and tear it. That¡¯s it. Do it to the other leg too. Through the gap between the skin and the meat, put your hand around and pull it strongly¡­¡± Lexar slowly instructs Yuuko on how to skin the rabbit. After having a good sleep, the trio has recovered the stamina from the fighting back in the old world. Perhaps it was due to the power of awakening, they can still move around normally despite not eating anything for a whole day, even Yuuko, who was heavily injured yesterday, had the wounds completely healed. However, the hungry stomach still impacts them severely. They cannot concentrate on fighting with their full capacity. In a world full of unknown, it is very dangerous to fall in such state. In the early morning, Lexar moved out of the cave and scouted the surrounding. There was no road nearby or sign of settlement in the vicinity of five km. Disappointed with the finding, the cat decided to hunt a rabbit hiding a tree not so far from the cave. Despite being in another world, rabbit is still a harmless creature. The cat quickly hunted it down without any resistance and brought it back to the cave. ¡°I expected that this would be more difficult. The rabbit skin is easier to pull out than I thought. It feels like chicken skin.¡± Yuuko says as she finishes separating the skin and the meat. ¡°Now for the deboning part,¡± Lexar says. ¡°Ah, there is no need for that. I have experience with deboning in the kitchen already.¡± Yuuko interrupts. ¡°Then you handle the rest. How is the stove so far, Makoto?¡± Lexar turns to the other girl. ¡°Almost done.¡± Makoto says. By controlling the earth with magic, Makoto digs two big holes connected together by a tunnel 40 cm diameter. One hole has many small branches spreading out. The branches are later covered with soft wet soil and leaves above. What Makoto is making a variation of Hoang Cam stove, a stove used by the Vietnamese in the Vietnam war.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The main idea behind the design is to hide away the fire and smoke during cooking. In the Vietnam war, to conceal from the American¡¯s bombardment, the Vietnamese army constructed this kind of stove in their secret bases or while marching. Even at night the night, it was very hard to detect the fire and smoke in the stove, thus making it hard for the American to discover the army. Although it is quite troublesome to construct and normal bonfire is often more useful during camping out in the wild, Lexar still decides to teach the girls how to make it. Being able to use the fire while being chased by the enemy is an important matter. Being able to cook and have hot water in the emergency state can significantly increase the chance of survival. Not only that, since the stove is reverted back to the original state with the flame buried underground, it will leave very little trace for the enemy to follow, creating higher probability to escape. Currently, Lexar is explaining to Makoto how to cover the tract. There is a meaning in teaching this knowledge to the two girls. Surviving in the wild is no joking matter, even for those who receive the training to do so, especially so in another world where monsters may exist. Not only that, they are the ones who will face very strong enemies in the future. Lexar does not know what kind of situation they will face in the future. Never once did he imagine that they would be brought to another world. It makes him worried that the stages the magical girls fight in the future will be varied. He wants to equip them as much preparation as possible for when the situation requires. The separation with Hinami also weighs heavily on his mind. When thing happens once, it will repeat in the future. Sooner or later, either Makoto, Yuuko, or he may separate from the group by accident and have to survive by oneself. For the two girls who live comfortably in modern city, lacking the survival skill can be very fatal. Although they are strong, they can still get into many troubles that strength cannot solve such as finding direction, securing a good safe place, and maintaining themselves. Yuuko and Makoto understand this too, so they willingly listen and comply to his teaching despite the empty stomach. With the stove and meat prepared, the trio finally starts cooking and have their first meal in the other world. ¡°The taste is so bland.¡± Yuuko complains while eating the roasted rabbit leg. ¡°You will need to get used to it soon. We do not have any flavoring ingredient with us.¡± Lexar says. ¡°We worked so hard early in the morning, yet the reward is only this much.¡± Makoto makes a deep sigh as she gazes at the meat skew in her hand. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, welcome to the world. You are now set on the path to becoming a grown up. Reward sometimes does not compensate up to the effort.¡± ¡°I know. I know. But knowing that does not help me enlighten my mood a little bit.¡± Makoto stuffs the meat into her mouth. ¡°Once I get to the human town, the first thing I want to get is the flavoring. Tasty food is the only comfort in life that can help you in any situation.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope that we can at least find a road or any sign of human by the end of today. We do not have a lot of time to stay idle in the forest.¡± The cat stands up after finishing its portion. ¡°Un¡± Both girls nod. After covering up the stove with the soil, Yuuko prepares the water canteens made of bamboo while Makoto warps up the leftover meat in leaf. Their first destination is a small lake two km away from the cave. The objective is to secure the water supply for traveling before heading out to the further area. The formation is as follow: Yuuko leading the front, opening the path with her sword; Lexar is next to her, scanning the surrounding with clairvoyance; and Makoto at the rear, supporting when necessary. In less than 15 minutes, the group finally reaches their destination. However, they are still standing behind the trees, not coming out to the lake bank. Because on the river bank, a horde of about 50 green skin creatures is resting there. With the height about 50-60 cm, these green skin humanoid monsters are called goblins. As suggested by their name, they are commonly known as one of the weakest monsters in fantasy worlds. Their strength is only slightly above a normal human child, thus even a normal farmer can chase them away with their tools. If there is anything impressive about it, it is because it is quite cunning, unlike normal beasts. In Makoto¡¯s world, where fantasy genre proliferates, an avid reader can come across myriad of variation of goblins. Though they are generally described as weak monsters, they are still considered to be dangerous, especially so in story revolving around goblins. The cunning tactics that goblins use can even kill an experienced party of adventurers if they are careless. Not only that, their proliferation rate is not losing to cockroach very much. They can just spawn everywhere, and then suddenly grow into a large horde if they go by unnoticed. However, the most frightening aspect is their potential to develop. The trio does not know whether race evolution exists in this RPG world. However, if such feature exists, these weak looking monsters cannot be underestimated. In some stories, goblins can evolve to many forms such as hobgoblins, orcs, or even orges. In addition, some goblins can have their own class, giving them the ability not losing to any human class. Examples can include goblin swordsman, goblin shaman, and in extreme case, classes such as goblin champion, goblin king can exist. Although Makoto can check the goblins¡¯ status from afar with ¡°Analyze¡± skill, the group does not let their guard down even after knowing their weak stat. Lexar double checks the surrounding for any possible ambush troop or hidden trap. Yuuko stimulates in her head how to take them by surprise and quickly finish them as soon as possible, while Makoto silently thinks about something. ¡°It looks like they are really resting without scheming anything. No trap. No ambush.¡± Lexar relaxedly says. ¡°I see. Even so, we must be careful. I will quickly clean up these creatures so we can resume our journey. You guys stay at the rear and support me if there is any unexpected.¡± Yuuko readies the katana in her hand and readies to step out. ¡°Wait. Let me do it.¡± Makoto stretches her hand on Yuuko¡¯s shoulder. ¡°There is something I would like to confirm.¡± ¡°Are you sure you want to handle this?¡± Yuuko asks. Makoto silently nods. Seeing her serious face, there must be something important that she needs to know. Yuuko steps aside and leaves the way for her friend. As Makoto steps out from the hiding, the grasses make a shuffling sound as she steps on them. It seems she intends to do so. However, before the goblins can stand up and react to the sound, Makoto snaps her finger. A torrent of white air suddenly blows to the goblin horde. In only a second, the goblin figures quickly disappear in the thick white cloud. Because of how dense the white air is, everything around the goblins is covered in white. Some goblins which had their eyes wide open end up with irritation in the eyes. Unable to see anything, their only course of actions is to yell out to call their friends or run out of the smoke. However, the latter choice cannot be done. Under their feet, the water suddenly rises high and covers their ankles. The temperature at the same time also drops down quickly to the freezing point. The water surrounding the goblins¡¯ feet freezes quickly and turns into ice shackles, binding their legs. Some green skins are turned into ice statues while struggling to move. Being bound at one position while covered in a white mist, the monsters scream out in many types of emotion: despair, angry, fear, helpless, worried, terror. Some smart goblins realize these strange phenomena are results of spells, indicating that there is a human spellcaster nearby. They start making miserable whipping sounds as if they are begging for forgiveness. This is one of the few tricks that the smart goblins learn to use toward humans, as human is the only creature that significantly drops their guard when hearing this sound. If their opponent was a different creature, they would not use this trick as the other species will not show mercy to goblin no matter what. If a girl hears such diversity of emotions mixed with the whipping sound, she may flutter and hesitate to kill the goblins off. However, the master of these magic, Makoto, just walks toward the white cloud with only a straight face, unfazed by those sounds. Her walking pace is steady without any hesitation. Right in front of the white mist, Makoto comes to a stop. Her tight mouth suddenly relaxes and makes a small grin, excited by a voice in her head.
New skill obtained. Wind magic (Lv 4)
Chapter 33: The heaven sect *In a royal palace of kingdom Vahalad In a private room, a group of Japanese students are gathering around, discussing their future in the other world. ¡°Do you think that they are lying about not being able to send us back?¡± A girl voices her question. ¡°Kaname, that is highly possible. Firstly, they do not need any reason to research about sending heroes back to their own world. Secondly, the ceremony is too difficult and consumes too much resource. And there are too many problems to deal with. They ¡®d rather not waste resource on such meaningless activity.¡± A boy who has a leader aura speaks. ¡°Then, are we supposed to stay here for our whole life?¡± Kaname worries. ¡°What are you complaining about? This is the other world. The other world, you know.¡± Another guy speaks with enthusiasm ¡°It¡¯s one of the best things we can wish for. Can you imagine it? An adventure to travel across different lands, meet different races, defeat the monsters, and become heroes. It is our fate to be here. I am not being delusional here. We all receive the blessing from the goddess and have these cheat like powers. This is the most solid proof.¡± There are various responses from the student body. Some agree with him wholeheartedly; some partly agree, imagining their future life; some show disagreement, thinking about their own world; and some while not saying anything smirk mockingly at the enthusiastic guy in their heart. Hell, this guy is beyond saving. Anyone who reads story about the otherworld should know that life is not simple, even if the world they are in looks like it is still in Middle Age. While each is having their own thought, the leader guy continues the conversation. ¡°Kaito, remember that the world is not so simple. You heard it from the history of previous summoned hero. This world is much more complicated and different from the world in stories we know so far.¡± ¡°The Heaven Sect.¡± Hitomi mutters as she looks at her status plate. ¡°Martial artist¡±, a special class that is rarely seen in this world and holds a special meaning to everyone in this world. History says that the first Martial Artist was the previous summoned hero. As its name suggests, it is a job for those who practices martial art and hand-to-hand combat. However, that definition can also apply to another class called ¡°Fighter¡± in this world. In fact, most of the citizens of this world who practice martial art has this ¡°Fighter¡± class, while in a very rare chance, a person can acquire the ¡°Martial artist¡± class. Then, what makes this ¡°Martial artist¡± class different from ¡°Fighter¡±? The answer is its evolve class. Both ¡°Fighter¡± and ¡°Martial artist¡± can evolve to a higher class called ¡°Combat Master¡±, ¡°Combat Grandmaster¡±. However, only ¡°Martial artist¡± can evolve to a very special class called ¡°Cultivator¡±. Nothing is known about this class, except the fact that all of them are very strong. Rumor is that once a martial artist becomes a cultivator, he will stop being human and ascend to a higher life form. Their standing can be compared to the dragons, the most prestigious being. The dragons have even admitted that the cultivators have the same standing as them, while no saint, hero, or kings in the past received the same honor. And all these cultivators belong to the Heaven Sect. Hundred years ago, the Tristina continent was engulfed in the war between the demons and humans. It was a large scale war that spanned on several decades with both sides on equal ground. Seeking a breakthrough for the situation, the leading human country invented a ritual and successfully summoned a being from another world, a hero. The one who was summoned was a girl with a strange attire. Many records about her are lost, either disappeared along the time or twisted by the tales of people. But her most famous saying is still widely known, and affects many people even until today. ¡°With only my fists, I will reach and break through the heaven.¡± It was her vow when she accepted to fight the demon army for the human. Without relying on the Goddess blessing, she destroyed the demon army with only her fists and skills that were honed through the battle. Atypical from the story where the hero and his companions defeat the demon king together, she challenged him head on with a 1 on 1 fight and achieved victory. During her stay in the human army, she had developed a new school of fighting techniques, incorporating magic into martial arts and using the other world knowledge. The human country received enormous benefits from that as they could outmatch the demon in many ways, be it tactics, individual fighting ability, total fighting force, and country development. It was considered a golden age for the human kingdom. The cultivators were the ones who received training directly from the hero. After the war with demon, this was the point where things became complicated. True or not, the country which summoned the hero attempted to eliminate her through conspiracy. They were afraid of her power, her influence. Her existence endangered their position in the new world with the elimination of the demon countries. Her sharing the new fighting techniques with the other countries could help the them gain enough power to threaten the country¡¯s ruling title. But their plan had backfired them. After branding the hero as a demon, the cultivators who were direct students of the hero launched a Coup d''¨¦tat against all the nations in the human alliance, and formed the Heaven Sect. Though few in number, they had shown the power that was even more terrifying than the demon king. One cultivator could slaughter a one hundred thousand men army. Even in a fight between top tier forces, even gathering all the champions and saints could not even kill one low class cultivator. Never did anyone think that the cultivators the hero educated are that powerful. And more surprisingly, the hero finally demonstrated her real power, not against the demon, but the human she allied with.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. With only one skill, she leveraged the entire capital of the leading country in five seconds, and she did the same thing to the other countries who joined the conspiracy. The history of glory of many countries was decimated in only a few days, and the human regressed greatly after a short moment of rapid advancement. After eradicating all the countries that were involved, the hero and the cultivators disappeared from the world without anyone figuring out where they went. Most of the detailed records regarding the war and the cultivators also faded away along with them. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. Why is she still called the hero after doing all of that? And the conspiracy deal too. Why is it more detailed than the fight with demon?¡± Kaname asks. ¡°Because the cultivators intentionally left those records alone. They want the world to remember. That they once betrayed their teacher.¡± The leading guy says. ¡°And the reason the kingdom is so nice to us is that they do not want to repeat the same mistake in the past. They desire our power, yet be afraid of it. They are trying their best to give us good impression so that we do not intend to bite them back.¡± Hitomi says. ¡°I have to say they are making a very brave decision. They told us this story, instead of hiding from us. They could have controlled us better when doing so. With that, they have at least gained my trust. That¡¯s why we don¡¯t need to be afraid of betrayal from the king.¡± Kaito says. This time, many people nod in agreement with him. Being honest and sharing a critical information that can be detrimental to themselves show a lot of good will to the students. ¡°How should we treat those cultivators? Are they ally or enemy?¡± A student asks. ¡°Before leaving, they had declared that they would no longer interfere with the matter of this world anymore. And for hundred years, they have not appeared again. I believe that most of them have probably passed away, including the former hero.¡± The leading guy says while adjusting his glasses. ¡°But they are no longer human, right? Even the dragons accepted them as equal standing. Should they have much long lifespan as the dragons?¡± Hitomi says. ¡°That part is only a rumor. I suspect that the strength of the cultivators is pretty much exaggerated, as to make the story more impactful for people to fear. I don¡¯t think that it is possible training the whole army that each of them can even be stronger than the demon king. The one who fought all the saints and champions must have been one of the strongest cultivators. For any information about their strength, please keep in mind that they can be exaggerated.¡± Leading guy says ¡°We have deviated from the main topic quite a lot. We should concentrate on our plan on a short term first.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. Makoto is inside the white cloud that is engulfing the goblins. Even she is the master of the spell, she cannot see anything beside the white scene. However, she can feel the presence of any goblin in the cloud. As the skill ¡°Air manipulation¡± activates, Makoto can feel the flow of air she created. Wherever there is an empty space in the cloud, it is where the goblin is. She can even know correctly the distance between them, the height of each goblin, and what each goblin does. Makoto is enjoying the feeling understanding everything around her. (Amazing. What is this feeling? It feels like I can see everything even without eyes.) Makoto thinks. As she is observing the activity of the goblins, she notices some goblin grab the clubs or stones nearby, smashing the ice shackles binding them. Although Makoto is confident in the hardness of the ice, she decides to get back to her task. There are a lot of things she need to check by using these goblins. Next to her, several fireballs float around. During the construction of the stove, she absorbed the fire with her ability as fire was the common necessity in this world. Setting the targets, the fireballs fire toward the target and burn the monster. The goblins scream in pain as their skins are charred by the flame.
New skill obtained. Fire magic (Lv 3)
¡°Hm? The intensity feels wrong.¡± Displeasure shows in Makoto¡¯s face ¡°Wait. Perhap.¡± Makoto creates several fireballs next to her. However, this time she uses the skill just gained instead of her own white flame based manipulation. At the same moment, in her mind, a blue energy flow image appears in her mind. ¡°This is ¡­.. mana.¡± She mutters. The fireballs increase in size many times bigger as she infuses the mana in the spell. Their heat intensity is even greater than before. Feeling hot suddenly, Makoto quickly sends the fireballs to some goblins. And the result surprises her greatly. Without even time to scream, the targeted green skins are immediately vaporized as the fireballs pass them and shoot through the white cloud. Luckily, Makoto is aiming downward, with the spell hitting the lake and the ground before reaching the trees. Many blasts occur and the lake boils with extremely fast rate.
Skill level up. Fire magic (Lv 5)
Makoto gives a relief sigh as she realizes her mistake. If one of the fireballs hit the trees, she would cause deforestation, resulting in many more troubles. However, the situation is still heading toward the unexpected direction. With the boiling water, the ice shackles melt down, become weak enough for some high level goblins to shake free from the shackles. ¡°Tch, no choice then. Have to finish them quickly.¡± Makoto clicks her tongue. Snapping her fingers, a sudden gale sweeps through the group of goblins near her. Different from the harmless white air breeze, this wind is deadly as it is imbued with mana. With the invisible sharpness, the gale slices the goblins into pieces. The ground is filled with junks of meat like a meat processor dumping its product there. Not minding the gruesome scene, Makoto manipulates the lake water to flow toward the goblins with their feet in water. Like a snake, the water climbs on the goblins, reaches their heads and starts suffocating them.
New skill obtained. Water magic (Lv 5)
Seeming satisfied with the voice in the head, she twists her hand extending toward those goblins. The mass of water on the goblin heads also twists around like a towel being wrung, then becomes frozen into ice. With Makoto¡¯s hand clutching, the ice immediately explodes, blowing away the goblin heads.
New skill obtained. Ice magic (Lv 4)
Despite not seeing anything, the goblins are not stupid enough not to know that their friends are being massacred. They become frantic with breaking away from the shackle, mustering all the muscles they have to get away. ¡°You are not going anywhere.¡± Makoto transmits her power into the soil beneath her. However, unlike the other spells, she is using a lot of energy on the soil. The ground rumbles a bit and suddenly, sharp spikes protrude on the ground, impales all the remaining goblins without fail. The monsters give loud painful shriek because they are not killed immediately. Most of the spikes pierce through their stomachs, or chests, leaving them alive for a few moment.
New skill obtained. Earth magic (Lv3)
With all the enemies finished, Makoto disperses the white cloud away, exposing the aftermath of the one side slaughter. Chapter 34: Exp and Mana In only a few minutes, the beautiful lake side is devastated with holes and meats scattering around. The grass smell is overwhelmed by the thick smell of blood and burnt meat. A number of headless or impaled corpses litter throughout the place. Part of the lake is now dyed with blood. Even though the other side is still clean, the girls do not dare to use it to drink. ¡°I have never thought that fighting only goblins can cause this much damage to the landscape. Did you do this on purpose? ¡° Yuuko asks. ¡°Sorry. There was too much thing in my head. I forgot that we came here to fetch water.¡± Makoto sticks her tongue out in sorry. ¡°Never mind that. Makoto, you must have figured out something, right?¡± Lexar asks. ¡°Yeah, quite a lot. Look over here.¡± Makoto nods then displays the status table to everyone.
Makoto Tachibana Race Human, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 3
Strength 40 (25) Vitality 110 (80)
Resistance 30 (20) Agility 60 (30)
Magic ???? (error cannot process) Magic resistance 260 (200)
Skills
Analyze (max), Wind magic (Lv 4), Fire magic (Lv 5), Ice magic (Lv 4), Earth magic (Lv 3), (error data overflow)
¡°Let me start with the level up first.¡± Makoto points to level tab. While pointing at it, she also fiddles her fingers and a new small table appears next to it.
Exp 423
Next 577
Seeing that table, Lexar and Yuuko reflexively operates their status table to open the Exp tab, but fail to do so. ¡°It¡¯s useless. You cannot open it. Only I can do so.¡± Makoto says. ¡°Does this mean this table is actually confidential information, belonging to a deeper level of the table?¡± Lexar relates it to information access level in organizations. ¡°Correct. This table belongs to a layer deeper than the information I have told you before. As I get stronger, I can access further down the information layer. Anyway, what I am going to tell you is related to how we can become stronger in this world. Did I talk about the program fusing with our body?¡± ¡°Yeah, you talked about how by combining with our bodies, the program allows the rules of this world to be applied to us.¡± Yuuko answers. ¡°Then to another common rule in the gaming world: fight monsters, get exp, and become stronger by leveling up. As the program fuses with our bodies, it turns our bodies into special depositories.¡± Makoto creates an empty can model in mid air, with some liquid inside. ¡°Every creature in this world is a container for a special type of data. Let¡¯s call it bit. As the bit is poured inside the can, it changes its form adapting to the body and enhances it. In simple term, it is like a body eating the food, the food changing into nutrients then muscle cells, making the body stronger.¡± Makoto then points to a goblin carcass ¡°However, when a creature kills another creature, a portion of the bit belonging to the fallen escapes from the body, reverts back to the original form, then gets absorbed by the victor, and becomes a part of it. The cycle repeats.¡± Yuuko and Lexar nod in agreement with the explanation. They do not say anything as they know it is only from this point that things are going to be important. ¡°So what happens with the rest of the bit? Simple, it does not escape the body of the loser and remains in the corpse. To be specific, the gained strength still remains inside the corpse and does not change back to bit yet. Thus, the activity of harvesting the body of the monster and turning it into weapons and armors becomes meaningful.¡± Makoto continues. ¡°Wait. Then what does level up actually mean?¡± Yuuko cannot hold back from the curiosity and asks. ¡°Level up is actually a trigger. A trigger makes the depository become larger to contain more bit.¡± Yuuko says ¡°When the accumulated bit reaches the capacity of the depository, a large portion of the bit helps expand the depository, strengthen it during process.¡± This time, Yuuko and Lexar are confused. Then the only point to get stronger is to get as much bit (exp) as possible to get a level up. Why does she bother explaining it from a theory point of view?If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Seeing both people¡¯s expression, Makoto makes a smile, then asks a question ¡°What do you think the depository is made of?¡± ¡°Our bodies and the ¡­ ¡° Lexar suddenly pauses like he realizes something ¡°¡­ program.¡± ¡°Yes, and what will happen when we leave this world?¡± ¡°Either the program is still together with us or it disappears. In the latter case, our strength will be much weaker than the strength we gain from this world. In extreme case, our bodies will be damaged as the program which is part of our bodies separates from us.¡± Sweat forms on Lexar¡¯s head. ¡°Even in the former case, we will still weaken. Both the program and the bit that is supporting our bodies still need this world¡¯s rule to strengthen us. Stepping out of this world boundary, both the program and bit will become useless, and even causes damage to us.¡± Makoto follows. ¡°Then we can¡¯t simply defeat any monster that we encounter in the way. Doing so will risk us getting too much amount of bit, making a bigger potential danger when we leave this world.¡± Yuuko worriedly says. ¡°No. We can still defeat monsters normally and strengthen ourselves. There is a trick for it.¡± Makoto assures. ¡°How?¡± Both persons ask. ¡°Remember. We are different from those reincarnators and transmigators in those stories.¡± Makoto opens her palm. A white flame appears then suddenly expands and travels along her arm to the whole body. The sudden development surprises Yuuko and Lexar. They immediately jump back out of reflex, because it is not their flame so it can be harmful to their bodies. At that moment, Lexar notices something and points at Makoto¡¯s exp table. ¡°Look! The number.¡± Yuuko follows his gaze and sees an unbelievable scene. Both the exp and next number change at a drastic rate. While the exp is decreasing, the next number increases, but that¡¯s not all. When the exp reaches 0, the exp table slightly shakes and the number changes one more time. With the exp becomes 100, and the next is 0. Both number then repeats decreasing and increasing perspectively, until the exp reaches 0 again. And the cycle repeats with number 10 and 0. That change in number also affects Makoto¡¯s table.
Makoto Tachibana Race Human, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 1
Strength 46 (40) Vitality 125 (110)
Resistance 33 (30) Agility 73 (60)
Magic ???? (error cannot process) Magic resistance 280 (260)
Skills
Analyze (max), Wind magic (Lv 4), Fire magic (Lv 5), Ice magic (Lv 4), Earth magic (Lv 3), (error data overflow)
¡°My god, you are not only a cheater, but a damn hacker in this world.¡± Yuuko says in awe. ¡°Mind you that I play game fair and square.¡± Makoto retorts ¡°Anyway, there is a portion of bit used by the program, so I can only strengthen a few extra value.¡± ¡°Wait, Makoto, what was that just now? Did you just burn the exp to enhance your body?¡± Lexar hurriedly questions. ¡°Exactly. You have perhaps wondered why we always get stronger after we defeat those monsters made of black liquid. I also don¡¯t know why but I figure we also get this exp system with our own white flame, though I don¡¯t know much about it. Each time we killed a monster , the black liquid was burnt by our flame, and became part of our strength. However, such thing does not apply here though.¡± Makoto disperses the white flame on her body ¡°These goblins are real living creatures, not those vicious beings made of black liquid.¡± ¡°And to my second important discovery, the power of white flame. Follow me.¡± Makoto leads everyone to an area where there are craters. There are some burnt tracks and roasted goblins lying around. ¡°There are two types of fire here.¡± Lexar examines the scene ¡°One of which had very high degree, leaving nothing but black coals and fire in the way. While the other was surprisingly weak comparing to the other, these goblins were only burnt on the skin surface, not reaching the internal organs. This is exactly like the case with that Jerome¡¯s clone.¡± ¡°Un. In fact, when I attacked using the positive power, this was the supposed damage of my attack with the amount of energy used.¡± Makoto nods. ¡°Supposed?¡± ¡°At that time, my expectation was to completely incinerate them, assuming they had the same nature with the monsters in our world. However, the flame only displayed the intensity same as the fire in my imagination.¡± ¡°You meant the damage and effect of our attack based on positive energy is actually amplified toward the monsters made of negative energy, but not toward normal creatures?¡± ¡°Yeah, my ability can replicate the phenomenon as I imagine without any problem. However, if I want to use it as attack spell, I need to think with a stronger intensity and spend more energy , meaning a change in fighting habit.¡± Makoto says. ¡°I see. Even though I and Lexar use melee attack, we also need to take that into account. For my weapon creations, I need to imagine them with sharper edge than usual, or I cannot cut as well as I expect.¡± Yuuko understands Makoto¡¯s concern. ¡°Well, luckily enough, we don¡¯t need to be worried about exhausting our energy. Remember our magic status.¡± Makoto says. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s strange that our magic resistance is known, but magic is not.¡± ¡°Magic resistance is our body ability to resist mana and magic, while magic represents the amount and power of mana in us. The reason behind the error is that the system cannot measure the white energy inside us in term of mana. And the term mana, you all should be familiar with it. It¡¯s the energy used in fantasy world for the magic stuff.¡± ¡°Do we have mana inside us?¡± ¡°The answer is both no and yes. No, because our bodies themselves do not contain any or make any mana naturally. And yes, because we can convert the positive energy into mana.¡± Makoto extends her hand which has a small white flame on it. The white flame flutters a while before changing its color to transparent blue and expanding its size. From a small size about a ping pong ball, the blue flame grows up to the size of a soccer ball. ¡°Beautiful.¡± Yuuko mutters. ¡°Back when I first initialized the first ¡°magic¡± by creating the white cloud, the program notified me that I learned ¡°Air magic¡± skill. However, that was only its assumption, basing the analysis of our ability. When I channeled the positive energy and manifested the phenomenon of white cloud and controlled it, the program judged that I used ¡°Air magic¡±, also at the level 3 on top of that. The reason the program gave out such result because it wanted to reduce the burden it needs to spend on analyzing us. Thanks to it, I was able to obtain these Magic skill without having to learn them. The moment when I learned these skills, information about them was transmitted inside my head, gaining me knowledge about magic as well as mana. I¡¯d like to explain how the skill works too, but it is quite a complicated topic, involving the information in deeper layer, so I will leave it to another time. Anyway, as I learned about mana, I was able to gasp what it is. I unconsciously turned the white fame into mana, and used the same attack. The result is the track you see there. The goblins along the way were incinerated into ashes in fraction of second.¡± ¡°Is the expansion in size of the blue flame related to how tremendous difference between two attack?¡± ¡°Correct. Although the measurement may be incorrect, one positive energy can be converted to ten times the amount of mana for replicating the same phenomenon. The contribution of the skill also affects the rate though.¡± ¡°How can we use mana? We don¡¯t have the ability to analyze and understand thing same as you.¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Mana is public information, not hidden in the deep layer of program. When you perform a skill using positive energy, the program will register for you a skill and through that, you can know about mana and how to create it. The next time monster appears, you two should fight to gain some skills and exp.¡± Chapter 35: Encounter with the goblin riders After the first fight in another world, the trio continue their journey to the human settlement. Luckily, with the ice magic available, cool icy water is now available for free to the whole group. Even so, Makoto was not satisfied with it and performed another experiment. In order to get the water magic skill, Makoto manipulated the blood mixed lake, using a large amount of energy, but the result was not so satisfying. It seems that there is a rule for her manipulation ability to be recognized as a skill in the program, and that is to use it in combat and kill the enemy. Makoto did use the water as a medium to create ice binding the enemy, however she did not kill the goblins with waater. This hypothesis was later confirmed by drowning a separated goblin not faraway. Makoto assumes that part of information to recognize the skill is only transferred to the body when there is bit from the killed enemy. Using the ability in daily activity does not trigger this situation. That¡¯s why the group do not hurry to human settlement, but find a group of monsters first. It is unknown when they can find any human so the first priority now is to strengthen themselves. Now, learning the way to become stronger permanently, both Lexar and Yuuko are excited to have this level up feeling and obtain the new skills belonging to this world. Makoto, in her mind, also has many other ideas and experiments she¡¯d like to try too. "It''s strange." Lexar says. "What is strange?" Yuuko asks. "I don''t know whether it''s the goblin''s habit in this world or not. It''s strange for such a large amount of goblins to gather together like that." Lexar says. "Now that you think about it? The number is too big for a random group of wild monsters." Yuuko nods. "Judging from how they set camp, they certainly have some intelligence. They know how to put up simple tents, have weapons, rusted though, organize simple formation, and have guards on look out. That shows they are not simply a bunch of goblins." Lexar analyzes "I am afraid of the possibility that they are part of a very large organization." Hearing that, Makoto stops her current line of thinking, shifts to a new idea "Lexar, can you locate any goblin nearby?" "Let me try for a moment ..... Wait! I think that we have a problem." Through clairvoyance, Lexar sees a group of 5 goblins approaching the camp they have destroyed. However, different from the shabby equipments of the ones they defeated, this group have more decent equipments, with iron helmets, leather armors, and iron swords and spears. Each of them is riding a wolf, travelling with high speed. More importantly, the one leading is holding a flag with strange insigna on it. "Goblin riders! And they appears to belong to an army." Lexar says. "That''s even better. Let''s head back to the lake. You and Yuuko also need to gather some exp. Remember to spare one alive for me." Makoto immediately suggests. Agreeing , two girls and one cat turn back and return to where the goblin riders are heading. Though their speed is not fast as the wolves, they can still travel quickly in the forest if they want to. Using wind magic, Makoto gives a speed boost on everyone while flying above the ground. In less than 5 minutes, they travel back the same distance as they take 30 minute to work, facing the goblin riders who just arrive at the lake. "######? ######? (Human!? All troops, prepare to engage.)" The goblin holding the flag says some incomprehensible language to everyone, except Yuuko. "Careful! They are five time stronger than the normal goblins and the level is much higher too, especially the one with the flag." Makoto warns as she analyzes them. "That''s more like it. I am not interested in bullying too weak small fries. Lexar, you take the other four. I will take the one with flag." Yuuko says with excitement. "Don''t get too excited." Lexar reminds as he also charges forward. Different from the wild goblins, the goblin riders are well trained and show composed manner. They do not charge on carelessly, but stick in formation with some distance appart. They are probably wary of the magic caster, Makoto who can perform area attack, based on the traces of the damage. Holding the spear that is five time his height, the leading goblin spins it around while pushing his wolf to run forward. When Yuuko is in the range, he uses the inerta from the spin and swings the spear downward. In his hands, mana is channeled to enhance his muscle strength. This is one of his strongest techniques. With his riding partner, this attack had successfully killed a few orcs which were much stronger than him. *Clash* Weapons clash as Yuuko parries the spear with her sword. The force is nothing for her, but Yuuko is quite surprised with the technique the goblin showed. Failing the first attack, the goblin does not flatter but continue to attack.The thrusts and swings come rapidly, with the charge speed of the wolf, manage to display the speed and power impossible for a goblin, pushing Yuuko to continue defending. On the other side, Lexar seems to take it easy. With a small build and extreme speed, the cat jumps on from one wolf head to the other nimbly while tearings the goblin''s neck with his elongated sharp claws. In a few second, the four riders fall off the wolf one after another, leaving only the wolves to deal with. The leading goblin, however, does not pay any heed to his subordinates, and continues to attack Yuuko. Charging pass Yuuko, the wolf suddenly makes a 180 degree sudden turn, and aims its jaw at Yuuko''s leg, while the goblin attacks with the spear.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Yuuko dodges sideway, evading the wolf, then strikes its rider with a slash. But the goblin does something unexpected. Feinting blocking with the spear for a split second, he slides down while still hugging on the wolf stomach with two legs, dodging Yuuko''s sword while getting close to her at the same time. The goblin unsheathes the dagger in his armor quickly, then stabs Yuuko from low angle. But his opponent is not a simple girl. While retracting the sword, she shifts the handle at the dagger and hits it hard, dragging the goblin along. The goblin falls down from the wolf after losing his balance. The wolf tries to turn back to rescue the rider, but a katana instantly flashes and the head separates the body. "### (NO!)" The goblin shouts frustratedly at his partner death. The wolf is the pride of his standing in society, the proof of his power in the army. Losing it means losing half of his life. He glares angrily at Yuuko and tries to stand up, but ends up getting stomp on the back and pinned on the ground. No matter how much he struggles, he cannot lift himself up. With Yuuko''s strength, she can even squash him with a stomp like a cockroach, but she did not do so. Because she figures that Makoto needs one alive as source of information, thus the leading one is sure to be the most knowledgeable. That''s also why Lexar killed the other four goblins without hesitation. Yuuko''s exp source can be replaced with the wolves. While standing on the goblin, Yuuko materializes a bow in her hand. It is a bow with slight intricate design with red color and fire as a theme. As the string is stretched with a pointed iron head arrow, Yuuko channels the arrow with positive energy and shoots it. The arrow makes a soft boom sound as it travels in the air. A hole with the size of ping pong ball appears on the targeted wolf, and through the hole, one can see the tail of an arrow sticking on the ground.
New skill obtained. Archery (Lv 3)
New skill obtained. Enhanced strength (Lv 4)
New skill obtained. Precision (Lv 5)
New skill obtained. Penetration (Lv 4)
Seeing the situation, the wolves do not have any courage or desire to revenge left, and turn to flee to the woods. Yuuko, this time, takes out 3 arrows and loads them on the bow at the same time. In place of the pointed iron head last time, these three arrows have four razor edged blade heads. When the arrows leave the bow, they make three different curves, moving in different directions, each aiming at a different wolf. And the result is three junks of scattered meat. Compared to the previous attack, these arrows are much more violent, moving like three cyclones on the way. When they contact the wolf bodes, the arrows turn into blender machines, splatter the meat all over the place. The only intact parts are the heads and the foots.
Skill level up. Archery (Lv 7)
¡°Not so bad.¡± Yuuko mutters. Seeing how terrifying the girl stepping on him is, the goblin is now dead silent. The only thing he is hopping for is not to upset these girls and make them kill him. ¡°Good work, you two. How¡¯s the harvest?¡± Makoto comes over. ¡°One level and three skills.¡± Lexar says. ¡°I also level up once and get three skills.¡± Yuuko adds more force on her foot ¡°Makoto, are you going to extract information from this thing?¡± ¡°Yeah, I have an idea how to do so, but I am not sure it will work. I should have asked to leave all of them alive, so that we could experiment all ideas.¡± Makoto is troubled. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, may I try it first?¡± Yuuko then turns to the goblin underneath ¡°#######? (Can you understand me?)¡± She speaks in an incomprehensible language. Everyone, including the goblin, is shocked at Yuuko¡¯s voice. They cannot believe that such strange voice is possible for a human. ¡°#########? (Impossible, how can a human know how to speak the Demonica Language?)¡± The goblin trembles as he speaks ¡°##### (Don¡¯t tell me you are the legendary cultivator?)¡± ¡°Cultivator? Do you have any idea what it is?¡± Yuuko turns to Lexar and Makoto. ¡°Cultivator is a term for the people who train martial art or mystical art, in order to achieve immortality and ascend to become a god. They often appear in Chinese fantasy novels.¡± Lexar explains. ¡°I am not familiar with Chinese novels. Are they strong?¡± Makoto questions. ¡°To be exact, it depends.¡± Lexar shows a worried expression ¡°But I can say that they are very strong. In extreme case, a cultivator may have the ability to destroy the whole world, and there can be endless number of them. A lot of worlds in Chinese novels are very dangerous. If there are cultivators in this world, I think that we are going to have a difficult time just to survive.¡± ¡°That serious?¡± Makoto senses the gravity of the situation. ¡°The world of cultivators is very harsh. It¡¯s purely the world where the strong rule over the weak. A fight until death is not simply as the losers only end up dead. Their souls will also be destroyed, without even having a chance for reincarnation or revival.¡± Lexar explains ¡°Yuuko, get more information about the cultivator. We need to know about the strength of people in this world so that we can adjust our plan.¡± ¡°###### (If you don¡¯t want to die, tell me more information about these cultivators.)¡± Yuuko presses the blade against the goblin¡¯s neck. After ten minutes of interrogation, the trio learn about the story of the previous war between the summoned hero and the demon, and how she destroyed the human countries she fought for. ¡°What do you think about it?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°One good thing is that cultivation is not the mainstream of this world. However, that does not mean we can let our guard down. The power of top tier in this world can be very crazy. Let¡¯s hope that we will not encounter any of these cultivator on our journey to find the way home.¡± Lexar says ¡°However, to think that an RPG world did manage to summon a cultivator as a hero. I feel bad for the countries which summoned her.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, the Heaven Sect is highly to possess the technique to summon the people from another world. The summoned hero did destroy the countries which summoned her after all. The same technique does not pass down to the current human countries anymore.¡± Makoto says. ¡°Yeah, you are right. It is very likely that meeting them is the key to solve our problem. And if they are exactly what I imagine, they are probably still alive until now. Depending on our stance toward the human countries in this world, it will affect our position with the cultivators.¡± Lexar says. ¡°Why did that goblin think you are cultivator, Yuuko?¡± Makoto asks. ¡°Because I can speak and understand this Demonica language. This is possible due to my max Lv Language Comprehension skill. However, this goblin does not think like that. The human of this world, no matter what, cannot learn this Demonica language. If they try to learn it, the knowledge will corrupt their minds, slowly turning them into demons as their understanding increases. Learning Demonica is a taboo for the human. Only the cultivators who surpass human can learn this language without problem.¡± Yuuko answers. ¡°Now that I think about it. Why is it that only you have the Language Comprehension skill, but we do not? Is it because of the katana?¡± Makoto asks. The image of the Yuuko¡¯s katana flashing before the explosion and transporting them to this world is still vivid in her mind. ¡°Un¡± Yuuko nods ¡°I am not sure what happens, but I can sense a nostalgic feeling from the katana. It seems to tell me that it had already been here before.¡± ¡°Does that mean the other you had also been here before?¡± A thought comes to Lexar¡¯s mind. After sharing with the girls, he came to know that the way he awoke their power is to have them converse with their other selves. Chapter 36: The goblins plan ¡°Then who am I?¡± Yuuko grips her sword tightly as she wonders about her identity. ¡°You are Yuuko Kurosawa, daughter of the Kurosawa dojo master, a 16 year old Japanese girl. You have been in Japan forever since we knew each other. That much I can guarantee.¡± Makoto says ¡°The problem is not with your identity, but Lexar¡¯s power. His power let us meet the other us that we have no knowledge of, yet we know for sure that they are us. If you are starting to question, you must start from there first.¡± Lexar stays silent at Makoto¡¯s thought. He realizes that he is somehow irresponsible, not knowing anything about his power. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Lexar. We don¡¯t blame you for giving this power. Although there is mystery around it, we know that the power you gave us is not harmful. If it had not been for this power, we would have died back at our school. In fact, we are grateful for it. Anyway, we can take time to think about it later. Right now, we should focus on the situation at hand.¡± Makoto turns to Yuuko ¡°Yuuko, make the goblin spill out what they are trying to do here.¡± ¡°#######? (What are you trying to do by gathering such a large number here?)¡± Yuuko interrogates the goblin. The goblin¡¯s attitude this time is much calmer than a moment ago. He does not understand what the humans are saying, but he knows that they are not the rumored cultivators. There is one thing that the goblin purposely hid in the story he told them, and that was cultivators possessing the ability to torture the soul. Judging from the human¡¯s attitude, it seemed that it was the first time they heard the story. Seeing how unknowledgeable they are with common sense, he thinks that they are just a couple of stupid girls with strong power. A plan formulates in his mind as he tries to think how to escape. (Curse humans! I am going to make you regret for messing with me. I will personally rape you girls and make you give birth for me, the mighty goblins! And that cat, I will cut him into pieces and eat him until nothing remains.) The goblin fantasizes in his mind as he imagines when his plan succeeds. ¡°######## (We have just raided a few villages the other day. We are going to hold a feast enjoying the whores we captured along with the food today. These guys here heard the news and wanted to join us, but those who did nothing deserved shit. We are responsible for chasing them away.)¡± The goblin says. Killing intent emits from Yuuko as she presses the blade on the goblin¡¯s neck ¡°##### (Where are they?)¡± Yes, the goblin mutters in his mind. His gamble is successful. He risks making them angry, but they are not going to kill him. Because they need to save the women they capture. Human is such creature. They always care about their own race, especially the females. ¡°######## (In our nest)¡± The goblin replies. ¡°###### (Which direction?)¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°####### (First, you pass through the old stinky bear¡¯s shitting area. Then travel pass through the spring at the part where the kobolds usually pee. Crossing our hunting area is the our nest).¡± The goblin timidly spits out the location of its nest. ¡°######## (Are you messing with me? What¡¯s with that direction?)¡± Yuuko is angry. ¡°########## (That¡¯s true. Please believe me. We goblins use the smell to mark the place we need to travel.)¡± The poor goblin shrieks out. Yuuko relays her conversation to everyone else. Makoto is disturbed with the information, while Lexar stares at the goblin with suspicion. ¡°There is something wrong with this goblin. It is definitely up to something.¡± Lexar immediately points out the problem. In the past life, he had experience with being interrogated and interrogation. The goblin faked the misery quite well, but Lexar noticed the subtle change in the behavior. A sense of calmness can be sensed from its voice. ¡°I also think so. But we definitely cannot leave those women alone. I don¡¯t think he is lying at this part.¡± Yuuko shows her concern. ¡°I think it is time for my new experiment then.¡± Makoto approaches the goblin. Positive energy is gathering in her palm. A sense of danger approaches the goblin. It does not know what happened but things are definitely not going as planned. It struggles violently in order to shake Yuuko¡¯s leg off. In response, Yuuko increases the pressure beneath, crushing its shoulder bones. A painful scream comes but the goblin does not stop thrashing around violently. A hot wave approaches its face as Makoto¡¯s hand extends on its head. The goblin grabs that hand on fire, trying to push it away, but to no avail. Even if Makoto¡¯s forte is not physical ability, her current strength is not something a mere goblin can push away.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. A gentle white flame starts spreading through the goblin¡¯s body from Makoto¡¯s hand. The goblin does not feel any burning or pain from the flame, but it knows that the flame is very bad for it. And this is confirmed as the strength in its arms slowly weakens. The goblin swears that it is mustering all the power in its muscle, but the usual strength from it is no longer there. It¡¯s not only the arm, but the whole body, every part of it is weakening. The trauma has come back to it, the trauma of being a skinny low level goblin which was forced all kind of abuses from the others. ¡°####### (NO! STOP IT! PLEASE, DON¡¯T TAKE AWAY MY STRENGTH!)¡± The goblin begs for mercy. However, the perpetrator, Makoto, does not stop but increase the intensity of the flame. From being excited trying new experiment, Makoto¡¯s expression gradually becomes cold, and a hidden fury is building up inside her. With all the strength from leveling up consumed, the flame starts eroding the goblin¡¯s mind and memory. Questions start forming in its head: why are there two girls in front of it, what is it doing here, why is it here, and who is it. The last question is its last thought as the mind of a goblin captain disappears. ¡°Sorry Yuuko, for stealing your precious exp.¡± Makoto stands up and apologizes to Yuuko. ¡°Nevermind. It¡¯s only a goblin. What happened? You suddenly made a very scary face.¡± Yuuko says. Makoto proceeds to a nearby rock and sits on it. Her face shows painful expression as she squints her eyes and massages the temple. After shaking her head a bit, she then extracts a strange sphere of white light from the left side of her head. Different from the program ¡°ball¡±, this ball is much smaller in size and does not have any mysterious feeling about it. Rather than calling it ball, it is like a bunch of mixed up strings tied together, and has this ¡°low class¡± feeling. If comparing with the program ¡°ball¡± as a shiny metal alloy, this new ball here is like a rusted iron mass. Makoto¡¯s expression becomes better as she takes the new ball out of her body. Smile returns on her face again and asks. ¡°What do you think this thing is?¡± ¡°Let me guess, judging from how the goblin weakened, you probably burned the exp in its body, making it downgrade rapidly. However, the flame did not limit to that. You have probably done something to the mind, causing it to enter the vegetative stage.¡± Lexar gives his thought. ¡°Very good answer. That¡¯s how the story went on the outside.¡± Makoto pats on Lexar¡¯s head ¡°So let us get to another important topic: how the bit interacts with, the monster case¡­.¡± ¡°Sorry for interrupting, but you should tell us the most urgent thing first. What did you find after killing him?¡± Yuuko interjects Makoto while pointing at the empty eye goblin. Makoto face slightly darkens as she recollects what she learned at first. After wondering for a while, she decides to talk. ¡°To sum up, aside from stealing the bit from the goblin, I also extracted its thought and memory. It is this thing.¡± Makoto presents the white ball in her hand ¡°There are a lot of memory and information, even from a low class monster like goblin. As you can see, it is all jumbled, and I could not read the majority of it. Luckily, I was able to read the most recent memory.¡± The goblin¡¯s plan is quite straight forward. Everything it told them was the truth, about how the goblins raided villages, capturing many women, holding a feast and the direction to their nest. However, vital details were omitted. The scale of the goblin army is massive, as there are more than 5000 goblins doing the raids on the villages, and their targets were not only a handful, but many villages and towns. The number of casualty on the human side was massive, as well the number of captured women. In the goblin army, aside from the normal wild ones which occupy more than half of the army, there are many goblins which evolve or have classes. Their variety ranges from basic class such as mage goblin, archer goblin, warrior goblin, to very high class such as devil goblin, goblin commander, goblin champion. On top of those beings is a creature called goblin king. Under the effect of the goblin king, the goblins are able to unity together and act as an army. Not only that, their growth accelerated with the king¡¯s gift, granting its underlings quick level up and ease to obtain a class or evolve. The goblin riders Makoto group defeated were a bunch very close to evolve to goblin knights, but sadly they now do not have that chance anymore. The path the goblin rider told does lead to their nests, but it is the path specifically aimed toward adventurers, a job that is usual in the fantasy world. Void of monsters, but full of goblin¡¯s trace, this path was designed to lead the adventurers into their ambush points. Beneath the ground is a special tunnel system that allows the goblins both to hide underground and set up a sudden attack on the surface. This place also serves a training ground for the goblins as they will lure adventurers or strong monsters into this place and attack them. By inciting Yuuko¡¯s anger, and with its confusing direction, Makoto group would have no choice but to make the goblin lead the way. While moving, the goblin would make the signal to call for its friend and prepare for an ambush. Even though the two girls and one cat are strong, they would be no match for a whole army that already prepared a trap for them. ¡°The reason why I am angry is because I saw its imagining us being violated, while Lexar being eaten alive, along with the memory of raiding a village. The goblins killed, sabotaged, ate the children, and raped the women.¡± Makoto tightens her fists as she says. ¡°Then why did you not say it straight away, instead of smiling and going on about this discovery? Makoto, what is wrong with you?¡± Yuuko angrily shouts at Makoto. Makoto stays silent for a while then starts speaking ¡°What use is knowing it immediately? In fact, even if we come right away to rescue those women, it¡¯s already too late. Not only that, how are we going to take care of that 5000 goblin army? With only three of us? With our current ability?¡± Her voice is low but still carrying impact ¡°That¡¯s why I want to start with my discovery first. For us to get stronger, for you to calm down first and forget the issue.¡± ¡°Sorry, Makoto. I was too hot headed. I did not think about it much.¡± Yuuko deeply bows to apologize. ¡°No, it is also on my side, too.¡± Makoto¡¯s gaze casts down ¡°It¡¯s probably me, but perhaps I do not consider those people as the same human as us.¡± Chapter 37: Soul (I) "Not considering them as human? What do you mean?¡± Lexar asks with a worried voice. ¡°Same human as us, I insist. The people in this world is called ¡°Human¡±, sure. But at the same time, they are a different sort of human from us, a different kind of creatures from us.¡± Makoto corrects. Yuuko opens her mouth trying to say something, but then stops and looks at Makoto with a complicated feeling. ¡°But probably I am trying to make this complicated on purpose. I mean, even if they are not the same human as us, they are still humans. Is it okay to leave them alone like that? There is also a benefit for saving them." Makoto questions herself again "But then why should we care about them? Even if they are called humans, they are just complete strangers to us, the outsiders. There is no business between us and them.¡± Makoto scratches her head agitatedly ¡°Argh, what am I even trying to say?¡±. ¡°So you also want to help those captured out but your mind argues that you should not do it, and the inclination not to go is stronger, which makes you want to find more excuses to cover for your guilty feeling. Is it correct?¡± Lexar says. Makoto turns to Lexar with a surprised look then makes a smile ¡°Hahaha, as expected of my cat, you really understand me quite well.¡± Then her smile becomes awkward ¡°You are right. It¡¯s probably just me trying to find excuses not to go and save people. I am a really selfish person, am I? Not saving people in help, but staying here making excuse not to save them¡± ¡°You are wrong, Makoto.¡± Lexar jumps on Makoto¡¯s lap and looks at her eyes directly ¡°It¡¯s not being selfish, but getting the priority correct. Our first priority is to survive and get back to our world. There is Hinami, your friends, your family, and your home over there. You all have done many courageous and great deeds, and saved so many people, back there at school, at the hospital. Even in this strange different world, you girls are still thinking about other people before yourselves. You are already kinder than most of the people out there. Don¡¯t call yourself being selfish.¡± Makoto slightly blushes for being praised so straightforwardly like that. She immediately hugs the cat and rubs his head. ¡°What a cheesy cat. Your owner is not some weak girls in the manga that easily get touched just being complimented.¡± She presses her chin on his forehead ¡°But thank you. Even I know myself that much, it feels much more comfortable by hearing it from someone else¡± ¡°Makoto, he was a human before, you know. And probably a guy, too.¡± Yuuko teases at their intimate act. ¡°Whatever he is. His human identity is already dead, and now he is a cat. It¡¯s not like I or you care about the gender of such cute pet.¡± Makoto says while happily pressing the cat on her chest. Even though he enjoys the soft feeling of a girl¡¯s chest, Lexar still gets off from her arms and says with a concerned voice ¡°I think reading the memory of the goblin caused some impact on you. Let us find a place to rest, calm down and think about this together. You are putting too many things inside your head. Try to slow down and share it to everyone. That way you don¡¯t have to burden yourself too much with the thinking.¡± Makoto has done too much mind draining tasks today: from analyzing the system, investigating the secret of the world, to thinking up new ideas, reading the goblin¡¯s memory. Those are very exhaustive works that can bring madness to anyone. It¡¯s actually very amazing how Makoto can perform so many tasks in her head at the same time, but she is still a teenager girl, and there is a limit of overworking. After learning from the memory that the nearest human settlement more than 50 kilometers away, the trio decides to make a camping site far away from the lake. The blood from the battle will attract the wild animals or monsters, so it¡¯s the best to stay out of that place. Near the campfire, the two girls both hold a bowl of rabbit and potato soup each. The taste is now much better than the breakfast thanks to the ingredients taken from the goblin riders. It is no doubt that goblin is a very intelligent species in this world as they also have developed a culture of using spice. ¡°Let us start with how the bit affects the monster. So far, we have learnt that the bit is a body component that enhances the strength of every being in this world, right?¡± Makoto gets into professor mode while holding the bowl.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. With everyone¡¯s nodd, she continues her lesson ¡°So question time. What is the basic level for a new born creature in this world?¡± ¡°Should it be level 1? Considering that¡¯s the level we started in this world.¡± Yuuko answers. ¡°Un. That¡¯s partly correct. The right answer is level pseudo 1, or level 0.5 for easy reference.¡± Makoto comments. ¡°Level 0.5?¡± ¡°Different from us who are not the native citizen of this world and only have the body modified, the beings here are all born with the program. In other words, both the body and ¡°soul¡±, I guess, are one with the program.¡± ¡°That soul part must be emphasized on purpose.¡± ¡°Because the ¡°soul¡± in this world and our world are completely different in nature. In addition, I am not an expert on the soul field, so I don¡¯t have a suitable term to replace it.¡± Makoto takes out the goblin memory again ¡°What do you think this really is?¡± ¡°You mean this is not simply memory, but a soul?¡± Yuuko is shocked by the content of conversation. ¡°Correct. This is what I refer to as the ¡°soul¡± in this world. Can you see how simple this is?¡± Makoto says while fidgeting around with the ¡°soul¡±. ¡°I have no idea how you can refer such mysterious thing as simple? I don¡¯t know how a soul really looks like, and now you tell me to judge how simple it is. This is too much of a hurdle.¡± Yuuko holds both her hands up to signal a give up. In contrast, Lexar stares at the ¡°soul¡± intensely. With the potential eye, he had observed many lights in the people¡¯s heart. He has no idea what it is, but it is definitely related to soul. Comparing to this tiny jumble strings of white, the light in the heart of people¡¯s heart in Makoto¡¯s world is much more grandiose and have more presence. Perhaps it is because this is a soul of a low class monster that it looks like that. However, Lexar has a feeling that even if it is the soul of human or high class monster from this world, it will not give him the same feeling with the heart of people¡¯s heart in Makoto¡¯s world. Thinking back about the battle, Lexar used the potential eye to see the creatures of this world, including the goblins. There was no heart light seen anywhere, nor positive and negative energy. At first, he dismissed it as something normal as he also could not see the light in animals in the previous world. However, after understanding how smart the goblins in this world is, they can be classified as a race with intelligence. Though it is just only a speculation, their soul can have the same potential as human, and for a small chance, they should also contain the light in their heart. Lexar shakes his head to dismiss the idea. It is ridiculous to compare a human and a goblin together. A human is different from monster. Their souls should not even have the same nature in the first place. ¡°There is one simple way to know about our souls. Try to remember the 1st time when we conversed with ourselves.¡± Makoto suggests to Yuuko and also does it. A museum full of breaking through inventions in human history. A dojo turning into a workshop for a sacrifice ritual to make a weapon. The image of those room appears vividly in the two girls¡¯ mind. ¡°Now, try to imagine yourself being in that place again.¡± Makoto says. As Yuuko concentrates, a sense of dizziness approaches and her consciousness starts drifting away. When Yuuko opens her eyes again, she finds herself being a familiar Japanese dojo, the same one as the one she was when she first awoke her power. This time, without any urgency to come back to real life, she finally has a chance tp look around and have feelng about everything here. Wooden floor is cleanly polished without a speck of dust, despite lack of human presence. Wall is painted with a light green color, giving a feeling of harmony with nature. There is no light source in the room, but it is still lit brightly under white light. At the end of the dojo, there stands a red blood color samurai armor sitting on the chair. Next to it is a stand for the katana. Seeing the armor, Yuuko checks her attire again and notices that she is now wearing a white dougi with blue hakama. It is not her family¡¯s dougi uniform, but she strangely feels it more pleasant than her usual one. Approaching the armor, Yuuko notices that there is more added to it than what she knows. There are some extra gadgets that fit tightly on the armor, but they only appear as blue air models instead of concrete things. For example, under the helmet, there is an oni mask but Yuuko¡¯s hand passes through into the armor when trying to grab it. On the other hand, the katana does not show anything extraordinary. No, if there is anything unordinary, it is that the presence of her other self is not in there anymore. Panicked, Yuuko tries to search around the room, but does not find anything else. A strange sense of emptiness fills her heart as she notices how empty the room is. This room, this dojo is not supposed to be empty like this. Yuuko runs to the door and checks outside, and the new scenery stuns her immediately. Supporting a dojo is a grey white stone platform floating in mid air. Connecting to it is a very long stone stair that seems to extend endlessly to the horizon. Aside from those two, everything else is an empty dark blue space. Looking down from the platform, Yuuko does not detect any ground area, just like a bottomless pit. ¡°Yuuko, it is time to return to the real world.¡± Makoto¡¯s voice reaches Yuuko¡¯s ears. A feeling of dizziness comes again and Yuuko finds herself next to the campfire in the forest. ¡°See how much of a difference it is?¡± Makoto says ¡°Our souls are not just simply spiritual presences that contain the character, memory, knowledge, and so on, but entirely different worlds that contain every thing about us. And this is all possible thanks to Lexar''s power.¡± Chapter 38: Soul (II) ¡°My power?¡± Lexar is taken by surprise when Makoto mentions him in the conversation about their souls. Makoto nods at his word ¡°You may not know it, but your power is greater than you imagine. I had theorized that your power may be connected to awakening the people¡¯s inner self or desire. However, I was proven wrong, your power not only can modify a person¡¯s soul, but also connect that soul to an entire different universe. That¡¯s where the source of our power is. And more importantly, it¡¯s not some random universe, but one belonging to another person that has some kind of bond with us. That¡¯s why our other selves can both be us, yet different from us in many ways.¡± ¡°So what you mean is ¡­?¡± Yuuko is confused. ¡°There is one scenario I can think of that fits our situation. Our souls are connected to a differentself in a different world, which explains how they are us yet also not us.¡± Makoto answers. ¡°But how is that possible? How can there be two of me in two different worlds not related to each other?¡± ¡°To be honest, I am also not sure what I am saying is correct. What I am doing is like connecting the separate puzzle pieces into a picture. Whether the picture is correct or not is unknown, but at least we can learn something from it. Back to the topic, let us propose for example, the butterfly effect is real and creates multiple worlds parallel with ours, all branching from a single event in history. What do you think what would have happened if Lexar had not been there at that school? For simplicity, I shall assume two cases: one where we survive without any power and one where we survive with a different power. So starting from this event, we have two Makotos and they are definitely the same person. However, because of undergoing different circumstances, their lives will be completely different as well their personalities and power.¡± Yuuko nods, showing her understanding the topic ¡°I see. So the me in this sword is actually from a different world, and she had definitely been here before. That¡¯s why I have this language skill and this nostalgic feeling when we first came here, and it¡¯s also probably the reason why we were moved here when my sword shone during the explosion. But I still don¡¯t understand. What is the universe that connects with our soul? There is basically nothing there.¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°About that, I don¡¯t know much but there is something there. It¡¯s just that we can¡¯t figure it out at the moment.¡± Makoto assures ¡°It is what my hunch told me.¡± ¡°Sorry, even though it is my power, I do not know anything about it at all. I cannot even go to my own soul world to get a look at it.¡± The cat ears hang down. ¡°It¡¯s ok, Lexar. You have already done a lot for us with your support skill. By the way, we have strayed a lot from the original topic. Let¡¯s resume on the level 0.5 subject.¡± Makoto claps her hands after she pats the cat. ¡°Let us start from how a life is born in this world. I will skip the biological aspect and go straight to the main point.As you know already, a life is composed of two parts: the soul and the body. In this RPG world, both components have the program inside them, however the content of the program in each component is different. During the initial stage of life, the body, or the embryo, is created from the flesh of the mother and a portion of the bit from her as well. At this stage, it is still not considered as a complete life yet, because in that embryo, there is no consciousness inside, no thinking, no soul. Tt is basically an empty shell, created by the mother. So where does the soul come from? The answer is from the system.¡± Makoto channels the positive power in the ¡°soul¡± in her hand. The white string starts coming off and disappearing little by little. When all the tangled strings are gone, the remaining is a tiny black seed as small as a watermelon seed.
Seed of soul
The core of soul of all living being. Implanted in the living creature, it will grow into soul for that creature.
¡°This is ¡­¡± Lexar is stunned at the sudden table. ¡°When the shell is more than 50% completed, the system sends this thing inside and lets it develop into the soul of that life. Depending on the structure of that body, it will develop into the soul with the suitable structure of that race. This is the identity of all the creatures in this world.¡± Makoto says.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°So this is why you keep saying how we and the human of this world are not the same species. Because the core of their soul is the same as every creature in this world.¡± Lexar says with amazement ¡°But I have a problem. A soul is a complicated structure, and it must be vital in this world¡¯s structure. How can you know so much about it so early?¡± Lexar asks. The knowledge about soul in this world must be only known recently, after Makoto killed that goblin rider pack¡¯s leader. It is impossible for Makoto to get strong to the point of getting access to the information about the soul with that amount of exp. ¡°You may not believe it, but the information of the soul in this world is quite low, low to the point that it is just slightly more protected than the exp.¡± Makoto also says in disbelief. ¡°I guess there is no point in me saying, but I must say it. You girls absolutely have to be careful in this world, especially with anything related to undead, soul, or cultivators. If the information about the soul is only low level, perhaps the power of this world may be quite developed in soul manipulation. I don¡¯t know how soul related stuffs work like , but anything related with them is a very dangerous topic. If you are going to meet the native citizens of this world, you must absolutely keep this a secret too, either they know about it or not. You girls definitely don¡¯t want to be noticed or assassinated with high priority. Especially you, Makoto, do not perform any of those soul cracking techniques anymore, you do not know whether there are people watching you in the dark.¡± Lexar severely warns. ¡°Un, I will take that to heart.¡± Makoto strongly nods. ¡°I can see how different between us and the humans in this world. However so, I still don¡¯t get what makes you feel so differentiated from them.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to describe this feeling, but it feels like to me, they are lacking certain things that make them a living being. You know, like the characters in games or stories, even if they have their own lives and characters, even if they are human, your mind always tells you that they are not real. It¡¯s the same feeling with me here.¡± Makoto honestly says. ¡°You have changed. You have changed a lot, Makoto. I almost could not believe that you are the Makoto Tachibana that I have ever known.¡± Yuuko says with agitated expression. ¡°And so as you, Yuuko. You have become more talkative, more open to everyone, and willing to speak out what your belief is. I prefer the current you to the old one.¡± Makoto says ¡°We have changed, Yuuko. The impact of the different us has changed our personality. Even if we can accept it naturally, it is still undeniable that we change quite abruptly. Even in our attitude toward things and life.¡± Yuuko stays silent at her friend¡¯s words. Makoto is right, even she herself has changed a lot too. However, she thinks it is a good change, as it helps her think many more things more clearly, clearing the doubts that she once had in the past, and be more open. She thinks that it will be a good change to Makoto, too. And it is really so, the change makes Makoto a smarter person. However, it also makes Makoto kind of a cold person. To be precise, she is more calculating before. Every of her action has a meaning or purpose behind it. To the other people, the discussion about the soul of this world seems like an exchange of important information between friends. However, Yuuko can feel a hidden intention from Makoto. She is planning something big with that knowledge. She does not want to believe it, but Makoto probably also hides some information away, information that may be useless to share with everyone. Such information may be the reason why Makoto feels a differentiation from the people in this world. Seeing how awkward the mood is, Lexar changes the conversation ¡°That¡¯s enough for complicated stuff. What should we do the next day?¡± ¡°Judging from the memory, the nearest village was already devastated by the goblin army three days ago. There may be survivors there or people from other places coming for investigation and rescue. We shall head there for information gathering. Yuuko, I am counting on you.¡± ¡°Un, no problem, I will try my best.¡± Yuuko nods. ¡°Then we will join with the goblin subjugation army from the human to attack the goblin nest.¡± Makoto continues. Yuuko widens her eyes at Makoto¡¯s word. ¡°The continuous raids on the human villages definitely will attract the attention from the human kingdom. Information about goblin king is probably known to them already too. With the existence of a new goblin king, the kingdom definitely will send an army to deal with it. This is our chance to join the rescue and gather information at the same time.¡± Makoto explains her plan. ¡°I see. Thank you Makoto, for thinking about my selfish request.¡± Yuuko bows. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. I was probably scared of the goblin army from the view point of that goblin. Now that I think about it, the human army must not be so weak against the goblin. Otherwise, the goblin would be a major force in this world already. With the support from the army, we can rescue the captured women.¡± Makoto says. ¡°But it is probably too late by that time already.¡± Yuuko mutters. ¡°Un, it can¡¯t be helped. Even right now, it is already late enough.¡± Makoto sadly admits. ¡°Don¡¯t take it too personal, you girls. Sometimes there are things that can¡¯t be helped. We should be glad that we even have chance to rescue them, instead of leaving them with that cruel fate until they die.¡± Lexar consoles them ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s take a rest today, especially you, Makoto. Stop thinking anymore and go to sleep. You have been overworking your brain non-stop, even though you are supposed to rest.¡± ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s just there are so many things for me to think.¡± Makoto rubs Lexar¡¯s head while saying so. ¡°I told you before. You don¡¯t have to burden everything by yourself. You should share your trouble with everyone, we are in the same boat together.¡± ¡°Ok, ok, I get it. I will sleep right now, okay? Good night.¡± Makoto immediately lies down on a leaf blanket near the camp. ¡°Un, good night.¡± Yuuko also goes to sleep. ¡°Good night, girls. Whoa!¡± Lexar is suddenly pulled over as he walks away. ¡°I cannot sleep well without a hugging pillow. It¡¯s time to fulfill your duty as a pet.¡± Makoto hugs him tightly. ¡°Wait a minute. What are you doing? ¡­. Huh?¡± The cat struggles but then stops. ¡°zzzzz¡­¡± Makoto snores quietly. ¡°She must have been quite tired. Guess I have to play my role well.¡± Lexar cuddles and offers his body for his master to use as pillow. Chapter 39: The story of a raided village How long has he been hiding under the basement of his home? A boy thinks as he wakes up from the deep slumber. Surrounded by old dusty pots and furniture, the boy has been starving and thirsty for more than a day already. Even being tormented by the stomach, he did not dare to move an inch to find anything to eat. The sound of the footstep above has been haunting him all this time. He had no choice but to lie on the ground motionlessly, but that did not help anything but induce stress on him. As a result, he has fainted many times then only waken up by the hunger. (If only I was stronger man¡­) The boy cries in his heart as he remembers of the scene the other day. His village was just a normal village with everyone living based on farming near the river. It is further away from the forest so there is little to no risk of a monster attack here, and the security has been always light. In addition, his village is also surrounded by other villages in four directions, so even if there was something wrong, this place would not be the first place of to meet a disaster and everyone would have a chance to escape. That was how it was supposed to turn out. One day, a goblin army came by and swept through all the villages like a storm. There was no warning, no signal telling that they were coming. They just suddenly appeared out of thin air then brought havoc and massacre to every living being in the village. Men and cattle were cut down and turned to meat, while women were raped, kidnapped, and brought back alive to their nests. The boy¡¯s village was warned of the goblin wave, but that was only 30 seconds before the goblin got into his village. The messenger did not only brought back the information, but also the goblin riders chasing after him. It was not that the village was defendless or did not have any fighting power to fight back. There were adventurers and guards stationed in the village. The farmers also had the strength and experience to drive away the goblins from the past. However, it was just not enough to withstand the force they met. Different from the small wild goblins, the goblin riders are much stronger, faster and know how to fight as a group. More importantly, they are fully equipped with weapons, even better than low-class adventurers. Before such a mighty army of goblins, the small defensive force of the village was annihilated in a few minutes. With most of the men dead, the goblin riders left the village and went assaulting their next targets. However, that only signaled a worse time to come as a bigger horde of weak wild goblins arrived next. They searched and broke into every house, where the women and children stayed hidden inside. The boy had an older sister as his only family, but she told him to stay hidden in the basement under the house alone. The boy objected that idea, telling her to hide together with him. But her sister denied that option, saying that the goblin had a strong nose to detect the females so it was useless for her to escape. Rather than dying together, she let herself captured by the goblin instead. If they completed their objective and satisfied their desire, the goblins would be lazy and not search the house carefully anymore, leaving a chance for the boy to survive. And luckily, that plan worked, the boy is still alive until now. Even so, that fact does not make him feel happy or anything. The two emotions he is having now are fear and hatred. He is scared of any sound from above him, especially the creaking sound of the wood, scared of being detected and scared of being killed. However, the hatred inside him is much stronger. He hates himself for being a scaredy cat, for being a weak useless kid. More importantly, he resents the goblins. His heart aches every time he remembers the scream of his neighbors, his friends, and his sister. He swears once he gets out of here, he will aim to become an adventurer and slay every goblin that exists in this world. Seeing the small rays of light passing through the camouflage entrance of the basement, he judges the time to be morning. He has been lying on the ground, pressing the ear on it to hear any sound coming from above, but it has been quiet for several hours already. Probably pressed by the hunger and the hatred, the boy suddenly becomes more courageous and decides to step out to have a look. *creak**creak**creak**creak* The loud sound of the basement entrance opening echoes the whole room. The boy is startled by how much noise he made and prepares to close it immediately. However, looking around, there is nothing but a total wreck of his old home. After a minute, there is no sound of footstep either. He musters his will then climbs up to ground floor.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. He searches the whole house but does not find anything meaningful. Her sister is nowhere to be found. There is no food, no water, even the money he saved together with his sister is gone too. The goblins have stolen away everything from him. In a corner of the house, there lies a goblin corpse. On his head, there is a knife stabbing deep inside. ¡°Sister.¡± The boy sobs as he imagines the scene of her sister fighting back the goblin to hide him away. The glint from the exposed blade of the knife is reflected in his eyes, seeming to tell him to grab it. As the boy grabs the handle of that knife, his mind becomes clearer than ever. A surge of courage floods his heart, wiping away any fear of the goblin. His memory surfaces again, but there is no more fear left, only a burning hatred. *spurt**slash**thude* The goblin¡¯s head rolls on the ground. After taking out the knife, the boy used it to behead the already dead goblin. Blood splatters on his face when he does the process. Without wiping away the blood, the boy heads to the door and goes out of the house, with the knife hold in hand. A mixture of blood and burning smell gets into his nose as he observes the surrounding. The whole place is filled with corpses, mainly of men and elderly. A lot of them have meat lost parts all over the bodies, along with the teeth marks. The only things that move in his sight are the black crows scavenging the dead meat. No, there is one green skin creature crouching down on cow carcass near the fence a few houses away. ¡°Geeek, ge, geee, gee.¡± The creature turns its face toward the boy as it notices him. The face changes from being surprised to savage as it detects a fresh prey for its meal. It can¡¯t be helped thinking so, because the prey in front of it is only a small child about 10-year-old. The boy looks at his sworn enemy with an empty expression. His hand is gripping the knife tightly, but his body is shaking. Even though he is only looking the goblin with hatred, his body does not think so, constantly sending the signal to run away. His brain sends the order to stop shaking, but the command seems to be invalid. Before he realizes it, his body has developed an instinctive fear for the goblin. Seeing how its prey is shaking pitifully, the goblin gives a disgusting laugh then quickly approaches with a wooden club in its hand. The goblin does notice the knife in the kid¡¯s hand, but it already knows from the experience that such type of prey never makes a successful hit if it makes a small feint. Right, human kids will never expect that a goblin knows how to do evading footwork of a martial artist. However, it has severely underestimated the power of a kid filled with revenge. The boy holds the knife up high and stabs downward, not at the enemy, but his own thigh. A deep cut occurs on his leg, but that¡¯s enough for one purpose: stop his body from shaking. He then quickly retracts the knife then waves it in front of the goblin, splashing the blood straight at the goblin¡¯s eyes. The goblin staggers when its eyes sting from the sudden hit of the red liquid. However, its hand does not forget to swing the club at the prey, and successfully hits the kid on the left shoulder. ¡°Arghhhhh!¡± Screaming in pain, the boy has his left arm broken, but he does not stop. He approaches the goblin at closer ranger, hugging the enemy close to his body while restraining the shoulder of the weapon arm. *bang* A headbutt immediately comes from the boy while the goblin is still confused. His head hurts so much, but the enemy is not better. The goblin is even stunned for a moment as it struggles to comprehend everything going on, and that creates an opportunity for the final strike. The boy¡¯s right hand pierces through the goblin¡¯s heart from the back when the hand circles from below the goblin¡¯s arm. ¡°Ke ¡­.¡± The stinky breathing stops and the green skin creature drops on the ground as the boy releases the hug. Any battle can end with the most unexpected result. The goblin he fought just now was trained by a group of higher level goblins in the art of combat, killed several low-class adventurers alone, yet it was killed by a villager kid out of nowhere. It has forgotten the basic rule of fighting: never underestimate your enemy. The boy¡¯s body shines a while before returning to normal. It is the sign of leveling up in this world. He has not undergone the ¡°Identification¡± process before, so he cannot check his level. However, with the increased strength in his body, he believes that he can now take on several goblins at the same time. And immediately, his thought is answered with the appearance of many groups of goblin. There are more than 30 goblins surrounding him, divided into 5 groups. He does not know where do they come from, but there is no doubt that the sound of fighting attracted them over here. ¡°It¡¯s already over. Sister, I am sorry that I cannot live the life you gave me any longer to avenge for you.¡± The boy sighs in dejection, then readies his knife ¡°However, I will send as many of their heads as possible for you.¡± After being baptized by the ritual of battle to death, the boy is no longer scared of the appearance of goblin. His sole objective now is to kill these goblins, as many as possible. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit, boy.¡± A female voice reaches his ear. The voice is soft, yet it carries the impact and sounds clearly in everyone¡¯s ears, including the goblin¡¯s. At the entrance of the village, two persons with different attire are walking toward the boy¡¯s direction. One is wearing a blood red armor and helmet with strange design. Another person is a girl, wearing extravagant noble clothes with a mage hat on top of her head. A duo of a warrior and a magician, with a cat as their pet. Chapter 40: Johno Visk ¡°Finally, we discovered a survivor.¡± Lexar sighs out of relief. The trio has already traveled to some human villages on the way here. Unfortunately, what they discovered were nothing but corpses filled villages. Even with the cat¡¯s scouting ability, they did not manage to find anyone alive, except for some scattering goblins. After catching one of them and extracting the memory, they finally understood what happened. The goblin raid on these villages occurred 3 days ago. No, rather than calling it a raid, it was an invasion, a strategic attack on the human from the goblin army. The goblin army was divided into two waves: one formal army of goblins advancing to specialized classes like goblin riders, goblin shaman, goblin warriors; and one scavenging army full of fodders, low-level wild goblins. The first attack at these villages came from the former, a coordinated army full of battle proficient units. They destroyed most of the village¡¯s means of defense, be it soldiers, adventurers, or adult male villagers. After that, they proceeded immediately to the next village, utilizing the surprise element as much as possible. With the defense collapsed, the slow and weak second army came. Their objective was simple: gathered all the food, valuables and females for breeding, then transported back to their nest. Without any restraint, the goblins became ruthless with their instinct. They searched every place, looted any valuable, kidnapped and killed any remaining human in the villages. This set up of army is something impossible to think of from the goblin. With their selfish desires, it is incomprehensible how the elite army of high level goblins had to do all the hard works, while the weak ones could enjoy freely the harvest of the former¡¯s effort. If it was a human army, one could argue that the first attack was for the elite army to train itself, while the scavenging process gave the reason for the new comers to join their army. Even so, that is a very forced reason for such setup. Yet, this is exactly the reason so, according to these goblins¡¯ memory. With so many absurdities, Lexar can feel that there is something wrong behind all of this. Makoto and Yuuko are also very surprised by how the situation developed out of the norm. Returning back to the present, at the fourth village, the trio finally manages to find a survivor, a young blond boy fighting a single goblin. In fact, they have found him before the boy started fighting with the goblin. However, Yuuko stops them from interfering, and watches the battle. Even when he was injured, Yuuko does not have any intention to let her friend get in the fight. Seeing how confused her friend¡¯s face, Yuuko opens her mouth ¡°That kid, he has a strong fighting spirit right now and needs a chance to forge this spirit in his body. He needs a first fight to know where he is, and also vents out his anger. He suffered too much from the goblin, and this is when he can pay his debt back.¡± Makoto ponders for a moment before nodding. Lexar also agrees with Yuuko¡¯s thinking. He cannot feel the sorrow of the boy, right now. However, being a male, one must be furious after losing everything important, and swear to pay back at the enemy. The current situation is suitable for him to do so. Although there are many goblins nearby, the current fight is still 1 on 1, and for an unknown reason, Lexar has confidence that the boy will win. The same also applies to Yuuko and Makoto. As predicted, the boy emerges victorious against the goblin after having his shoulder dislocated. When the other goblins gather and surround him, Yuuko finally moves by calling out ¡°That¡¯s the spirit, boy.¡± With everyone¡¯s attention on her, Yuuko lets out a congratulatory smile ¡°You have done enough already. Let us handle the rest.¡± She speaks a language that is not Japanese. With a blink of eye, Yuuko disappears from where she is standing, and appears right next to the nearest goblin. Without anyone understanding what is going on, Yuuko throws an uppercut on the monster¡¯s chin. After several encounters with monsters, the trio leveled up slowly but gained a strength that is much stronger than any average warrior in this world. Yuuko¡¯s punch now contains a strength that no goblin can withstand.
Yuuko Kurosawa Race Human, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 4 (1)
Strength 120 (84) Vitality 200 (130)
Resistance 146 (120) Agility 220 (140)
Magic ????? (error cannot process) Magic resistance 80 (60)
Skills:
Language Comprehension, Archery (Lv 7), Enhanced Strength (Lv 4), Precision (Lv 5), Penetration (Lv 4), Sword Master (Lv 2), Close combat master (Lv 4), Assassination (Lv 5), Mana enchantment (Lv 4)
*splurt**thude* Blood flows out profusely from the neck of a headless corpse, and the goblin head flies a whole arc before dropping at the center of the goblins¡¯ formation, near the boy¡¯s feet. Stimulated by the smell of blood, the goblins become frenzy and charge at Yuuko immediately, forgetting how she simply killed off one of them. They even ignore the young boy whom they are encircling around.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The boy is stunned a while, watching the girl being surrounded by the goblins in his stead, then shouts out ¡°Be careful, big sis.¡± He is reminded of the scene where his sister was surrounded. But his worry is unfounded. Yuuko draws out a bunch of knives from the armor. These knives are not hidden inside before, but created out of thin air instantly when Yuuko puts her hand in the armor. This is a trick to hide her ability to create weapons using the positive energy. Without knowing the power of this world¡¯s human, it is better not to stand out by using strange techniques. With extreme precision, the knives are thrown and embed right at the center of each goblin¡¯s forehead, ending 10 of them. However, that is not the end of her attack. Before the corpses in front of her fall down, Yuuko draws out a chain of fast kicks, kicking all ten bodies back at their comrades from behind. The remaining goblins all fall on the ground, with the corpses on their bodies. Some goblins lift up their heads and try to push away the troublesome weight on the body. Their eyes, however, meet a shining white blade coming. Yuuko finally uses her sword and cuts down the monster one by one, while they are still lying on the ground. The one side massacre ends abruptly in just 1 minute, leaving the boy speechless. Everything happened too fast, and before he comes to his mind, the goblins all lose their lives. ¡°Too strong¡­.¡± The boy mutters. After swinging the sword to clean out the blood, Yuuko approaches the boy and puts on his head ¡°You have done well, boy. Be glad that you finally survive and see the end of your enemy .¡± The boy¡¯s expression remains still, but tears start flowing from his eyes. After 10 seconds of processing the information, the boy¡¯s face relaxes and starts crying out loud. With the whole place devoid of sound, his cry seems to echo the whole village, representing the sorrow of everyone who used to live here. Seeing the boy crying, Makoto¡¯s heart aches and decides to embrace him. From the tears dripping on her clothes, she realizes how much suffering this kid holds in him. His family, his home, his friends, his town were all stolen away from him. She wonders what she can do to console the sadness. On the other hand, Lexar goes around the village, searching for any potential survivor left. Unfortunately, except the boy, all the other villagers have died. He detects that there are some houses with underground basements, the same type that allowed the boy to hide. However, due to various reasons, a lot of them were discovered and destroyed by the goblins, with the hiders being dragged out. Some managed to stay concealed, but ended up dead because the upper houses were burnt, filling the underground with smoke. The boy was very lucky that he managed to escape those two outcomes. Sighing out of dejection, Lexar returns back at where the girls are. Next to them, the boy is enthusiastically eating the rabbit jerky the girls offered, while chugging water at intervals. His unsightly eating manner makes the girls feel uneasy, but they decide to forgive him. He is probably too hungry after all. ¡°Thank you very much, big sisters.¡± The boy bows deeply to express his gratitude ¡°And sorry for eating so much of your food.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. You don¡¯t have to think much about it. By the way, how is your injury?¡± Yuuko says. The boy looks at his shoulder, which is now covered in cloth with some leaves sticking outside and a herbal smell. ¡°Thank you. It stings at first, but the pain lessens a lot now.¡± The leaves on his wound have medicinal properties, and are used for treating the wound. Some plants in this world also exist on earth and even have the same property. With these plants discovered, Lexar taught the girls on how to apply first aids without medicine on the field, as they do not have the healing skill same as Lexar. ¡°By the way, I forgot to ask. What is your name?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°Johno, Johno Visk.¡± The boy answers.
Name: Johno Visk Race Human
Class Farmer Level 3
Strength 15 Vitality 18
Resistance 10 Agility 13
Magic 17 Magic resistance 5
Skills
Farming (Lv 3), Production magic (lv 2)
Makoto stealthily analyzes the boy¡¯s stat. The status is weaker than both girls¡¯ a large margin. However, looking at his status can give her a glimpse of the strength of human in this world. ¡°What are we going to do next, Makoto? There is nothing else to do here.¡± Lexar asks. ¡°From the number of villages that are destroyed so far, I assume there is nothing we can do if we go to any other village. Our destination will be the nearest town. Based on our speed today, we can arrive at that place tonight.¡± Makoto then looks at Johno ¡°However, we still need to bring him along so I suppose we will arrive there by tomorrow.¡± ¡°I agree. We cannot let this kid stay here. We need to let him get shelter at somewhere safe.¡± Yuuko agrees. ¡°I am afraid that the town is not same either. Judging from the speed of the goblin destroying the villages, their army is quite powerful.¡± ¡°Even so, we still need to go. It¡¯s the only place left where we can hope to gather the information.¡± Thus, Johno, who has no idea what these sisters are talking about, has his fate decided. ¡­¡­¡­.. The group is resting in one of the abandoned house in another raided village. This is the 8th village they come across. Due to the distance between each village only about 2-3 km away and the assist of the speed boost spell from Makoto, they are able to travel through many villages in just one day. Even their journey is without much trouble, everyone¡¯s mood is heavy. They only scanned the villages lightly without much searching carefully, however, the fact that no other survivor appeared except the goblins tell the gravity of the situation. As they reach nearer and nearer to the town, the number of goblin starts rising, and the biggest group they have met had more than 60 of them. Luckily, they were all wild goblins so it was nothing but easy exp for Makoto, Yuuko, and Lexar. Seeing how the trio displayed the strength that could eliminate the horde of goblin in a few minutes, little Johno is mesmerized and regards his saviors with deeper admiration. He has seen and heard the story of adventurers subjugating very dangerous monsters and overcoming difficult obstacles. In his village, there were also adventurers staying there and doing the quests. However, they were nothing like in those stories. Their strength was more powerful than him, and he respected them. But that¡¯s all there is. They did not leave him a strong impact like those depicted in the story. These two girls are a different story, though. He has never witnessed anyone dealing with a large number of monsters so easily. Beside Makoto being a strong mage with many powerful spells, Yuuko¡¯s skill with the swords and bare hand fighting left him a deep impression. Her attacks were quite brutal, yet they connected smoothly together without stopping. Right after she just finished one enemy, she already attacked the other one. The scene to him was as if she was dancing on the battlefield. ¡°Yuuko sis, you are so amazing.¡± Johno compliments. ¡°It¡¯s really nothing, though. They are just too weak, after all.¡± Yuuko says while eating the fried crow¡¯s leg. ¡°¡­¡± The boy looks down sadly upon her words. She is right. If he had not been so weak, he could have protected his family. Makoto does not understand the language they are using, but she can grasp the content of the conversation. She hits Yuuko right at the hip for saying insensitive stuff. ¡°Don¡¯t keep getting depressed like that. Knowing your weakness gives you the motivation to become stronger. Treasure your life and use that to train to the utmost. That way, you can avenge everyone in your village.¡± Yuuko says to him. ¡°But how can I be as strong as you? I heard that getting to level 20 requires more than 5 years of training and fighting in average, and reaching the next ten level even takes more time and is more difficult. I also doubt whether those level 30 warriors can be as strong as you. Yuuko-sis¡¯s level must be more than 30, right?¡± ¡°Can you tell me more about the training the normal people usually use?¡± Yuuko asks with curiosity. The identity Makoto and Yuuko are using now disciples of an old master who lives in the mountain, isolated from the rest of the society. Because they are orphans and have only lived on the mountain before, they have not much knowledge about the common sense of this world. So they were granted permission to climb down and traveled to study the human society. This is the cover story in order to hide away any lead telling that they are people from another world. They do not know how this world¡¯s people will treat illegal immigrants so it¡¯s the best to hide away such identity. Although this background sounds very suspicious in many ways, this can be used to explain how they are unfamiliar with everything, or not having any identification record, or how they are so absurdly strong and have strange techniques. After explaining their background, the boy makes an understanding nod and tells them everything they need to know. Chapter 41: Brendhill Town In the next morning, after passing two more villages, the group finally arrives at the first town in this world. According to Johno, the town is named Brendhill. Unfortunately, the town¡¯s current state is definitely not welcoming toward any outsider. The grass field in front of the town¡¯s gate is drenched in blood and charred black by the fire in many places. There are more than hundreds of corpse-littered around, but one good thing is that the majority of them belong to the goblin army, either the goblins or the wolves they rode. Sadly, there are also many human corpses as well. The wall defending the town is filled with holes and cracks all over the place, like it was attacked by the siege weapons. Standing on the wall are the soldiers on guard with serious expressions. They are scrutinizing any smallest detail that they can observe on the field. With the sight of Makoto¡¯s group, their alert state reaches the highest point, and more soldiers climb on the wall to observe the new guest. Luckily, they are not preparing any bow or crossbow. ¡°Looks like the town is not welcoming any guest at the moment.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°That¡¯s to be expected. Any battle will make everyone stressful and cautious toward the surrounding.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go in. At least, the other side notices that we are also on the human side.¡± Makoto urges the other to come forward. ¡°What purpose do you come here for?¡± The guard man on the top of the gate shouts out. ¡°We are wandering warriors who happened to witness the destruction of the goblin army here. We come here in order to resupply ourselves and report the situation of the villages outside.¡± Yuuko shouts out from the ground. After receiving a nod from the man behind him, the guard answers ¡°Very well. Brendhill town welcomes your arrival. Please come in.¡± The iron gate opens slowly by moving up, revealing two more gates also opening behind. Strangely enough, these gates are not as damaged as the wall. A wide bread man in full plate armor comes out, followed by two more soldiers standing from behind. He spreads out his hand as a sign of welcome. ¡°Greetings, brave warriors from the outside. I can sense the blood of those filthy green skins on your weapons and armors. You must have slain a lot of them to avenge our people. The Brendhill town is always open to people like you.¡± The man offers an exquisite praise toward the two girls who are in warrior and mage attire. ¡°We are very grateful for your encouraging words. It¡¯s our duty to do so.¡± Yuuko slightly bows down and replies in the same manner. Makoto also bows down as a sign of respect, making the young rural kid awkwardly follow the same. At the same time, Makoto also checks his status.
Name: Brian Londo Race Human
Class Vahalad Sword Commander Level 43
Strength 220 Vitality 240
Resistance 186 Agility 123
Magic 130 Magic Resistance 160
Skills
Leadership (Lv 4), Enhanced strength (Lv 8), Sword master (Lv 1), Formation fortification (Lv 3), Mana enchantment (Lv 4), Etiquette (Lv 4), Close combat (Lv 3), Endure pain (Lv 6), Combat instinct (Lv 6), Management (Lv 3)
(Wow, to suddenly meet a strong guy already, being careful is never enough after all.) Makoto thinks. Even without analyze skill, Yuuko can also sense a strong power residing inside the old man in front of her. She can tell that this guy is much stronger than her in terms of physical strength. Meanwhile, Lexar still keeps his expression normal. He knows that this old man is strong, but not enough as a threat to endanger these girls¡¯ lives. Although their levels are lower than that breaded guy, the status recorded by the program does not reflect their true strength after all. After introducing themselves, Brian Londo then guides the group to a mansion near the barrack. On the way, Makoto sees many soldiers and mages busily tending the wounds or checking the equipment. Mixing among them are those probably called adventurers, as the distinctive point between them with the soldiers is that they wear a variety of different dressing codes rather than the uniform armors or robes of the soldiers. Using Analyze skill constantly, she compares the reality with what Johno told them yesterday. Most of the soldiers have the level about 10 to 20 with individual¡¯s stat ranging from 30 to 80. Aside from the few basic combat skills, they all have this skill formation fortification. Apparently, this is the skill that gives a boost to an individual when they are acting together as a unit with proper formation. Truly a skill fitting for a class called soldier.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. On the other hand, the adventurers are a jumble of everything possible. There are warriors, mages, scouts, barbarians, shamans, and priests. Their levels expand over a larger range than the soldiers¡¯: from level 5 to 30, with more than 90% of them below 20. The variety of skills they possess is more than what the soldiers have. Makoto also finds some strange and unique skills, among which sound quite powerful and useful. However, rather than the adventurers, Makoto is more intrigued by the soldiers. Aside from the uniform, the soldiers can be distinguished from the adventurers through their classes: Vahalad Warrior Soldier, and Vahalad Basic Mage. Including sir Brian, there are three classes of Vahalad as their initials in this town. On a side note, Vahalad is the name of the country they are currently in. She has a feeling there is a special behind these Vahalad classes. Comparing the stats between the solders and adventurers, the lv 26 warrior is only slightly above lv 20 warrior solders. The same also applies with the mages. It is clear that the classes belonging to this country give an advantage boost in stat when leveling up, and the benefit is probably not only limited to that. Based on Johno¡¯s story, to become a solder, one must undergo training at the military academy. After graduating from there, he will receive a ritual to change the class to solder, and start his career and a journey to become the strong. There are three tiers for this country¡¯s military classes: Soldier and Basic Mage, Commander and True Mage, General and Arch-Mage. Each advance to the next tier requires 20 level and some special conditions. Obviously, the tier of the class reflects the position in the army hierarchy, as well as the strength. At the lowest tier, there are only two classes: Warrior Solder and Basic Mage. However, on the higher tier, there are more branching paths with more classes. For example, the Sword commander. From these classes, the military is basically divided into two divisions: close combat and magic. Despite being separated like that, it does not mean one cannot learn the skill from the other. There are warrior solders with magic skills, and mages with fighting skills. However, it is clear that the focus of development in each path is different. The close combat division focuses on direct fighting power and formation, while the magic division focuses on providing firepower and doing research. In this country, the power of the army is quite strong and systematic. There is a system that provides a career path, as well as resource and opportunity to develop for the solders. Being a solder means being given a lot of benefits: steady income, high prestige, access to knowledge and training unavailable to the mass, and preferential treatment on some political issues. However, it also means being bound tightly to an organization, having to follow order and duty, and being forced to do things they don¡¯t like. In this aspect alone, the adventurer job is better than the solders, with more freedom available. They can decide the job they are going to take, work the way they like, and go to anywhere they want. However, the rest of the aspects may not be so well. The job of an adventurer is basically self-employed, meaning having to bear the risk all by themselves, without the support of large organization. There is an adventure guild, but that place pretty much functions like a job center, where they put requests and give out reward. They do not provide any resource for developing adventurers. In addition, the guild will not perform any rescue or back up support for the adventurers unless there is profit to it. In addition, the demand for the adventurers is not very high, especially in the place where the army is quite active in exterminating monsters and bandits. Therefore, their income is not stable and fluctuates all the time. Despite all these shortcomings, there are still many people doing this job and aspiring to do so. The reason for that is ¡­. ¡­¡­¡­¡­... While Makoto is busy with analyzing the information, Yuuko is continuing the conversation with Brian. ¡°I see. So there are that many villages destroyed by the goblin army.¡± Brian sighs deeply then looks at the 11-year-old boy ¡°For him to be the only survivor so far. I don¡¯t know whether to call him lucky or not.¡± ¡°Sir, can you please look after him and give him a place to stay in this house?¡± Yuuko makes a request. ¡°Hm, I guess I can help him join the military academy on a scholarship. Being solder in Vahalad is a steady job with a lot of growth potential. Once he graduates from the academy, his future is pretty much secured¡­¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t want that. I want to travel together with Yuuko-sis.¡± Johno suddenly interrupts the conversation. ¡°Johno¡­¡± Yuuko looks at him in surprise. Brain, despite being interrupted, does not get angry or say anything. ¡°Yuuko-sis¡¯s sword technique is so amazing and beautiful. I want to learn it. I want to get stronger. Then use that strength to kill the goblins and avenge everyone at the village.¡± Yuuko puts her hand on Johno¡¯s head then rubs strongly ¡°Stupid kid. Your life¡¯s goal should not focus solely on revenge. I am going to avenge for your family, your villages and everyone else in your stead. After the goblin army is gone, your target of revenge will be gone and the next trouble ahead is your future. You should not decline the generous offer by Sir Londo.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case, please let me follow you afterward. I want to travel together with you and see the world outside there.¡± ¡°No, you can¡¯t. Although I said that I wanted to travel around to learn the world, I am also tasked with an important mission and it¡¯s going to be a very dangerous journey. Bringing you together only hinders our progress. Besides, what can you do for us?¡± Yuuko bluntly rejects him. ¡°I ¡­.¡± The boy stutters then looks down. ¡°You said you want to learn more about the outside world, right? However, without the common sense of how society works, how are you going to proceed your mission smoothly? What about renting the place to stay, handling the money, dealing with local rule, and most importantly, gathering information? How are you going to do all of that?¡± Johno suddenly rises up and throws a barrage of questions at Yuuko. ¡°Eh?¡± This time, Yuuko is the one who at a loss for words, while Brian laughs heartily at their conversation. Perhaps embarrassed by Brian¡¯s laughter, Yuuko knocks on the kid head ¡°It¡¯s true that big sis does not know about common sense here, but remember that we are proper adults, who are older than you. We can figure all of that gradually by themselves.¡± Johno, while hissing and rubbing his head, does not back down and continue to convince ¡°But isn¡¯t your mission really important? How can you afford to spend your time getting used to the society without any guidance? What are you going to do if you get scammed by sly information broker or get overcharged while buying or renting anything?¡± ¡°I am the one who has to consider all of that. What can you, a kid from a rural village, do in that situation? If you come along with us, the burden on us will be harder as we do not only have to take care of ourselves, but also you. We are powerful enough, so if there is a problem, we can at least run away. But you can¡¯t do that, not with your ability.¡± ¡°I may not look like it, but I am familiar with working in the urban area. Every time the village transports their harvest to the town or city to sell, I am the one they always want to bring along. Trust me. I know the way people do in the town or city, because I am responsible for investigating the prices of the product there, in order to sell our products with the best profit. I also have a couple of acquaintances who are merchants. With my introduction, I can get them to help you gather information necessary for your mission.¡± Johno points at his chest, showing how confident he is in his ability. Yuuko widens her eyes in surprise at his reply. She only thinks of him as a normal strong villager boy, but does not expect him to be such a capable person. ¡°Kid, I know that you are trying to convince me to bring you along. However, don¡¯t make such outrageous lie to me. Even if you are really that useful, I still do not intend to take you along.¡± Yuuko says in an angry tone. On the side, Brian also nods, thinking the same thing as Yuuko. They do not believe in his words just now. ¡°I know that you are going to say that. That¡¯s why, with the next time, I am going to introduce to you a person in this town. He can make testimony for my word.¡± Johno still makes a confident smile. ¡°Did you just not hear my word? I said I am not ...¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it fine? Just bring him along with us.¡± Makoto interrupts Yuuko¡¯s words with the local language, not Japanese. Chapter 42: The cultivator inheritance ¡°Makoto, how¡­?¡± Yuuko is speechless at her friend¡¯s sudden fluency in the strange language. On the other hand, Johno and Brian do not think much about it. One thinks that the mage girl does not want to use this country¡¯s language to speak with him, while the other one does not know anything about her. Rather than paying attention to Yuuko¡¯s strange expression, the boy immediately seizes this chance to urge Yuuko ¡°A very wise decision, sis. I am sure that letting me traveling together with you is the best decision you make when exploring the world. I will teach you everything you need about common sense, and do my best job gathering intelligence for you. You will not be disappointed.¡± Johno advertises himself in front of Makoto. ¡°What a reliable kid. I hope that you can keep up with your words.¡± Makoto replies with a smile. ¡°Makoto, wa ¡­ what are you thinking? How can we bring together a small kid with us?¡± Yuuko almost uses Japanese to speak with her friends, before changing back to the local language. ¡°Didn¡¯t he just explain the reason to you? I think that getting a guide for us is a good thing for this unknown journey.¡± ¡°I know that. However, we can¡¯t take care of him. Who will protect him while we are fighting? And there is also ¡°that¡±, too. ¡° Yuuko implies their secrets. ¡°Either you and me. And there is also Lexar. I am sure that we can at least have one person to protect him. Also, if thing is going to become difficult, we can at least make him hide or stay at a safe place, right?¡± Makoto directs to Johno. ¡°That¡¯s right. I have said that I will not become a burden for you. I can make sure to at least stay safe by myself.¡± ¡°Look at who is talking. The sole survivor of the goblin attack. Wait, that makes his ability to hide away more credible. Haiz.¡± Yuuko holds a deep breath, signing that she gives up on rejecting the boy. ¡°Hahaha. I am really jealous of you, young brat.¡± Brian laughs in amusement, hitting the boy¡¯s shoulder continuously ¡°Traveling with two beautiful, strong girls on a journey around the world at such young age. If the other young guys learn of this, they will sure be envious of you. Looks like my offer is no match to the dream of young man, after all. Hahahaha.¡± Although his shoulder hurts like hell, the young boy makes an embarrassed face, but his smile shows that he is definitely proud of it. The girls do not mind Brian¡¯s words and continue to exchange light conversation with the commander of the army cheerfully. As the group finally arrives at the mansion, a group of maids and servants come out to greet them. Their clothing resembles the traditional uniform of servants in old Europe. As servants of a rich house, their cloth quality is quite good, but the design does not give an extravagant or cute feeling often seen in anime or Akihabara. ¡°Greetings, Milord and honorable guests.¡± A leading old man who is wearing a butler uniform comes forward. ¡°Hm, I¡¯m back, Cebas. What do we have for lunch today?¡± Brian nods at his butler¡¯s greeting. ¡°Your usual favorite, sir. It¡¯s ready for you at any moment. And we have also prepared the portions for the guests, too.¡± Cebas replies. ¡°Hm, very good. Young ladies, I am sure you will be delighted with it. My house¡¯s chefs are all trained from the most famous restaurant in this town.¡± ¡°We are looking forward to it.¡± ¡­¡­¡­... As expected of the foods from the other world, their taste is very unique and different from the food in Japan. Makoto and Yuuko have tasted food from the other countries before, but the dishes here still give them an impression they have never had before, so they enjoy every dish with a curious manner. Lexar, who luckily has the chance to eat in the same room as them, is putting his face inside the bowl and gouging the food, completely acting like a normal cat. On the other hand, Johno is completely stiff, trying his best to eat with the most polite manner. Except for the cat below the table, everyone is eating elegantly, without making a single sound. Johno is not so clueless that he can eat the delicious food without minding his manner. He carefully uses the spoon and fork so that it will not make a clank sound when hitting the plates. Sadly, as a rural kid, he has no experience in such action and occasionally makes a few sounds echoing the whole room. In the end, the plate in front of him only manages to have a few pieces of food on it. With a soft giggle, Makoto transfers some food on his dish in his stead, making the young boy¡¯s embarrassment meter reach the highest point. After lunch, everyone is finally full and has a satisfied face. It has been a while since they last had a proper meal after all. ¡°Cebas, can you please guide our guests to their rooms? They must have been tired after camping outside for long.¡± Brian turns to his butler. ¡°You go ahead, Johno. We still have something to say to sir Londo.¡± Yuuko urges the boy.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Johno nods, then obediently follows the butler outside the room. He understands that the conversation they are going to have next is the reason why the lord of this house is so hospitable to them, the outsiders. ¡°Well then, shall we get on the real topic? I suppose that you disciples on a secret training do not have a lot of leisure to just only escort a child from a raided village to the town. There must be something important you want to tell us.¡± Brian questions with a serious expression. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s about the goblin army. The situation is actually worse than we thought. Do you have a map of this area here?¡± Makoto leads the conversation. A map of Vahallad country¡¯s provinces is spread on the table. From a skim through the map, Makoto can see the distribution of the cities, towns, and villages of this country. There are several regions with different colors on them. The Brendhill town is in the middle of a green region. Even though Makoto can speak the language fluently, she cannot read the word. Yuuko supports her by pointing out the Brendhill town and the village they met Johno. And that¡¯s enough for Makoto to understand and express her information. ¡°Before we rescued Johno, this is the place where we first met the goblin army. It was only a horde of more than 50 wild goblins. At that time, we did not think about it much, but the gathering of that many goblins was unnatural after all. Later, a group of goblin riders came and led those goblins away. Curious by their strange behavior, we stealthily followed behind and discovered their lair. That was when we discovered how abnormal the goblin has become.¡± Makoto reports while pointing to a position on the map. Brian nods in response. ¡°The goblins amassed together with the number over 5000. There were many evolved goblins and those advanced with classes such as the goblin riders. Furthermore, they even constructed a special fortress on their own. Their layout was designed like this¡­¡± Makoto then lists out the information about the goblin army obtained from extracting the memory of the dead goblin. Brian still remains silent, not interrupting Makoto. However, as more information is said, his expression turns grimmer and grimmer. The hands joining together on the table are clenching strongly while covered in sweat. After Makoto finishes her presentation on the enemy army and stronghold, Brian finally opens his mouth to ask. ¡°This is definitely too unbelievable. There is no way the goblins can perform such feast in the green region. How did you learn all of this?¡± ¡°We have our own method to investigate. We may be clueless about society, but that does not mean we are clueless about fighting. You said you don¡¯t believe it, but somewhere in your mind, you should already know the reason behind everything, right?¡± ¡°The goblin king.¡± Brian mutters ¡°And furthermore, it probably possesses the most troublesome thing out of all things, the legacy of the ancient time, the cultivator inheritance.¡± Cultivator¡¯s inheritance. It is the remainder of what existed a thousand year ago, during the golden era of human. At that time, the hero and her cultivators were the main contributors to the development of the countries in the alliance, be it education, economy, military strength, well being of a person. It was such an age filled with so much growth that some scholars have said that the humans at that time managed to build Heaven. However, after the betrayal of the alliance at that time, the hero destroyed most of the countries benefited by her knowledge and inventions, including the buildings, artifacts, records, and humans possessing the related knowledge. Such throughout destruction left the human with nothing but the knowledge of the old era before the hero arrived. The blooming golden era was regressed to the stage of stagnancy and underdevelopment. However, all hopes were not lost. Not all the things related to the golden era were destroyed. They were hidden away or buried under the vestige of the old empires. There are many possible theories about the reason why they still existed, but the most widely accepted reason is that some cultivators were dissatisfied with the hero¡¯s action. They deliberately hid away some achievements from the golden era in many places around the world, hoping to give the chance for the humans to gain back the glory they had before. Thus, these hidden achievements are all called the cultivator inheritances. The cultivator inheritance exists in all kinds of form: books, records, artifacts, weapons and even creatures. Each of them can either give the possessor the strength enough to rival the current saints or contain the knowledge that is enough for a revolution, changing everyone¡¯s life. Their value, without a doubt, is extremely valuable and actively sought out by everyone in this world, including the demon and monster. Because of their values, it is very difficult to find them. They are commonly hidden in dangerous or hideous places. For example, a dungeon under the fallen city filled with undead or an extremely poisonous swamp. Not only that, the treasures are also guarded by many trials and traps prepared by the cultivators. In the past, there was this treasure that required the challengers to defeat 3 different S class monsters and harvest their parts to get access to it. There was also one that required the challenger to face against an army of monsters. However, such difficulty does not apply to all the cultivator inheritances. There are cases of the inheritance having only mild difficulty or without any difficulty to obtain at all. What does without any difficulty mean? It means it¡¯s just as simple as picking up a rock on a road. A young boy happened to fall inside a hole in a forest. In that hole, it led to an altar with the holy sword on it and the boy picked it up then became an adventurer. That is the story of one champion in Vahallad kingdom. It is a story of exceptional luck, but such story does not limit to only one person. The same thing happened several times before in the past, with any possible person. Of course, it also means demon and monster are included. This is the reason why there are so many people becoming adventurers despite the lack of benefit. Because the treasure can be found in the most unexpected location and excavated by the demon or monster, the human has adopted the policy to let the adventurer get a massive reward when giving the treasure to the country or possess it for himself. Due to the difficulty of finding the inheritance, it is impossible for the country¡¯s military to focus solely on excavating them as it demands a lot of resources and manpower. With the case of lucky finding, there existed a country that declared a rule to forbid possession of the treasure. If it was found, it needed to be given to the government as soon as possible, and a heavy penalty would be given if one dared to hide it. As a result of such law, the number of people actively searching for the inheritance in that country was few, leaving many potential treasures undiscovered. The chances were obviously then given to the non-human species, the demons. With the treasure obtained, a full army of demons suddenly appeared and descended on that country, wiping it out of the map after a month. The land where that country was used to be is now the territory for the demons. Thus, a lesson for the other countries: it is better for any human to have the treasure than to hand over the chance to the demon or monster. Back to the main story, a goblin king possessing a cultivator inheritance is an extremely serious problem that poses a threat to the survival of the country. Chapter 43: The Brendhill town battle (1) What is the danger level of a goblin king? Similar to the common knowledge about goblin king in fantasy novels on Earth, it is the highest evolution of the goblin species. Once a goblin king is born, it will unite all the goblins under its rule and set the goal to build a goblin country. Thus, it will set sight on the nearest country and start its conquest there. Although a goblin king is a very dangerous being, it is never considered a very serious threat to the national security. As for the proof, there has been no goblin country established or recognized throughout the history of this world. There are many reasons for this. First, the goblin is a weak monster. Even if it can evolve to the highest class, goblin king, a goblin is still a goblin after all. Its potential is limited, and cannot be compared to the other races and monsters in this world, such as demons, humans, or dragons. The highest level of the goblin king recorded was only 62, about the same level of a new general in Vahallad. Its strength is not something that cannot be dealt with. The second reason is due to its army. Even though the goblins can evolve to higher species or obtain a specialized class, it is only limited to a small number. The majority of the goblin army that a goblin king can rule often consists low level no class goblins. In the world where strength is measured by levels and numbers, quantity does not mean much before the vast difference in power. Finally, the most important reason contributing to their failure is their intelligence. Even if a goblin evolves higher, its thinking ability will improve, but it is still not considered as an intelligent being. A goblin king still lives a savage life, void of culture development. It does not learn any thing from the predecessor¡¯s mistake. After being throned, the first thing a goblin king does is to amass the army immediately and wage war without any careful planning or preparation. Its attack may deal serious damage to the attacked country. Many people may be killed, villages or towns may be destroyed, but a goblin army cannot ever destroy a castle or a fortress. Furthermore, every country has a surveillance system set up in order to take notice any irregular movement. Such a disorganized army will be immediately noticed and countermeasure will be put into place before any serious damage can be done. However, the current goblin king¡¯s threat level cannot be accessed the same way, and that is already proven by the damage done. Many villages were rapidly destroyed, and the town¡¯s defense was heavily damaged. The Brendhill town is quite a prosperous town, which means the amount of fighting power here is quite considerable. It would not have hold out if the goblin king had come here with the full army, but holding against the army alone would be possible. Yet a serious damage was done with only a fraction of an army without the king. The ongoing situation overturns all the knowledge about the goblin king so far, especially the 2nd and 3rd factor. The goblin army¡¯s number of specialized and evolved goblin is much higher than normal. From sir Brian¡¯s story on the previous day, the number of goblin riders assaulting the town was more than 500 units, together with about 1500 ¡°foot soldier¡± goblins, commanded by two special classes. That equals to 2 battalions of human army already, and that¡¯s not the worst thing. The most important reason why goblin kings failed so many times in the past is due to their undeveloped intelligence: disorganization, lack of strategy, no logistics, no formation, no anti-army or sieging weapon. The current goblin king has earned all of these mistakes and fixed them. For the first time in the history, an army of monsters knows how to act properly as an army. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. *Rewinding back three days ago, at Brendhill town. ¡°Monster wave! Monster wave!¡± A horse riding man yelled out as he urged his horse to go faster. The time was evening, a time when everyone either stayed at home or went to the bar to enjoy the drink, relaxing after a tired day of work. However, today was an exception, as it signaled a time when many people¡¯s fate either ended or changed forever. While yelling, the horse rider rose up a torch high, telling the onlookers on top of the town¡¯s wall to notice him from afar. As he could see the sigh of the gate clearly, the rider screamed even louder with all the air in the lung. ¡°IT¡¯S A MONSTER WAVE! A MONSTER ARMY IS APPROACHING HERE!¡± Hearing the message, the onlooker immediately notified the men guarding behind the gate to open it and let the messenger pass through. Without pausing a single moment, the messenger passed through the gate without saying anything and headed straight to a mansion near a barrack. ¡­¡­¡­ Brian Londo, who was scrutinizing the document in his hand, was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. ¡°My lord, we have an urgency.¡± Cebas, the butler, relayed the situation to him. ¡­¡­¡­ *ding**ding**ding**dong *dong**dong * A series sound of a bell echoed in the area around the barrack. It was a signal of an attack, an emergency, everyone had to prepare for battle and evacuation. After the bell rang its signal, the bells from the other places rang the same message, transmitting the warning throughout the town in only a few minutes. The town people stopped their cheerful activities and started their duties during an emergency. Vahallad was a very good country. It took into account the safety of their citizens very seriously and established many practices for that purpose. One of them was to make the citizens learn and practice the emergency drill. Everyone was given a rule, be it elderly, woman, man, or child. They all had missions to do and perform instead of just running away randomly or hiding n panic. The town citizens had to learn the meaning of the bell signals, and depending on the series of chiming, they could understand the current situation and have a better judgment of what to do. The previous signal was only a warning, telling that the enemy was closing in, but not yet reached the town, everyone had the time to prepare. It was obvious for the solders and adventurers. They had to assemble and prepare for battle. Meanwhile, the non-combatants had different tasks to do. Women, children, and elderlies prepared the luggage in case the evacuation signal came. The luggage contained money, important documents, some clothing, rations and water containers, and some survival equipment. The country had even designed a guideline of what should be brought and a backpack model for containing these things. At the same time, they also needed to arm themselves with suitable weapons, so that they could have a chance to retaliate when something bad happened. After that, they had to gather all the food inside the house in one place and decided what to do with them based on the next signal. The usual course after the warning was a siege battle. The battle could last for several days, or even months. In which case, the citizens all contributed part of their foods to the solders and adventurers fighting out there. The army had their own food supply and their supply was quite plentiful, but there was a meaning in this action. It was to deepen the bond between the solders and citizens. By giving the food to those who fought, the citizens would feel that they actively contributed to the defense of the town. On the other hand, when receiving food from the citizens, the solders would be more resolute in protecting the place, knowing that they were defending for many people here. This simple yet meaningful action helped deepen everyone¡¯s love toward their hometown. There would be few deserters, and in tight situation, the citizens may actively join the fighting force to defend against the enemy.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. With all the drill practice imprinted in the body, the Brendhill town was now prepared for a battle in only 30 minutes. A defense formation for countering the monster wave made of soldiers and adventurers was formed. The citizens were ready to act depending on the signal. Brian Londo, now fully equipped with his battle gear, was now standing on the gate wall and looking at the darkness outside the town. It was a cloudy night without moon or stars to shine the ground. Having the sight limited in a defending battle was a serious problem as it was difficult to track the enemy¡¯s movement from afar. The accuracy of range units decreased. Furthermore, there was possibility of enemies using strategies utilizing sound to deceive the commander. Of course, such thing was impossible during the monster wave, especially with a goblin army. *pew**pew**pew* Several light balls were fired in the air and illuminated the space. The balls flew slowly in the air, separating away from the town wall about 500 meters before slowly descending to the ground. It was the work of the army mages, the ¡°White flare¡± magic. With the darkness retreating away, the whole ground in front of Brendhill town was now visible. However, instead of easing the worry, Brian¡¯s eye brows frowned further at what he saw. Hundreds of goblin riders were lining up on the field, baring their fangs at the town. They had been quiet for a while in the darkness, but now, with no need to conceal anymore, all the wolves howled at the same time. ¡°Ahooooooooooo¡± x 500 Accompanying their companions, the goblins all held the spears and slammed on the ground in a united formation. The sound of metals hitting the ground echoed the whole plain, reaching the human¡¯s ears. They were intimidating. They were intimidating a human army, who was superior to them and held many advantages against them. ¡°Hm! Looks like those filthy little green skins learn a few new trick. But no matter what, goblins are still goblins.¡± The man next to Brian snorted. His name was Tyson, vice commander of the army stationed in Brendhill town. His level was 40, only slightly below Brian. He was more than 2 meters tall, taller than Brian two adult heads. Resting on his shoulder was a war hammer, representing a virtue of brute strength. ¡°Never underestimate your enemy, Tyson. There are already a few villages suffering from their attack in an hour. And see what they are wearing, they all wear armors and have metal spears in their hands. It¡¯s proof of how strong they are. Otherwise, there is no way they can get that many armors and spears.¡± ¡°So what? What can a bunch of old rusty equipments do? They have probably looted around the old battle fields for anything usable and assembled an army together. Quite an achievement for the goblins, but that¡¯s nothing to us. We are on the advantage here. The wall is high. Mages and archers are ready. Warriors of Vahallad with good strength and skills. What the hell are we careful for? They are wolf riders, not spider. They cannot even climb on the wall to reach us.¡± Brian did not say anything, but his silence meant agreement with Tyson¡¯s words. Although 500 goblin riders were quite a force to reckon with, the human army had many advantages. In a siege battle, the amount of force in the attacker army had to be at least twice the defender army. Currently, in this town, there were 800 soldiers and 200 adventurers. They had many classes that could fulfill different roles. The wall surrounding the town was 20 meters high and made of sturdy stones. This defense was not something to be torn down easily like in the villages. After finishing their intimidation war cry, the goblin riders retrieved the spears to their backs. From the waist, the goblins took out slings and put a stone on them. Then, the wolves started moving. ¡°They have made their move. Archers! Get ready.¡± Brian ordered his troops. As the wolf riders approached, the archers pulled the strings and aimed at the goblins. 500 meter, it was still not an effective range for them. They were still waiting for orders, not only because of army protocol and out of effective range, but also their confidence in their shooting ability and safety. A sling was definitely a ranged weapon, but what could it do? Its range was shorter than the bows, its power was weaker, and furthermore, its accuracy was worse unless one was an expert on it. 400 meter, barely in effective range, only 50 more meters for an ideal distance. The archers were still waiting. However, the goblins did something unthinkable. A few goblin riders from the 2nd and 3rd row flung the projectiles they equipped with. They were not stones, but flasks containing chemical liquid inside. *clang**clang**clang**clang**clang* A white smoke formed in front of the goblin army and quickly rose up in the sky. The smoke was so dense and so tall that it formed a wall separating the two armies apart. Realizing something wrong, Brian ordered without hesitation ¡°Fire!¡± An arrow volley immediately rained down on the goblin army. Even if the archers could not see anything, the estimation of their location had already been calculated. They were sure that their arrows could hit at least about 50% of the opponent army. Contrary to everyone¡¯s expectation, there were few screams from the goblins. Another volley came but there were even fewer screams. When the third volley came, there was no more scream. Brian immediately stopped the firing. ¡°Mages, blow away that smoke¡± Multiple chants came and strong winds blew across the battlefield, sweeping the smoke wall away. However, due to the thickness, it took more than 20 seconds for the field to be visible again. By that time, the goblin riders were nowhere to be seen. ¡°Where the hell are they?¡± Tyson roared in anger. ¡°Sir, on the left side!¡± A scout pointed to a direction. The goblin did not run straight ahead at the gate, but instead split into two groups, circled over the smoke wall, then approached the town from both sides. The distance was 250 meters away. Their formation now was different too, moving in two long lines instead of a square formation. While riding on the wolves, the goblins did not stop what they were doing, swinging the slings in circle. The stones hold by the rope were now shining in red. With closer inspection, there were smokes coming out of them and parts of the ropes where they contacted were slightly burned. ¡°Gi hi hi gi gi¡± The leading goblin yelled out. The goblin¡¯s counterattack began. The red rocks drew up bright parabolic arcs in the air toward the wall. By riding on the wolves with high speed, combined with the arm strength from leveling up, the slings managed to shoot the rocks at the longer range than usual. However, in exchange for that long range, the accuracy was sacrificed. Only a few stones flew toward the soldiers, while the majority went straight at the low wall. That was not a problem though. *BOOM* Explosion sound rang along the wall¡¯s length. Dust filled the air, forming a cloud where the solders stood. For the unfortunate soldiers who were hit by the rock, parts of their bodies disappeared, spilling the blood and content inside out. ¡°Dynamis-stone? How the hell can the goblin handle that delicate stuff?¡± Brian was shocked at what the goblins threw. Dynamis-stone was a special type of mineral that detonated whenever it received a strong enough impact. It was one of the most dangerous and difficult resources to mine. Because it was not much different from stone at a single glance, one may not recognize it and accidentally hit it with the tools or dropped it carelessly. Once a stone exploded, it would cause a chain reaction, causing the nearby dynamis-stones to explode, resulting in the whole mine being blown away. It was unthinkable how such crude goblins managed to get them in high quantity. Even though he was caught by surprise, Brian immediately commanded the solders without delay ¡°Fire at will. Focus on those still have the stones in hand.¡± *BOOM**BOOM**BOOM* The explosions came again, interrupting his words. However, the few key words were heard and the archers had set their priority again. *swoosh* ¡°Geh!¡± A goblin was hit and the sling in his hand staggered in the air at that moment. A fatal mistake on the goblin side as the red rock flew at riders in front of it. *BOOM**BOOM* Meat pieces scattered every direction, dyeing the grass land in red blood. Part of the goblin formation immediately crumbled and disorganization started showing in their army. The goblins near the explosion site managed to avoid death in that instance. However, the shockwave still affected them and several of the goblins which had not thrown the stones made the same mistake as the first offender. *BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM* It was a chain reaction. More than a hundred of riders died due to the same issue. However, Brian was once again surprised by how quickly they dealt with the problem. The goblins riders which still had the stones immediately separated from the formation and threw them at the wall immediately, while the others scattered and spread out like a bunch of ants escaping water. Due to their hasten pace, the stones were not aimed as careful as before. Thus, only occasionally one or two managed to reach the height where it could hurt the solders. Those slingers were then pin pointed and shot to dead immediately after. The remaining stones only managed to hit the lower wall. A solder while aiming at a rider heard a strange sound below his feet. ¡°What the¡­¡± *creak**creak**creak* Cracks formed and the ground where he was standing on slid down to the outside of the town. ¡°Aaaah!¡± The same thing also happened at several sites on the wall and the solders there fell to death. Those places could not withstand the destruction of the stones anymore and started crumbling. (Don¡¯t tell me. Those things have been aiming at the wall from the beginning?) Chapter 44: The Brendhill town battle (2) ¡°Ge ke ke ke¡± The commanding goblin shouted out to the formation, after throwing all of the stones they had. The surviving goblins all turned back from the wall and started retreating. ¡°Don¡¯t let those fucking things escape. Shoot down all of them!¡± Tyson shouted out. The arrows flew again, aiming at the back of the retreating troops. They hit the goblins and the wolves at different places, making the pairs fall and roll on the ground. However, some of them still had the endurance to stand up and kept running to the darkness outside the illuminated area. Seeing how the troops at the rear suffered, the commanding goblin told something the two riding next to it. Different from the whole army, these two goblins stood out with their full plate armors along with their partners. On their heads, the red metal helmets with a pair goat horns on each side gave a menace look. While the other riders held the slings to perform the explosion attack, these two had been keeping the spears in hands all the time. The two armored goblins turned back and ran to the rear of their army, shielding the last riders running away from the arrows. With their flashy appearance, a lot of archers had eyes on them and shot the arrows. *swoosh**swoosh* With two spear swings, the arrows were all deflected and dropped to the ground. The archers were stumbled for a moment, but then took out the arrows and continued firing. This time, the attack was more concentrated and the wolves were included in the aim as well. *swoosh**swoosh* The spears spun in the mid-air again and broke down the arrows into halves. The arrows aiming at their mounts too were taken care of. With the second attack finished, the rider army successfully retreated away from the effective range of archers. The two armored goblins turned away and started retreating. ¡°Those armored ones must be the goblin knights. As expected of the name knight, their skill is quite good.¡± Brian looked at the scene in disbelief. ¡°This isn¡¯t time to admire. Those fucking green shorties dared to make a fool of us. Are you going to let them get away just like that?¡± Tyson slammed his hand on the wall stand. ¡°You are right. These monsters are too dangerous to leave alone. I don¡¯t know if those guys are mutant or not. But the fact that they used such a fancy strategy cannot be taken lightly. We need to prepare the cavalry unit and hunt them as soon as possible.¡± Brian turned to the mage solder next to him ¡°How is the repair of the wall?¡± ¡°Sir, the mages with earth magic have finished fortifying the weaken parts and fixing the cracks. However, the slid off parts and the holes still need some hours to finish.¡± ¡°Tch¡± The important reason why the goblin riders managed to escape was due to the wall being damaged severely. There were many places on the verge of collapsing. At that moment, Brian had to order the troops to reposition themselves again and made the mages focus on repairing the damages to the wall. The reorganization reduced the arrow attack effectiveness greatly, thus allowing more goblins to escape than expected. Near the wall stairway, Tyson commanded the subordinates to prepare horses for the cavalry unit. It was decided the best to pursue them immediately. Otherwise, the goblin riders would raid another village and resupply there. Brian also prepared to sortie out. He did not feel easy about those two goblin knights. In his memory, it was mentioned that the goblin knight¡¯s average level was about 20 to 30, with few above 30. Tyson was enough to take care of them, but there was not a thing called ¡°too careful¡±. The goblins they fought already brought too much surprise to them. As Brian and Tyson descended, a long sound of a blowing horn echoed in their ears. They both looked at each other in surprise, then hurried climbed to the watch tower again. Emerging from the shadow of darkness on the horizon, vehicles with wheels were being pulled by dozens of wolves. On those vehicles, there were familiar mechanical devices used for one purpose. ¡°Catapults? How do those monsters manage to get them?¡± A soldier muttered everyone¡¯s thought at this moment. ¡°Does it matter where do they get those weapons from? Cavalry! Prepare the horses asap. We need to destroy those things before they arrive in front of us.¡± Tyson shouted out to the solders. ¡°I will stay here and observe the situation. Be careful out there, Tyson.¡± Brian said.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Hitting his chest, Tyson quickly ran down the stair while shouting out the solders to hurry up. He was always noisy and fired up when he had a chance to go directly into the battlefield. Turning back to the green field in front of him, Brian started wracking his brain figuring out what was going on. (The goblin riders also came back and acted as the guards for the catapults. However, why did they not use them from the beginning? Why did they have to try destroying the wall with only the goblin riders at first? What is their purpose? Is it to gather intelligence from our force or is it to test the new strategy?) Brian no longer considered them as only a normal goblin army. He figured that there must be a mastermind controlling these goblins from behind, an intelligent beings. Otherwise, the goblins could not have a large amount of dynamis stones, and conduct such an elaborate strategy. One reason why he needed to stand here to command instead of following Tyson to the battlefield was that he thought there could be a different army waiting from afar, a true army aiming for a chance to capture the town. ¡°Send some mages to the other walls. Light up every place surrounding this town.¡± ¡°Yes, sir¡± *pew**pew**pew* Several white flares shone the night, wiping away the darkness surrounding the Brendhill town. ¡°There is nothing on the other sides, sir.¡± The soldier reported. ¡°Keep the light on all the time. Do not miss any sign of movement over there.¡± Spells consumed mana and mage had to be at the site to fire it at intervals to light up the battle field. A basic mage could only keep the light available for 30 minutes to an hour. After that, they needed to be replaced by the other. It was not economical to keep the light on all sides all the time, as there were many uses for the mages. They needed to keep the mana reverse available for the other tasks instead of spending needlessly on shining the battlefield. However, in this current situation, Brian thought this was necessary to do so. The gate below him opened and the sound of the horse hooves vibrated the air. Tyson and his unit had already departed to destroy the siege weapons from the goblin army. He brought along 200 warrior solders, and 20 adventurers. What was the role of the adventurers in defense battle? It depended on the situation. However, most of the time they would stand by behind the wall, serving as a line of defense when the enemy broke through. When situation arose, there would be emergency quests, a special type of quest that only appeared during a battle. They ranged from supporting the army with various tasks such as healing the solders, performing specific spells, scouting, gathering resources, tasks that required specific skills or classes that army did not usually have; to extremely dangerous missions with low probability of success: assassinating the enemy leader, breaking through a specific point. The latter only appeared when the situation already became very dangerous and the army was unable to solve it by itself. However, higher risk meant higher reward. The prize was often enough for normal people to live comfortably for several years. These adventurers had a good relationship with Tyson, and had cooperated before in the past. Their specialties were diverse and skillful. Perhaps Tyson brought them along for insurance against unexpected situations. ¡°Be careful, young lads. There were some troublesome ones among those filthy green,¡± Tyson warned the adventurers riding near him. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We had experience subjugating high level orcs before. Goblins are nothing we can¡¯t deal with.¡± The leader of the adventurer replied. He was a warrior with level 28. ¡°If you are worried about those stones, we have a countermeasure for it. The dynamis stone cannot detonate if the air around is moist. I will cast a water mist spell around us, so that the stones thrown at us will be ineffective.¡± An adventurer female mage said. ¡°How did you know that? Ah, I forgot that you guys are experts in excavating ruins in cave.¡± ¡°Well, it will be dangerous if we accidentally detonate them in a cave after all.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case, our safety relies on you mages.¡± The cavalry unit moved in an arrow formation with Tyson being the top. His war hammer was held on the side, ready to blow away any enemy nearby. ¡°Formation fortification, ready!¡± Tyson shouted out. ¡°Formation fortification, ready!¡± x 200 A bright light formed around Tyson and 200 soldiers¡¯ bodies. Not only it enveloped their bodies, the light also extended out and connected together everyone in the formation. From afar, the 200 men unit became a bright arrow piercing toward the darkness. Formation fortification was a special skill, privileged to the solders of Vahallad only. Why was it so? Because this skill was one of the cultivator inheritances that this country had. A skill enhanced the stat of every solder¡¯s in the formation and increased effect of the current formation. If it was a defensive information against arrows, it amplified the shields¡¯ thickness and soldiers¡¯ endurance. If it was an anti-cavalry formation, attack toward the cavalry would double the damage. Due to this skill, the army of Vahallad was the most organized army in the world and the only army that could boast the ability to slay any S rank monster without the help of saint and champions. ¡°CHARGEEEEEEEE!¡± ¡°CHARGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!¡± x200. The roar of the human army echoed the whole battlefield, enough to shake the goblins¡¯ eardrums to the point of breaking them. ¡°Gi hi ¡­.¡± The goblin riders were stumbled by the sudden cry of the humans and all closed their ears painfully. That action spelt their death. *splash* Tyson swung the hammer. An outburst of meat came as the goblins and their mounts were smashed into pieces in a second. The power of a hammer commander with the power-up from formation fortification skill was too much for any ordinary goblin to handle. If the field was described as a paper, the human army was a pen, what the pen doing now was tearing across the paper while splashing red ink on both sides. Soon, the first catapult was in front of Tyson. With another swing, he shattered the machine into wreckage and headed to the next one. However, it would not be so easy as the real obstacle began to show up. The two goblin knights now stood in front of him. Chapter 45: The Brendhill town battle (3) Unknown to everybody, the goblin knights had changed their mounts to a completely different species. The short white wolves were replaced by two huge brown bears. Their furs were thick enough to defend from iron weapons. Their sharp front claws were strong enough to tear away the tree chunk. Furthermore, their height was already more than 2 meters while on 4 legs. In a defensive battle, a bear was more suitable mount than a wolf and a horse. In the goblin knights¡¯ hands, the thin iron spears were replaced by thick big poleaxes. The sights of the two goblin knights were like two executioners waiting to behead any trespassing prisoners. ¡°Do you think that is enough to frighten me? CHARGEEE!¡± Tyson yelled out a war cry as he charged at two bear riding knights. *BUMP* The hammer hit heavily at the chest of one goblin knight, shooting it off the bear and roll many times on the ground. The armor had bent inward, pressing and crushing the creature inside. However, it was still living, breathing, and coughing blood as it tried to recover from a powerful strike of a hammer commander. With the hammer had it as the second target, the other goblin knight had a chance to block it. The two poles connecting the deadly heads locked each other with sparks flew when they came into contact. That moment delayed the movement of both riders, rendering them immobile for a second. Unfortunately, that second was fatal to Tyson. Both the knights and their bears had a common target in mind: the commander¡¯s horse. The bears all slashed their claws at the defenceless mount without mercy, cutting it into several pieces. Tyson immediately fell on the pool of blood and meat of his horse. ¡°*Roar*¡± The bear without rider immediately jumped on the small human, intending to crush him under its own weight. *rumble* A cloud of dust formed as the bear slammed the ground. Nobody saw anything underneath it but the blood pond there gave everyone on the human side an ominous feeling. However, before the adventurer leader called out the name, a stepping sound occurred on the bear¡¯s back. *thump* Tyson, who was supposed to be under the bear, jumped on the bear just now and punched the face of the remaining goblin knight, knocking it off the mount. ¡°Do you fucking think that is enough to take me down? Huh!? You filthy creatures are 100 years too early trying to defeat me.¡± However, in response to Tyson¡¯s words, the goblin knight just made a wicked laugh. While still lying, it rose its hand up and gave Tyson a middle finger, then gave a thumb down. Across the battlefield, the leading goblin held up a horn and blew it again. *Uuuuuuuu* Behind and on two sides of the arrow formation, the grass and dirt suddenly blew up, and from there, goblins wearing armors and holding weapons climbed out and surrounded the human cavalries. It was the worst moment for the humans to meet the ambush. Formation fortification was a great skill, but it also did have limitations. Once the formation was broken, the effect also disappeared immediately. The arrow formation was a strong offensive unit arrangement. However, there was a weakness. If the arrowhead, Tyson, was removed from the rest, the formation would be considered as broken. In reality, the arrowhead could be replaced by the one right behind immediately and the formation could still work normally after that, but the skill would not be in effect anymore. To activate the skill again, several conditions were required. The cavalry unit would have to charge forward without any obstruction at high speed first. Of course, it was impossible to do it in the current condition. The goblins immediately jumped on the horses¡¯ sides and attacked both the riders and mounts. The soldiers¡¯ levels were at least 15 so they could fend off the surprise attack, but their horses were not that tough. A lot of horses were killed in the first attack. ¡°You bastards!¡± A solder beheaded a goblin that stabbed his horse in the stomach. With the formation crumbled, the soldiers had no choice but to dismount and engage in the melee with the goblins. They were now in a dangerous position as the green goblins were everywhere in their sight with the number over 1000. Furthermore, they were all above level 5 goblins with specialized classes. ¡°Fuck! So this is all planned along.¡± Tyson grinned his teeth as he glared at the two standing goblin knights. Their faces were completely covered under the helmets, but Tyson knew that they were smiling mockingly at him. ¡°This is bad. We are surrounded.¡± The female mage adventurer said. ¡°Don¡¯t give up yet. We had to hold out. We still had another army in the town. The commander would definitely send out the reinforcement.¡± The leader adventurer said. ¡°¡­..¡± Tyson remained silent after hearing his word. It was what he was hoping for too. However, the situation would not go as expected. The reason was that he could saw the catapults afar moving.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡°Sir, multiple catapults detected at the other sides. Their number is 30.¡± A soldier reported. ¡°So this is what they are planning. They want to lure out and destroy our cavalry unit, while creating the chance for the catapults to come out and destroy our wall. Good. Really good. What an excellent strategy.¡± Brian said each word slowly, anger was contained in each of his words. ¡°But that¡¯s not enough to capture this town. We will show you how terrifying human is.¡± ¡°Prepare Nazgul for me.¡± He turned to his aide and ordered him. ¡­¡­¡­. ¡°Die!¡± A soldier pierced through the heart of one goblin. However, in that moment, he was also attacked by three and four goblins nearby. Such pattern repeated many times at many places in the battlefield. The soldier had managed to stand firm due to his lv 20 endurance, but he nearly reached his limit. After all, he was stabbed by different weapons more than 20 times already. The human side had already reduced more than a half, but the goblins did not have it easy either. The kill ratio was six to one, meaning each human cost six goblins to kill. It was a heavy trade. In addition, the adventurers Tyson brought together eased the burden of the army greatly by killing more than 200 goblins on their own without losing anyone. ¡°Hahahaha. Hahahahaha! You are just a bunch of loser dogs after all. Nice job making me surprised out there but it¡¯s over now.¡± Tyson laughed at the sight in front of him. Two bears, two goblin knights were now reduced to two heavily injured goblins, one disabled bear, and one dead bear. On the other hand, besides a few cracks in the armor and blood dripping out of his mouth, Tyson did not suffer any heavy injury. However, the surprised one was Tyson. The bear was one thing, he did not expect the goblins to hold out that long. Their teamwork was perfect, the skill was above the average solder warrior, and their armors and weapons were surprisingly sturdy enough to protect them from his hammer several times. Seeing how the situation developed so badly despite the plan, the goblin knights decided to use their trump card. Reaching into his pouch, a syringe with red liquid was taken out. The knight immediately took off the seal and stabbed the needle on the bear next to it. ¡°*ROAR*¡± The bear suddenly rose up and stood on two legs. On its body, bulging muscles started wriggling in a disgusting manner and expanded like sponge cake. The bear¡¯s eyes turned red and drool dripped out of its mouth continuously like a mad dog. Its claws extended longer, and from the tips, strange purple liquid dripped out and fell to the ground, making a sizzling noise. The smell from it was stringent to the point of vomiting. *BANG* The bear slapped at Tyson with extreme speed, a speed that was faster than before thrice. Tyson only managed to put the hammer in front of him to block the claws, and still ended up being thrown away 20 meters away. ¡°*cough blood*Bastard!¡± Not missing their chance, the goblin knights rushed up to Tyson and slashed at him. Their axes had a blue color of mana enhancement aura on them. A skill made their weapons sharper and harder than normal. *metal breaking* The axes successfully slashed through the commander armor, causing red blood to stain on their blades. It was a successful attack, but something unexpected happened. The axes could not move no matter how much the goblins tried. ¡°Caught you now, you sly creatures¡± Tyson smiled as ice formed at the places where his armor was broken through and bound the blades to stick on the armor. ¡°You think it is a normal iron armor, but it is a magical armor. Its special property is to automatically form ice where it is damaged, fixing the gaps in my armor. When immediately activated, the ice will stop the blade from moving to prevent it creating a deeper wound. Your weapons are useless now. Furthermore ¡­.¡± Two hidden knives immediately shot out from Tyson¡¯s gauntlets, hitting the goblins at their necks. ¡°You think a brute force man will not use hidden weapons. What a simple bunch.¡± The knives stroke the goblins¡¯ neck. Although the armor at the neck was thin for ease of movement, the defense was still better than having no armor. A sharp pain hit their throats, but did not kill them. But that was not yet the end, as attached to the ends of the knives were two ropes. The sharp edges of the knives held firmly on their armors. ¡°Come over here!¡± Tyson pulled his arms back, taking back his weapons as well as dragging two goblins closer to him. The two arms thick as logs caught the two enemies by their necks, holding them tightly. ¡°You think you are the only one who know how to make muscle bigger? SO DO I. BERSERK!¡± Tysons arms immediately expanded, expanding his armor in the process. The strength inside those arms increased, gripping the necks with a stronger force. ¡°HA!¡± The necks were squished, and two heads on them fell on the ground and rolled several times before stopping. Tyson could feel the power from leveling up inside his body. ¡°ROAR¡± Seeing its masters dead, the drugged bear ran at its nemesis without caring for anything else. Its only purpose was to avenge its riders with the worst death possible. It would tear his limbs apart and eat all of his flesh. When the bear claws were risen high and ready to strike, a black shadow covered on the bear¡¯s head. The owner of that shadow prevented the bear from swinging its weapon down to the hammer commander, by dragging it into the air. ¡°Fleeeh¡± A wyvern ascended to the dark sky, dragging the bear under its claws. On its back, a man with elegant features held the reins and sat there. It was Brian Londo, the commander of the army and town mayor of the Brendhill town. ¡°Drop it over there.¡± He ordered his mount to drop the heavy bear on a bunch of green skin goblins. The bear was dropped down at the height of 80 meters, squashing a few goblins to mincemeat under its weight. Of course, the bear was sturdy enough to survive that fall. ¡°Burn them all.¡± ¡°Greeeh¡± A screech came from the wyvern as it descended down and opened its mouth. A hot big flame shot out and engulfed everything underneath. The grassland was turned into a big sea of flame in only a few seconds, except a few spots where the survivors of the human army gathered in formation. At those places, water barriers were formed, protecting those inside from the heat from the surrounding. Finishing its job, the wyvern ascended to the high sky again, declaring its positions as the ruler of the battlefield by observing everything from above. Brian surveyed the surrounding again. On 4 sides of the towns, there were seas of flame and traces of destroyed catapults. The Brendhill town¡¯s wall was damaged but repairs were ongoing without any obstruction. The 2000 goblins army was eliminated without any survivor, while the human army only lost more than a hundred soldiers. It was a complete victory for the human. ¡°Let¡¯s go back.¡± Brian moved the rein and guided the wyvern to return to the town. Chapter 46: Real intention *splash* The sound of water ripple echoes the bathing room. It is an extravagant bathroom made of marble, filled with steam coming up from the large pool in the center. At the end of the room, there is a lion statue where the hot water is pouring out. Inside that luxury bath, two girls and a cat are submerging themselves in the hot water. ¡°Phew, it feels like years since I last took a bath.¡± Makoto relaxes as she massages her own shoulder. ¡°Hm¡± Yuuko nods in agreement. Being able to relax in the current carefree manner reminds her of the journey these past few days. She is surprised at herself for being able to adapt to the wild lifestyle so easily without a single complaint. They had traveled in the forest for several days without taking any bath. To add to that, they had to constantly fight monsters on the way, making the blood and sweat stuck on their bodies for a long time. She could not believe that she and her friend who were city girls until a few days ago could tolerate such a harsh living state for a long time. As expected, the change from awakening is also reflected on the subconscious level. *splash**splash**splash* Replying with the sound of water is the final member of the party, Lexar, a black cat. In the middle of the pool, the cat is spinning his tail with a very fast speed, propelling himself through the water surface like a boat. A surreal but interesting ability for a cat, and he is enjoying exploring his newfound ability to the fullest. Despite the cat body, he does not find himself hating water at all. That¡¯s why while enjoying a hot clean bath, he also tries to understand more about his body by moving around. He discovered that he can even dive and move freely underwater for more than 5 minutes straight. It¡¯s not just only physical strength but also his adaptability to different environments is good to the point of a superman, no, a super cat. ¡°As expected of a VIP treatment, I did not think that we could get such a luxurious bath for ourselves. It looks like that our status as disciples from a mysterious master who stays away from the society has more impact than we thought.¡± Makoto says. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped. Otherwise, we could not explain why we have such good sets of equipment and skills while having no identification. There are others identities we can use such as travelers or adventurers who lost the identifications, but we had no idea how people in this world check their records. Rather than making up fake identities that could be checked then gotten suspicious, it is better to use mysterious ones without ability to confirm.¡± Lexar explains while approaching with his tail propeller. ¡°But doesn¡¯t this identity make us stand out too much? We are getting more attention and suspicion than normal.¡± Yuuko says. ¡°That¡¯s also the reason why we need to use it. Firstly, we need to make a name to make ourselves known so that we can meet with important people and get the information in an official way. Our objective is to find the information about the hero summoning ritual. Based on the story of the cultivator hero legend, we already confirm that there is such a thing called summoning people from the other world here. Furthermore, based on the story, it is likely that the royalty knows some secrets about it.¡± ¡°But in case the royalty knows about it, will they just simply tell us everything we need to know when we meet them? It is a very important ritual, because it had decided the fate of this whole world a long time ago, after all. They may try to seal everything about it to prevent another hero from being summoned. They may even lie that they do not know anything about it. And there is actually a high probability that they really do not know about it.¡± ¡°¡­¡­.¡± (Lexar) ¡°¡­¡­.¡± (Makoto) ¡°Hey, why are you two staying silent? Don¡¯t tell me you two did not take those scenarios into account?¡± Yuuko is startled. ¡°No, we actually took into account how to get the information. We will not ask for it directly but conduct a roundabout investigation. It will be a long time until we can get to meet the royalty. Until that time, we can find more information on our own. The breakpoint may not necessarily lie within the royalty. Do you know what I mean?¡± ¡°The cultivator inheritance, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, the royalty may be an important key, or maybe not. In fact, to know more about the secret of this world, the cultivator inheritances are much more direct keys to get hold of necessary information. However, finding one is difficult, not to mention overcoming the trial to obtain them. Our plan is to learn more about these treasures in the first place, using our identity to gather intel from reliable and official sources, then attempt to challenge the trial and get it. Once we gain reputation and credibility, our access to more protected information will increase, and we can learn more about the summoning ritual through any kind of clue possible.¡± Makoto explains the plan, but her face becomes grim as she speaks. ¡°But we have missed an important thing in our assumption.¡± ¡°Right, the knowledge about the ritual might be lost during the hero¡¯s time, a thousand years ago. We made a mistake assuming that as long as we actively search for them, we can find some clue about it. However, the situation may turn out worse than we expected. We may not be able to go home.¡± Lexar grimly says. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What you said reminds me of how the people in this world react to the existence called summoned hero. Even though she is still called hero now, there is no doubt that she is still considered as a taboo or an omen in the eyes of the ruling class. If we think about how the cultivator inheritances exist there for the people to excavate, it is highly that the cultivators are well aware of which treasure and knowledge can be passed down, which ones cannot, and regulate their existence to the people. Anything related to the summoning is definitely important and be sealed away, out of reach of any force in this world. Even if we manage to excavate all the available inheritances, we may not be able to find any clue on the ritual.¡± ¡°No way. Then what are we supposed to do?¡± ¡°We still stick to the original plan. Assumption is only assumption, not fact. We have to keep moving on to know more about this world and adjust the plan to the situation. If we don¡¯t do anything because of a problem in the plan, we will not make any progress at all.¡± Lexar says.Stolen novel; please report. The two girls nod to his words. That is the only thing they can do to achieve their goal: to return to Earth and reunite with everyone there. After the intense discussion, the trio feel the heat reaching their heads. They have submerged in the hot water for nearly an hour already. It is time for them to get out of the bath. As the girls wear the light dress that the mansion maids prepared for them, Yuuko calls out to Makoto. ¡°By the way, I haven¡¯t asked before. How did you manage to speak this world language so suddenly? And why did you agree to bring him along?¡± ¡°Ah, you mean Johno. Don¡¯t you think that it will help us a lot with him around? We need a guide in this world, after all.¡± ¡°Stop joking around. He is only a kid. How long can he be useful as a guide to us? We can learn common sense in this world as we live in this town. If we need a guide, we can ask the Sir Brian a more reliable and capable guide. Tell me your real reason to bring him along.¡± ¡°¡­¡­¡± A silence comes between them, then Makoto answers. ¡°Rather than we need him, it¡¯s more like I need him. He is also a key to understand more about this world.¡± ¡°Does he have such a special quality that makes you pay attention that much?¡± ¡°No, he does not have any outstanding quality at all. Rather, he is only a mediocre human of this world.¡± ¡°Then why?¡± ¡°I need to observe how a human in this world develops while interacting with the system. Because we are not from here, the system does not work the way it should be with us. The question marks in the status table prove that, and such phenomenon is a bug. Therefore, I need a reference from someone who is native in this world, one that the system works correctly on. That way, we can observe better how the system works, analyze it with more accuracy. Then we can fully take advantage of what the system gives and figure out how to extract it from our bodies without any negative side effect. To answer your previous question, the reason I can speak this world''s language is because I have extracted part of Johnno''s experience and analyzed it, during his sleep.¡± ¡°*gasp*¡± ¡°Just simply observing and analyzing a person once will not work. It¡¯s not a simple task that can be done with a quick glance and I can figure it all out. I need to carefully scrutinize, constantly check and rethink my theories many times. For that, one person needs to be with us all the time, someone that we know well and receives influence from the environment that we are aware of. For example, after defeating a monster, leveling up and getting a new class. Analyzing that person while under those events will give us a lot of insights on how the system works. Because of how often he needs to be with us, that person may learn one or two of our secrets. In that case, we¡¯d prefer someone we can trust, someone we are confident with sharing our secret with. Johno is still a child, and he has admiration feeling for you. He is also a good kid with a clean heart. I am sure that we can trust him with keeping some of our secrets if found out.¡± ¡°Makoto, are you really treating him as human? Or are you treating him as a lab rat for you? And also, why do you have to resort to extracting a part of him? Do you know how dangerous that move is?¡± Yuuko looks sharply at her. ¡°Don''t worry, Yuuko. The extraction is not as dangerous as you think. Last time with the goblin is special. I intend to extract everything out of it. But in Johnno''s case, I only selectively extracted a small fragment of his memory and ability. After analyzing it, I put it back inside properly and there is no problem. I am properly treating him as human. Besides, it¡¯s not like we are the only one who is benefited from him. He also receives his benefits just by staying with us.¡± ¡°How can bringing a defenseless kid on a deadly dangerous journey give him any benefit?¡± ¡°First, I need to fix that ¡°defenseless¡± part. We are all here to protect him, either you, or me, or Lexar. We are not 100% being able to keep him away from danger all the time, but we, or at least me, will prevent him from dying all the cost. And he will only be weak for the first few days. After that, he will have to learn how to defend for himself. That is the first benefit he can get from being with us.¡± ¡°You mean we will teach him how to fight?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Just by being taught by you is already a blessing for him. I have seen the stats of the adventurers and soldiers in this town. Do you know what I found? You and the town mayor, Sir Brian, are the only two people with a master grade skill. Furthermore, you even have higher skill level than him. Can the instructors at the military academy offer a better teaching on fighting than you? Of course not. The instructors are more willing to let you teach them instead.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Second benefit. How much can a homeless kid without any backing from society experience in his life? To add to that, it is a countryside bumpkin kid. His entire lifestyle will be forced to deal with the bland and boring life of interacting with people and rule of society, bound by the four great walls of this town. His life will be bound in this place forever. However, by traveling with us, he can travel to a much further place, free of bound of the border of the town, the village. He can see things in a more open-minded view, witness more exciting events, and gain more profound experience than a normal villager can have. That will greatly benefit him in finding his way of life in the future.¡± ¡°But it is a risky pathway, filled with danger. He can lose his life anytime.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand anything, Yuuko. What child do you think Johno is?¡± ¡°He is a strong kid with an unwavering will. He has the determination to overcome the difficulty and achieve his goal in mind, which also makes him quite stubborn with his decision too.¡± ¡°So it is his determination that interests you. For me, I see in him his ambition and smartness. He is only an eleven-year-old kid, but what can he do? He actively accompanied his village mates to come to the town and sold he goods, researched the market and found the way to make a profit for his village better. He is only a kid but he knew how to give out his value to convince you to take him with you. What do you make of all of that? He has an ambition, a desire to be free and fly out of the cage of his comfort zone. I don¡¯t think he wants a future that people decide for him.¡± ¡°What you are saying makes sense, but I still object him going with us. This is a dangerous world, a place that we can get killed even if we prepare for the worst. Who knows what will happen in the future? When it is the time that we are all busy just only protecting ourselves, who will take care of him?¡± ¡°At that time, he has to prepare to accept his fate.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I said he has to accept his fate. When he decided to journey with us, he should already have enough resolve to face the danger that we cannot even take care of. If he is dead, that is his bad luck. And so as us.¡± The two girls stare at each other and do not continue their conversation anymore. That stern silence lasts for a minute before Yuuko start to speak. ¡°I understand. I will not object that point. He should already be resolved to face the same risk with us. Besides, he promised that he will look for himself and try to stay out of danger. But I will try to talk with him again and emphasize all the dangers on our journey. If he is still willing to go, I will not reject anymore.¡± ¡°Un, that is for the best. It¡¯s not like I am forcing him to go with us. I just simply gave him an option to choose. He can take back what he said and choose a different path. If that happens, I will think up another way to investigate the system.¡± Makoto finishes while adjusting her clothes and heads off to the door. Yuuko watches her friend¡¯s back until she opens the exit and disappears behind the wall. In her head, she is still thinking deeply about the conversation just now. (She has changed, changed so much that I can¡¯t recognize her. That cold-heart calculation personality, that¡¯s not the way how she usually thinks about people.) Chapter 47: A day in town ¡°There are three types of coins for us commoners to use: copper coin, silver coin, and gold coin. One silver coin equals to 100 copper coins and one gold coin equals to 100 silver coins. This is how they look like. The insignia on three of them are the same, representing the coins belonging to a country or a union. Our country, Vahallad, has the flag showing the tree of life, so the insignia is also a tree. In case you want to travel outside this country, you will need to call these coins, Vahallad copper coin, Vahallad silver coin, and Vahallad gold coin, so that people can recognize them.¡± Johno explains the currency of this world to the two girls while guiding them around the town. ¡°You said ¡®tree of life¡¯? Can you tell me more about it?¡± Makoto curiously asks. ¡°You have never heard of the tree of life from before?¡± Johno is shocked but then continues ¡°Oh, right, then I should start from the story of how our country was founded. It was 1000 years ago, when the hero was still eradicating the countries who betrayed her. At that time, disaster befell everywhere, drought, tornado, storm, flood, epidemic. Even though the places where those disasters occurred were limited to those countries alone, it did not mean that they did not affect those unrelated. People at that time lived through hell every day. Seeing how people were suffering so poorly from the cruelty of disasters, a cultivator sought to help them out, despite the objection of his fellow cultivators. That person transformed into a big tree, a tree big enough to hold a mountain inside it. He gave shelter to the humans of that time, while resisting the destruction caused by the disaster outside. After three months of unleashing her wrath, the hero stopped causing the destruction and the world returned to normal once again, except the countries she wanted to destroy. The tree had sheltered everyone inside there safely and released them outside again. Those people were the founders of this country, Vahalla. To remember the gratitude of the protection from that time, the flag of this country has the symbol of the tree on it. The ancestors called it the tree of life because that tree sheltered not only the humans, but also other races and animals. In other words, it is the protector of all living creatures at that time, hence the tree of life.¡± ¡°The other races?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°I have heard that from a long time ago, there were people called elves, dwarves or something like that. However, that distinction was only because of superstition and unjust racial discrimination at that time. They all look exactly like human, except for a few parts on the body. Why were they bothering something as trivial as that? In the end, such stupid thinking was abolished and everyone is called human nowadays.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Makoto nods. In the town, there are sights of people with various traits that do differentiate them from normal humans such as long pointy ear, very short or very tall height, typical traits of fantasy races, elves, dwarves, and giants. It is a spectacular sight but the two girls do not show the surprise on their faces because they started getting used to it since yesterday. ¡°By the way, I want to ask. Have you ever wondered how the people over there are so different from the people in your village?¡± Makoto points to a group of adult men with the height of only more than 1 meter. ¡°Ah, about that, the village elder explained that we humans are races that can evolve and change to adapt to the environment over many generations. The people over there have their ancestors living in the underground and mountain, thus they adapted a body with short height for ease of movement in the tunnel and strong muscle build to dig through the dirt and ground. I also heard that depending on where they live, the change also shows in the skin, hair, and height. The group over there only live in the Alumba mountain range so their height is still better than the group living in the Sentur cavern, their height only reaches 90 cm at most.¡± ¡°Natural selection, huh?¡± Yuuko mutters. ¡°That¡¯s right. It¡¯s natural selection.¡± Johno nods. ¡°Do you know who Charles Darwin is?¡± Makoto curiously asks. ¡°Never heard of him. Who is he?¡± ¡°Nevermind, forget what I just ask.¡± She waves her hand. The kid is confused for a second, but does not pay any heed to it anymore and continue to guide. He is introducing various stores, their uses, what to buy there and the usual price of the merchandises. Knowing is very useful in traveling in the future. It is also an exciting experience for them as the girls manage to go window shopping in another world, although they also buy a lot of stuff from the reward money from giving the information about the goblins outside to the town mayor. ¡°Energy potion, healing potion, sharp sense potion, dangerous sense potion, luring potion, calming potion, iron skin potion, ¡­¡± Makoto checks the bag she just bought from the potion shop. There are many potions with various uses and she pretty much bought one of each. She really wanted to buy two of each but some potions are quite expensive, and they are not rich at all, so she had to settled with only one of each common potion. The girls only have 15 gold coins with them but the spending on potion alone is already more than 10 gold coins. In other word, she spent most of money for herself alone, leaving Johno to object her spending behavior.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Big sister, that¡¯s not the way you should buy potion. You should only buy a few important potions, leaving them for the crucial moment to use. Especially the healing potion and energy potion, you have to buy several of them. Why are you only buying one for each of them? And what are you going to do with these potions? Water breathing potion, iron skin potion, feather fall potion, sharp sense potion, I can understand their importance, but why did you also buy the happy mood potion, depressing potion, sticky potion and melting potion?¡± Johno is agitated by Makoto¡¯s lavish spending. 10 gold coin is the maximum amount a family in his village can save up for a whole year. Seeing so much money spent so inefficiently is enough to drive anyone mad. The happy mood and the depressing potion have their uses same as their name, giving the person the mood to feel happy or depressed. It is used to create the mood artificially and commonly consumed for entertainment purpose, like acting and partying. However, the potions Makoto bought are all low grade, meaning their effect duration is short, which is also why Johno is angry. A lot of these potions have good effects, but their use is limited because of the short effect time range. Sticky potion and melting potions are not really potions, but special liquid contained in a flask. Sticky potion contains a thick liquid that becomes adhesive after exposed to the air, in other word, glue. Melting potion is a corrosive liquid that can melt metal, basically acid. However, these two words are not present in this world, so people call them sticky potion and melting potion, quite convenient and easy to understand. These two potions are mainly for crafting and mining, which are works that the group is not going to do. Yuuko pats on Johno¡¯s shoulder and assures him ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Makoto has her own reason for buying things that way. She has her way of doing things.¡± She knows that Makoto will use absorb these potions and gain new skills. Having the power to absorb thing and gain a new ability related to it is very useful. With so many different potions with many uses like this, the journey will be much easier when Makoto has the multiple skills and can deal with different kinds of problem. Yuuko also has a chance to see a shop she wants to see, which is the weapon shop. As expected from a fantasy world, there are many kinds of weapons on display there and the qualities vary from low grade to high grade. She finds some weapons good enough for her to pay attention to, but does not buy them. First, those weapons are very expensive. One of them can cost more than 50 gold coins, which is out of their budget range. Second, even if those weapons are very good in the eyes of warriors, they still can only be comparable with the weapons that Yuuko can create. She believes that in the future, when she levels up and gets stronger, she can create better weapons than the present. Thus, buying them is a waste of money. However, she still buys a set of protective gear and a sword. This set is for Johno. The set is about medium grade, enough for the kid to protect himself for a few hit from normal monsters. Since the group has accepted him as a new member, she has to be responsible for his safety and training. However, she is unsure how to train him. Yuuko has experience to teach people martial art when she worked at her home dojo. However, the lessons were mainly for self-protection and exercising only. She does not know how to train people to fight and kill monsters. All of her fighting abilities are thanks to awakening, not something she learned by herself. Therefore, she can only fight on instinct but does not have any foundation for the techniques. This puts her in a difficult position as she already agrees to bring Johno along and teach him fighting technique. Her personality does not allow her to break off an agreement or promise easily. Seeing how troubled Yuuko is, Lexar jumps on her shoulder and whispers to her ear ¡°Do you have difficulty thinking of how to train him? Don¡¯t worry, I will help you with that.¡± Receiving an unexpected help, Yuuko brightly agrees ¡°Thank you very much, Lexar. I know I can count on you.¡± After a few rounds around the town, the girls have finally bought what they need. Beside the potions and gears for Johno, they also bought some equipment for traveling such as traveling bags, water containers, food containers, dehydrated food and medicines for some diseases. In the end, only 20 silver coins are left in their pocket, enough to stay in an inn for a few days. However, they do not feel any dissatisfaction because they learn a lot in just only a day: how the people in this world work, how to live in this world, and the price of commodity. Furthermore, they are able to get a lot of useful equipment to travel in this world. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡°Phew, shopping in another world is so exciting. So many strange items, so many things I want to buy, I am more and more motivated to earn money to spend on more items I would like to buy.¡± Makoto says happily while checking the inventory. ¡°Geez, your spending habit does not change at all. When you have money, you immediately spend it on things that matter to you. Though you are not wasteful with all of these useful and necessary stuff, it still feels very hurt to have so little saving left.¡± Yuuko sighs. ¡°It can¡¯t be helped though. Our schedule is tight here, we still have a destination to go tomorrow. We don¡¯t have time to be picky and saving money. In addition, getting money in this world is easier than our world with our ability. If we are short of money, we can just go out and hunt monsters.¡± ¡°Hunt monster, huh? Really an adventure job in another world.¡± Lexar thinks about it. Tomorrow, they are going to register a new identity as an adventurer at the guild. Currently, they are registered as normal citizens of the Vahallad country and the custom is done by the government office, where help from Sir Brian comes in handy. However, to travel around in dangerous territory and make money from the slaying monster, they have to register their jobs as adventurers. It is the job described same as in many isekai fantasy novels, a freelancer job which deals with a variety of areas: subjugating monsters, escorting merchants, hard labor, gathering materials, and so on. In this world, one more special aspect of this job is to explore the danger territory and excavate the cultivator inheritance. Due to the urgency of locating and excavating these treasures, the adventurer job is supported by the government many aspects regarding finding the inheritance. This support includes reward for exploring dangerous areas, information, and collaboration with the army. For this aspect, the adventurer job is a respectable job in this world. ¡°Now then, let¡¯s go Yuuko. We still have a job left today.¡± Lexar jumps off the bed and heads outside. ¡°Um, we will be going then. What are you going to do, Makoto?¡± ¡°I will be staying here. Analyzing these stuff will take some time. Good luck training him.¡± Chapter 48: The second battle of Brendhill town (I) Makoto stands on a platform, looking at the never-ending black space in front of her. That black space expands to the extremity of what the eyes can observe, be it above her, under her, to the left or the right. Beside the big building which looks like a museum behind her, she does not see anything else in that black space. Unlike the black sky at night, that black space is so empty, so lonely that she feels so overwhelmed by it. However, because of that, it also helps her refresh her mind, cleaning any messy and random thought in the head. After staring into nothingness for a few minutes, the girl turns back and heads inside the museum. ¡°There is no change observed today.¡± Makoto notes in her record. This is the ninth time she has entered her consciousness. Aside from the first time, every time she enters this place, she records any change happening here, in order to investigate her own ability, and manages to figure a lot of things. Her own consciousness has a form of a museum, full of old antiques. They are human inventions, dating back from the stone age to the current age. She even finds an iPhone, and a VR headset. Sadly that it is the first generation, lack of modern apps like Facebook and Google. Outside the museum is a vast empty space she just visited. Aside from knowing that it is an endless space without any object, she does not figure out anything. No, there is one clue. It is that this space varies from person to person. In Yuuko¡¯s case, there is a very long staircase leading to somewhere. She has inquired Yuuko whether she has tried to walk on that staircase and she has tried that. However, no matter how long she walked, she could not see the end of the stair. ¡°Why is there a long staircase in Yuuko¡¯s space? What does that staircase represent? Where does it lead to?¡± Makoto asks these questions again and again many times, hoping to solve the mystery behind it. By asking the questions from many perspectives, she hopes she can discover a clue or some aspects she is missing. That trick has helped her solving a lot of questions since arriving in this world. However, despite doing so for a long time, she still does not learn anything about the black space. ¡°Forget it, let¡¯s focus on the potions first. There are many potions that I need to figure out how to use them.¡± She then heads to another room inside the museum. Different from the display area with a historical feel to it, this room looks like coming from a futuristic, science fiction fantasy. It is separated from the museum, acting like an extension, a newly built area for the museum, instead of being built there from the beginning with the museum. In that new room, there are several objects floating around. They are the things that Makoto absorbed and turned into her power. At the center of the room, there are six columns of light, each holding a special element inside, representing her most special abilities. White cloud: ability to control white air and wind, obtained from absorbing fire extinguisher. Ice shard: ability to freeze water, obtained from absorbing an ice cube. Water ball: ability to manipulate water, obtained from absorbing water bottle. Electrical spark: ability to generate electricity, obtained from absorbing a socket. Fire: ability to control fire, obtained from absorbing fire. Dirt cluster: ability to control earth, obtained from absorbing dirt. The museum represents her inner consciousness, her personality, while this new room represents her power. She names it the power laboratory, because this room works like a laboratory. Whenever she absorbs an object, it is transported to this room, then analyzed by many machines. After that, it is turned into a form representing her power and gets stored inside a column of light. That is the mechanism of her power: turning the object she absorbs into her own power. At the same time, there is a report detailing all the data gathered about the object. This is another feature of her power: gathering data about the object she observes. This feature has helped her learn many things about this world, whether the program installed in her body or the truth regarding this world. Without a doubt, her power is enough to be considered a cheat, like what many main characters have in stories. However, it is not omnipotent, there are still limits to it. First, there are only 10 columns of light, including the six occupied columns. This means that she has only 10 slots for storing the new abilities. Once she has filled up all the columns, she cannot absorb and add any extra ability. If she tries to do so, she has to replace with one of her current abilities. The six elements are the core of her attacking power and have many other uses. Therefore, she will not replace any of it, leaving only 4 slots left. She has to be careful which power to add in, especially when she needs to leave one or two empty slots to store the power to leave this world and go back to her own world. It¡¯s not like the number of slots cannot increase any further. In the past, she used to have only 3 slots, then increasing to 5 slots after defeating the black liquid monsters, and now she has 10 slots. This proves that her power has the ability to grow. However, that growth relies on defeating the black liquid monsters. In this RPG fantasy world, even though she has leveled up many times by fighting monster, her column capacity does not increase, and the ability to control the elements does not get stronger. Using only the Animium (Makoto named the power of white flame Animium), her power output remains the same as when she was still lv 1 despite the sharp increase in magic stat. To demonstrate the power suitable for her level, she has to convert the Animium into mana first and uses the skill system to materialize the effect she wants. This makes her realize how different the magic in this world and her original ability. The magic skills and the other skills she gains from fighting in this world all rely heavily on the system installed inside her. Even though she uses the Animium to consume the bit inside her body and enhance herself, only her physical body is strengthened and amount of Animium she can use increases. The new skills gained from the system will disappear when she leaves this world. Although she can reproduce the skills with her own power, the proficiency is not very ideal. For example, with the fire magic skill lv 7, she can create a volley of fireballs that shots continuously. However, without the help of the system, she can also make a fireball volley but the frequency, speed and power output are only about a third of when with the system. Therefore, simply burning the bit is just only a crude method to strengthen themselves. It¡¯s like using the crude oil directly for combustion activity. The best way to utilize crude is to refine and separate it into multiple products such as gasoline and kerosene. Not only the burning efficiency is higher, there are other benefits like chemical reagents for pharmaceutical and plastics. The problem that Makoto needs to solve is to find the way to maximize the benefit gained from this system once they return to their own world. The answer lies in the two objects that are still being analyzed in this room: the program and the seed of life. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. *Kleng**Kleng**Kleng* Sounds of metals hitting each other echo in the training area of the barrack. Yuuko is now teaching Johnno how to use a sword. She lets the boy strike the iron rod she is holding, then uses the momentum to either deflect his attack or knock off the sword she is holding. This way, she can explain to him clearer the importance of basic things such as stance, how to hold sword and the way to direct the force. On the side, Lexar is observing the pair of teacher and student with some solders. Perhaps they are already on the break, that¡¯s why they are being relaxed and comment on how the girl teaches the way of sword. Yuuko¡¯s sword art is a style that uses a lot of counter attack technique, utilizing the openings caused by the opponent when attacking and striking back. It is derived from her family style martial art, her own experience with kendo, and also the sword technique she obtains after awakening. The principle is to turn the force of the enemy into one¡¯s own force and combine with one¡¯s own force, doubling the attack power. At the same time, that attack will aim at the opening, the weakness of the enemy, further increasing the effectiveness of the attack. Truly a terrifying combo for any enemy. If there is anything to complain about, it is a very difficult art, requiring good timing skill and techniques. It is something too difficult for the current Johnno to learn. That¡¯s why Yuuko needs to drill in him a lot of foundations, before teaching him any technique. Right now, he only needs to know how to some basic attacks and simple evading movements, enough for him to barely fight for his mortal enemies, the goblins.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The training lasts for more than an hour. At that time, Lexar suddenly has a disturbing feeling. ¡°Something bad is coming.¡± His sixth sense alarms so. He uses his clairvoyance to observe the surrounding but finds nothing strange. As time passes, the danger alarm inside him is ringing more strongly. ¡°Hm, why is that statue shaking? Wait! Shaking!? The ground is shaking!¡± He senses a gradually increasing vibration beneath his feet. *rumble**rumble**rumble**rumble* A strong earthquake comes, shaking everyone under their feet. Several people with unstable standing fall on the ground while many have to lean on the wall. Sounds of several objects falling and breaking occur everywhere. But that is just only the beginning. *BOOM* Suddenly, several pillars rise up from the ground, turning the buildings into rubble. The black pillars rises up to 20 meter high then stop. On top of them, pairs of big yellow eyes are staring down on the humans below, along with the sshh sounds. Only then, the identity of those pillars are clear. ¡°It- It¡¯s the Earth Snake!¡± A solder yells out. ¡°Fuck. What the hell are yellow zone monsters doing here?¡± ¡°You moron. This is not the time to think about that. Hurry up and signal the warning. Prepare for the evacuation of the citizens.¡± The solders express both fear and belief when knowing the identity of the attackers, luckily, some high-rank officers regain their calmness and order the troop into position. ¡°Makoto!¡± Yuuko shouts out and is ready to rush to collapsing buildings. ¡°Wait, Yuuko! Makoto is fine. The place she is in is far from the attack. When facing the crisis, what you have to do is to stay calm first and analyze what is going on.¡± Lexar stops her. Yuuko takes a deep breath, calming down the panic inside her ¡°Thank you. Sorry, I lost my cool.¡± ¡°Sorry, can you tell me what monsters are they?¡± Yuuko catches a solder¡¯s arm and asks him. ¡°They are Earth Snakes, belonging to a giant snake monster group. They are known for the excellent ability to dig tunnel very fast in the ground and big size. Just that alone is enough to cause massive destruction, especially to the cities. They can make the whole base under the city empty and let it collapse in a night. A monster of danger rank B. Anyway, that¡¯s all you need to know. You have to get out of here. We cannot defeat them. Their level are usually above 40. If there is only handle one or two of them, we can handle, but not with multiple of them. This town cannot hold for long. You should evacuate with the citizens and escape here.¡± He warns her then rushes to the army meeting points. ¡°What should we do, Lexar?¡± ¡°You guide Johnno to the town¡¯s center and let him gather with the evacuators. I do not see any snake heading over there so it should be safe. They are only attacking the barracks and town mayor¡¯s home. I will go and help Makoto. She is fine, but there are more problems than expected. The goblins are attacking as well.¡± ¡°What!?¡± ¡°I will explain later. I have to rush to her first. Be careful.¡± Lexar then quickly dashes to the direction of the snakes. Behind the debris, the body of the Earth Snake is sticking out from a hole. Wrapping around the body, a circular container with hatches is opening. Short ugly green creatures are slowly climbing out of it. ¡°Gigigigi¡± The goblins are exchanging something then spreads out to different directions. However, before even spreading out, a gale passes through the area, blowing the dust all over the place. In the midst of confusion, several fire balls come and hit the goblins, incinerating them in an instant. ¡°Using the big snake as an underground train. Good grief. The goblins in this world are really buffed on many levels.¡± Makoto complains as she finishes off the third group of goblins. The attack came when she was in the middle of examining and thinking how to use the potions. The room she stayed was far from where the snake came, therefore, she was nearly harmless. However, when she checked the demolished site, some goblins came out and attacked her. They were all trained goblins with their own classes, different from the wild goblins, but they were still no match for her. Later on, she detected the compartment transporting the goblins on the snake, but that was already too late. The goblins already spread out and killed any human nearby. Until now, she has seen a lot of corpses of people living in this place, and there is no survivor. ¡°Makoto!¡± Lexar reaches out to her. ¡°Lexar, you are ok. How about Yuuko and Johnno?¡± ¡°They are fine. Yuuko is guiding the kid to the safe point. She will come back here after that.¡± ¡°Good. Can you tell me the situation.¡± ¡°As you have seen the compartment with the goblins inside, this is an invasion from the goblins. There are currently 8 giant snakes, and 150 goblins attacking this place. 40 were already killed by you. So there are 110 remaining left. 90 are engaging with the army inside barracks. The other 20 are sneaking around the mansion, avoiding the humans.¡± ¡°Probably a diversion tactic. They are planning something else under the cover of the intense sneak attack. Do you know where the other 20 are going for?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know but they are more armed than the other troops, and also look stronger too. By the way, do you learn anything from those snakes?¡± Lexar inquires her. ¡°Here, take a look at it.¡± Makoto shows a table in front of him.
Sahira Desert Earth Snake Race Giant snake
Class None Level 43
Strength 430 Vitality 880
Resistance 350 Agility 140
Magic 67 Magic resistance 230
Skills
Ecdysis (Lv 4), Hardening (Lv 6), Digging master(Lv 2), Enhanced Strength (Lv 7)
Description: A member of the giant snake family. Famous for the ability to dig into the ground very fast and efficient. Aside from the famous skill of their family, Ecdysis, they can harden their skin to be as hard as metal. Their special attack is metal body slam.
¡°Ecdysis?¡± Lexar asks. ¡°The ability to shed their old skin. These snakes can cast off their old skins, during that process, they will also remove a large portion of injury on their bodies. This makes their recovery ability quite fearsome. Furthermore, these Earth Snakes have a hardening skill, making their skin extremely tough. The stat you see is just only their original stat. With the skill activated, their defense (aka resistance) nearly doubles, amounting up to more than 600. That¡¯s not something we can break simply with just our ability.¡± Makoto explains with a stern expression. ¡°I see¡± Lexar sighs deeply ¡°If that¡¯s the case, the only thing we can do is to quickly clean up the goblins and stop them from achieving their plan. Luckily, the snakes remain standing still after the initial attack. They are probably waiting to disembark all the troops and wait for them to get back inside after accomplishing the objective. ¡° ¡°That¡¯s the plan. Let¡¯s go, Lexar.¡± ¡°Um.¡± The cat nods and dashes forward. ¡°Is the town going to be ok, sis?¡± Johnno worriedly asks. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The current situation is too bad for our side. The only thing we can do now is to try our best to defend this place. Anything after that will come as we handle the situation. Ok, that¡¯s enough. Time to show your ability to keep the promise. Find a safe place and know how to keep your life intact. If you get a single injury after this event, I will kick you out of the team.¡± ¡°That¡¯s too high a hurdle, sis!¡± ¡°That¡¯s my standard. Learn how to cope with it.¡± Yuuko pats Johnno¡¯s head then heads back to the barracks. ¡°Such a strong blood scent. The battle has already started.¡± Yuuko knits her eyebrows as she arrives at the barrack. *Swoosh**Kleng* Yuuko deflects an arrow aiming at her neck. It is an ambush from the 3rd floor of the building. Multiple goblins with bows in hands aim at her and fire at her simultaneously after the sneak attack failed. ¡°Child play.¡± Yuuko deflects all the arrows coming at her. At the same time, she scans the positions of her enemies, then throws the knives at them. It¡¯s not a simple knife throwing. These knives are all enhanced by mana, as well as the force throwing them. In addition, this attack is buffed by three more different skills: penetration, precision, and enhanced strength. Penetration allows the attack to ignore a portion of resistance, and with Yuuko¡¯s Lv 5 Penetration, it ignores 25% of the enemy¡¯s resistance. Enhanced Strength increases the power of physical attack. Precision increases the accuracy of the attack, giving better chance for critical strike. The knives fly like blue streams of light, traveling at the speed of bullet, and pierce through the heads of the goblins, shattering their heads into pieces. However, thing does not go as she expected. One goblin evades the knife completely, quickly hiding inside the building after seeing how powerful Yuuko is. And Yuuko does not miss seeing him. ¡°A goblin with cloth covering its whole face. Looks like a get up as an assassin. Furthermore, judging from its speed and reaction speed, its level is quite high.¡± The girl calmly analyzes the opponent. As she walks slowly toward the building, grey smoke start coming out from the windows, covering the entire upper floor. There is no fire so she guesses it is the effect from an item similar to smoke bomb. *Swoosh* An arrow comes out from the building again, but this time Yuuko does not dare to deflect it. It is because on the body of the arrow, a red stone is attached on. Its identity is a dynamis stone. *Boom* Yuuko has evaded the explosion from the arrow. However, the explosion is only a decoy, covering another type of attack. *Kleng**Kleng**Puff* Three tiny needles are fired at her the moment she evades the arrow. An attack with extremely good timing. The explosion covered the sound as well sight of needles shooting through the smoke. When the stone exploded, it shone very brightly for a fraction of second, making her blind for a short time for a short time as well. That frame of time was so short but so fatal for her. Two needles hit the shoulder armor, but the third one successfully went through the gap between her armor and hit her flesh. The needle does not even manage to pierce through her skin, but the poison smeared on it already takes effect on her. Her shoulder blade skin gives a rotting smell, and turns purple. More importantly, she cannot feel anything on her left arm anymore. Chapter 49: The second battle of Brendhill town (II) ¡°What a lethal poison.¡± Yuuko takes out the needle ¡°Luckily, we have come up with the measurement for dealing with poison attack before. Or else, I would be dead right now.¡± On her shoulder, a white flame appears and spreads on the purple skin area. The flame has the property to burn anything it comes into contact with aside the owner. The poison under her skin is burnt before being able to spread through her whole body by blood, and she manages to keep her life. However, the cells damaged by the poison still remain, making her left arm unusable. Perhaps being shocked by the girl still standing after being hit by the poison, the attack stops for a long time until Yuuko starts moving again. *Pew* The needles are shot again, but there is no cover from the explosive arrow this time. Although the needles are very small and fast, Yuuko can still see them and let them hit the armor on her arm. Her only usable hand which is holding the katana moves back, hanging the weapon around the waist. Mana channels through her arm to the katana, warping both in a blue layer of illuminating light. Air starts to gather and coils around the blade, giving a screeching sound as if it is sharpening the blade. The blue mana on the blade forms razor edges and moves at the high speed. The moment the attack is ready, Yuuko crouches down and releases it. ¡°Kurosawa style: Iai air eater!¡± A quick horizontal slash creates a wave of sharp air blade toward the place where the needles are shot from. While flying faster than the bullet, it destroys everything in its 5-meter diameter surrounding, cutting the concrete like tofu and blowing away all the smoke and dust. That air blade destroys the building, turning it into a pile of rubbles. Such an attack is definitely an overkill for any goblin she has seen so far. However, Yuuko still does not drop her guard as she senses the danger still lurking around. Her warrior instinct warns that the enemy has not died yet. True to her instinct, the rubble of the building starts moving, and from inside, a goblin rises up and pushes away all the stones on it. No, rather than calling it a goblin, it is now a completely different creature. On its back, several green thick tentacles grow and support the goblin body standing on the ground. It is also those tentacles that push away the rubbles and bring the goblin out. It is more accurate to call those tentacles as vines. However, aside from the shape and green color of vines , those tentacles are too thick. Each tentacle is as thick as a 10 cm log. What disgusting about them is the slippery sticky gel on the surface. Perhaps because they came from the goblin¡¯s back, she can see red traces on the tentacles. What stands out the most are the tips of those tentacles, flower buds. Yuuko would consider those flower buds beautiful, if they did not come out from the goblin¡¯s body, being dyed in bloody red, and get attached to those tentacles. ¡°Grrrr!¡± The goblin growls angrily as it looks at its arm, which was gone from Yuuko¡¯s attack. ¡°This is completely unheard of. I did not know that the goblins in this world can be such a terrifying monster.¡± Yuuko stares in disbelief as she observes the scene in front of her. Behind the goblin¡¯s back, those flower buds start blooming and expose their true face. On the petals, pairs of sharp teeth line up, expressing the carnivore nature. Some buds, instead of blooming into a flower, have sharp sickle blades growing out. What catches Yuuko¡¯s attention most is the drool coming from the flowers¡¯ mouth. It is quite faint but she can hear a sizzling sound in the direction of those flowers. Yuuko readies her sword again, witnessing any movement from the monster in front of her. ¡°Roar!¡± Two plant heads close their mouths and bend backward. They then uniformly leans forward, spitting something at the direction of Yuuko. Yuuko dodges the two spits by stepping sideway, leaving two big holes melted by acid next to her. Before Yuuko can shudder, imagining how scary it is to hit her, the goblin makes an unimaginable movement. Many tentacles coil around the goblin¡¯s leg, turning into a spring. With a strong compression, the goblin flies itself at Yuuko¡¯s with extremely high speed. The plant heads are not free either. They spit out the acid shots at Yuuko consecutively. A bizarre barrage of acid shots rains on the samurai girl like a volley of arrows. The acid shots all hit on the girl, punching many holes on her and the ground behind hers. The sound of sizzling because of dirt melting fills the whole area. ¡°Kurosawa style: Illusion sidestep.¡± A girly voice comes. To the goblin¡¯s disbelief, the image of the girl with many holes starts moving as if she is unhurt. On closer look, the holes on her start filling up, returning to its former state, as if the girl starts healing herself.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Illusion side step is a moving technique in Yuuko¡¯s sword art. By wrapping her entire body in a thin layer of mana, combining with the high-speed movement, she can create an after image in her previous location. The afterimage can cause confusion for the enemy, making them miss the attack. However, that is not enough. Afterimage is only effective for those who are unable to catch her movement, those on the level of small fries. That level is not applied to the monster in front of her, which is capable of dodging and surviving her Iai air eater. Although it can be attributed to the far distance between her and the goblin, it is still undeniable that it has good instinct and agility to dodge her attack. For that, another technique is imbued in Illusion Sidestep: Shadow magic. Yuuko does not know how to cast magic in this world. However, one time, when she tried to use some special skills in this world, the system mistook them as part of the shadow magic, giving her this magic skill. Shadow magic, as its name implies, is a type of magic involving shadow. Different from Makoto¡¯s magic skills, it is not attack power oriented. It manipulates people¡¯s senses: be it hearing, seeing, tasting, sensing, and smelling. It is a perfect magic for those who are involved with scouting and assassination. In Illusion Side Step skill, shadow magic erases her image in the opponent¡¯s eyes, leaving only the after image visible. All she needs to do is to do a quick side, leave an after image, let the enemy hit the wrong target, then strike in the unexpected moment. A perfect counterattack skill. Describing the scene is lengthy but what happens only lasts an instant. With an intact body, Yuuko suddenly shows up directly in front of the goblin. Her arm shows a flash, and then the girl¡¯s image disappears before the monster¡¯s eyes. The world seems to run in slow motion. There is no sound occurring from the surrounding. No sound of panic of the people in town, the sound of battle going on in the other places, or the sound of fire burning. The goblin cannot hear anything or move around. Only its eyes can move and see the pitted ground caused by the plant heads on its back. Never in its life, its head feel so tranquil that it hopes for this silence and stillness to last forever. But the clanking sound, the sound of katana drawing back into its scabbard, break that moment of tranquility. The world in front of the monster¡¯s eyes suddenly breaks apart and turns into darkness.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Hearing the notification, Yuuko makes a smile as she turns back and looks at the piles of flesh cut by her. It is the remnant of the strongest monster she has fought in this world except for the snakes. The exp she gained is many times more than any normal, thus letting her level up 5 times.
Yuuko Kurosawa Race Human (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 10 (4)
Strength 230 (120) Vitality 325 (200)
Resistance 190 (146) Agility 280(220)
Magic ??? (error cannot process) Magic resistance 110(80)
Skills
Language Comprehension, Archery (Lv 7), Enhanced Strength (Lv 6), Precision (Lv 8), Penetration (Lv 5), Sword Master (Lv 2), Close combat master (Lv 4), Assassination (Lv 5), Mana enchantment (Lv 7), Shadow magic (Lv 7)
¡°Amazing, so this is the power of leveling up. So much power overflowing inside me.¡± Yuuko mutters as she feels the change in her own body. ¡±To think that such a strong monster is originally a goblin. This monster is stronger than we have thought. We need to reevaluate the danger level of this thing and tell everyone, or else everyone is going to be in danger.¡± The samurai girl dashes off to the next battlefield to do what she should do. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ In another area, a fierce battle is going on. Lexar and Makoto are struggling against only one opponent. It is also a goblin, however, its skin is glowing in red color, with yellow veins popping all over the place, suggesting it as a creature living in volcano or lava. No, it cannot be called a goblin anymore. Except the head and torso remaining the same as goblin, its arms and legs completely change. The five finger hands are replaced by long sickle blades, the same with the feet. On the back, there is an obsidian turtle shield.
Chimera goblin- Prey mantis and lava turtle fusion Race Goblin
Class Knight Level 32
Strength 174 Vitality 135
Resistance 110 Agility 216
Magic 60 Magic Resistance 220
Skills
Enhanced Strength (Lv 4), Penetration (Lv 3), Endure pain (Lv 8), Fire resist (Lv 8), Close combat (Lv 6), Sword combat (Lv 3), Fire magic (Lv 3)
Description: A variant of the chimera goblin species, fusion with prey mantis and lava turtle. It has two pairs of nimble and sharp sickle blades from the prey mantis, and the back shield with the skin of the lava turtle. Although its physical resistance is fragile, it makes up with extremely high agility and magical resistance. Its special attack is to infuse the flame with its blades and attack.
Chapter 50: The second battle of Brendhill town (III) Time went back 30 minutes ago. ¡°Judging from their equipment, those 20 goblins are probably elite squads and have their own classes. They have warriors, mages, shamans, and scouts. A team full of specialized members in different areas, and they are all well trained too. I expect that they have good team working skill. Take out as many as possible the fastest you can, that way they cannot pull off any of their cooperation attack or tactic. You take on the 4 mages, then the scouts. I will detour on their back and strike the 3 shamans.¡± Lexar devised the plan as they headed to where the suspicious goblins were. ¡°Got it. I will strike with my strongest attack at them.¡± nodded Makoto. The two ran across the hallway then split off. The cat jumped out off the window and disappeared under the dark sky, while the girl continued running on the hall. After turning at the corner, the girl finally caught up with the targets. ¡°Fire blast!¡± Her hand extended out and a wave of fire covering the entire hallway came at the goblins. The intense heat wave burnt up all the torches in an instant, and melted the surface layer of the stone wall. When the fire disappeared, the road in front of her was glowing in deep red of heat. Makoto was expecting that the road of heat would continue all the way until the end of the building. However, in her eyes, a thick layer of steam filled the area, blocking the visibility of anything behind it. But, at least, Makoto could see the outline of those who stopped her fire blast. 3 short figures were leaning on the staffs, breathing heavily. Their clothes were tattered in pieces, and under those clothes, the green skins were all burnt heavily with black marks, not because of the fire, but the hot steam rising. Makoto suspected that they had cast a spell called water wall or ice wall, and built a very thick wall, so thick that could negate her most powerful attack. Fortunately, her attack was not a complete failure. Below the standing mage goblins¡¯ feet, there laid the corpses of their comrades: one mage and three warriors. Her attack had depleted all of the mages¡¯ power to cast a defensive spell. It was the best chance for her to cast another spell and finish them off. ¡°Fire blast!¡± The fire lit brightly in front of her palm again. But the enemy would not let her finish it her spell. Several needles flew at Makoto from behind the steam. Still keeping the fire in her hand, the magical girl flicked her hand, creating an ice wall blocking the incoming projectiles, and completed the spell. The fire wave erupted again, this time, melted the hallway until the end and cleared all the steam inside. Contrary to her expectations, she could see that only the 3 mage goblins were caught in her attack. The rest of them were nowhere to be found. ¡°These guys are quite fast. To be able to run fast enough to hide behind the corner and escape from my Fire Blast. This world¡¯s goblins do really get a buff after all. Who the hell classified them as a low class monster? I want to complain to that person.¡± Makoto muttered. On the other side, the goblins that managed to dodge Makoto¡¯s attack did not have a good expression though. Several of them collapsed on the ground, agonizing in pain. ¡°Curse! The intel is completely wrong. This town has a higher level 40 mage. We lost so many high goblins in that attack just now.¡± A goblin cursed in goblin¡¯s language. ¡°That attack power is not some simple level 40 mage can do. She must be a mage specialized in fire spell. Remember how easily she can cast off two powerful spells consecutively. Her level must also be above 50.¡± A warrior goblin analyzed. ¡°The problem is why such a powerful mage followed us. Isn¡¯t she supposed to deal with the Earth Snakes outside? Did they catch our plan ¡­ Buwahh¡± A shaman goblin joined the conversation but suddenly coughed blood due to a strike in the heart. ¡°Fuck, a high-level assassin! Protect the shamans.¡± The warrior goblin readied his weapon and issued the order. Before the rest stood up, a 2nd shaman goblin had his heart pierced. The remaining shaman immediately hid behind the other warriors and cast a spell. ¡°Light magic: Remove concealment.¡± A light illuminated the whole area, revealing a shadow of a cat with its claw digging inside the dead shaman¡¯s heart. Seeing his camouflage dispelled, Lexar hissed at the remaining shaman, then quickly disappeared in the goblins¡¯ view. With the agility¡¯s value higher than Yuuko, it was impossible for any goblin to catch his movement. He jumped up to the ceiling, then used it to shoot toward the remaining shaman protected by the warriors. However, as his claws nearly reached the shaman¡¯s head, a metal surface blocked it. Spark flew as the two weapons collided and separated from each other. In Lexar¡¯s view, several strange creatures were guarding the shaman, protecting it from his claw. Their backs were as bulgy as a turtle shell, consisting of many pieces of metal connecting each other without having a single gap. All of them had the color of obsidian. Lexar did not know whether they were made of real obsidian or not, but their hardness was undoubtable, as he could only make a dent on their shell. Before Lexar could attempt a second attack, several sharp blades were coming at him. The blades attached to the tentacle moved as agile as the motion of a whip, making several slashes at the same time. Lexar jumped up and dodged the attack, while being astonished at the figures of several goblins with tentacles on their bodies. Aside from the blades, some tentacles had the carnivore plant heads attached, revealing their sharp teeth as they opened and aimed at where the cat jumped to. The plants opened fire and a barrage of acidic shots came at him like a storm. The ceiling where the cat was used to be disappeared and revealed the scene where the Earth Snakes rising high in the sky.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°What on earth are these creatures? Are they fucking real goblins? No matter how I look at it. They look more like aliens in scifi story than a fantasy creature.¡± Lexar complained as he dodged the attack. ¡°Nature magic: clear mind, nature magic: sharp sense, nature magic: harden defense.¡± The surviving shaman cast three boosting spells, powering up their allies. ¡°Tch, what an annoying enemy. To think that I failed in killing such an important target. No choice besides going all out in a frontal battle.¡± A layer of mana enveloped the cat¡¯s body as he began getting serious. ¡°*Roar*¡± A lion roar echoed the whole place, vibrating the eardrums of the goblins violently. ¡°Lexar has gotten serious. As expected, the enemy is quite strong. This will be the first time we are fighting while being out-leveled by the enemy.¡± Hearing the roar, Makoto caught up where the enemy were hiding. The goblins were all startled at the sight of the mage girl entering, but soon gained their calm and began organizing. Seven turtle goblins surrounded the shaman, making a tortoise formation with their backs. Spikes extruded from their backs as they completed the formation. The 3 tentacle goblins all focused their attention on the black cat, ignoring the mage girl completely. ¡°You dare to underestimate me? Fine, I will incinerate you turtles together. Fire blast!¡± A wave of fire came at the tortoise formation, engulfing them in the extreme fire. Back to when the group was ambushed, the mage goblins did not react fast enough to cast the ice wall. It was the warrior goblins in the back that reacted in time and transformed into the turtle form. They shielded the mages from the fire temporarily, giving them the chance to cast the ice wall to protect those behind them. However, because they contacted the Fire Blast directly, their shells were melted away, killing them in the process. The same scene repeated again. Parts of their shells started melting and glowed under the extreme heat from Makoto. But the melting stopped when a spell was cast. ¡°High nature magic: high magic resistance, High nature magic: High fire resistance.¡± The shaman goblin cast two high tier spells at once. When the Fire Blast finished, the tortoise formation appeared again, with smoke rising out from the shells. At the frontal part, the shells were deformed horribly that they looked like a bunch of ugly rocks piling up together. Nonetheless, all the turtle goblins survived. This scene shocked both Makoto and Lexar. ¡°Fire Blast!¡± Another wave came again but the tortoise formation stood still under the spell again. ¡°I don¡¯t believe that you can withstand it forever. Take it! Fire Blast!¡± Another Fire Blast came and engulfed the turtle goblins. ¡°One more time! Fire Blast!¡± The formation still remained stable under the 4th Fire Blast spell. Although the shells glowed very brightly, the shells¡¯ shape remained the shape, not deforming any further. Makoto had stopped attacking further, but her hand still extended toward those shells. (I see. Even though they are defending nicely again her attack, they cannot keep it forever. Sooner or later, they will have to bring down those shells, either due to exhaustion or arising situation. At that time, Makoto only needs to strike down. In that case, I have to wrap up the battle over here.) Lexar realized Makoto¡¯s intention. While dodging the acid shots, Lexar still paid close attention to the other battle. He had no idea why the warrior goblins went so far to protect the shaman. But after looking at how they could struggle against Makoto¡¯s strongest attack, he could not help but feel amazed at how fatal the shaman was in their formation. Luckily, they managed to kill all the mages and 2 shamans. Or else, this battle would be much more difficult than imagination. Cladding in a layer of mana, the cat¡¯s speed increased about 1.5 times. Do not underestimate the 1.5 multiplier. In Lexar¡¯s case, even when he was still level 1, his agility was already 152. Not mentioning, his level was now level 5.
Lexar Race Cat, (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 5 (1)
Strength 103 (56) Vitality 143 (70)
Resistance 121 (66) Agility 273 (152)
Magic (error cannot process) Magic reistance 143 (80)
Skills
Enhanced Strength (Lv 3), Penetration (Lv 4), Assassination (Lv 8), Mana Enchantment (Lv 10), Shadow magic (Lv 10), (error data overflow)
With the effect of mana enchantment, his agility point jumped up to 409, far surpassing the speed of any normal creature. When the acid shots nearly hit him, the figure of the cat suddenly disappeared. *Splash* The head of one tentacle goblin suddenly exploded, as well as his heart. In the next second, the two other goblins met the same fate. The vigorous tentacles all became sluggish, losing all the life force and collapsed on the ground, burying the small goblin bodies underneath.
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
Level up!
¡°Heh, so many level ups! These guys are really good exp sources.¡± (Lexar finishes over there. I guess I should wrap over here too. You think that covering 360 degree is enough, huh? Sorry, but you are deadly wrong. There is still a big gap.) Makoto clapped her hands strongly, focusing the imagination in her mind. ¡°Spiral earth spike!¡± A strong earthquake came and a big drill shape spike thrust from beneath the tortoise formation, shooting all the turtle goblins in the sky. Or that was what supposed to be. Behind most of the shells were the wrinkled mummies of the small monsters. There was no trace of life from them as if they were left to dead for a long time ago. The same state also applied to the shaman goblin whose corpse also flew in the air. Amongst those mummies, there was only one goblin still alive. Its skin glowed in deep magma red color while being covered in some obsidian areas. The turtle shell was bigger than normal goblin shell. The five finger limbs turned into long crescent blade arms, making the monster stand on the ground like a spider. ¡°That thing can evolve?¡± Makoto became stupefied as she checked the stat of the chimera goblin in front of her. ¡°Did all of the other goblins perform some kind of ritual, concentrating all of their energy into one member then make him evolve? What an outrageous creature.¡± Lexar was shocked at the development as well. Right after showing its new appearance, the shell on its back glowed brightly in red, not the red caused by overheating things but concentrating energy inside. Making a dash stance by bending its back, the chimera goblin stood up and disappeared. Behind Makoto¡¯s neck, a sharp blade infused with fire stroke in a flash of light. Chapter 51: The second battle of Brendhill town (IV) At the same moment, the town soldiers are engaging with the intruding goblins. The barracks were caught in a surprise attack, resulting in a major damage to the human army. However, this place is the army fortress where most of the soldiers are stationed. With the advantage in number, the scale shifts from the human being in disadvantage to a stalemate. ¡°Fire ball.¡± A human mage cast the spell toward the goblin group. Several goblins suffer heavy burn as the spell hits them. Before the mage rejoices his attack working, a needle lands on his neck. In an instant, the mage¡¯s skin turns into purple, spreading from the neck toward his head and whole body. Later on, when people examine the corpse, they will find out that his muscle nerve and brain give a purging smell as if being rotten for several days. ¡°Careful, goblin assassin. Hurry up locating him. We cannot allow him to roam freely on the battlefield.¡± A warrior shouts. A few pew sounds come and the needles head toward the warrior shouting the order. However, the attack fails as the warrior puts up his shield and blocks all the needles. ¡°Over there! Archers!¡± A warrior from afar switches from a sword to a bow, aiming at high speed at the direction of the assassin. In Vahalla, the warrior class comprises a lot of jobs: including swordsman, spearman, heavy armor trooper, and even archers. In other words, all of the jobs not focusing on magic can be grouped in warrior class. As such, a warrior in Vahalla can use a variety of weapons and work with a different job when required. When the assassin just shows his head out of the cover, the arrow is released, piercing in the middle of the goblin¡¯s forehead. Readying his arrow again, the archer sets off to his next target, a goblin shaman. Different from goblin mage, a shaman is efficient in nature magic. They can give their allies some buffs and heals the others. A target of high priority when one discovers. This shaman is accompanied by a new group of warrior goblins. They form a circle formation and use the shields to cover for their escort. From the center, an incarnation is heard and the currently fighting goblins become more agitated and stronger. Given that many boosting spells have different effects and can stack together, the more spells the shaman can cast, the more dangerous the situation is. The archer starts focusing. As he hides behind the window and the newly arrived group has not grasped the situation yet, now is the best chance to snipe the enemy. Channeling the mana into the eyes, his far vision becomes clearer than normal many times, that he can see clearly the face of his target 500 meters away. His hands are also enchanted by mana, and through them, it travels through the bow and arrow, turning a normal average bow into a temporary magic weapon. With a release, the arrow turns into a blue ray and pierces the air. creating a loud ¡°whoo¡± sound along with it. Making such a noticeable sound while being far away, although the arrow is fast and hard to see, it is easy for the warriors to notice and guard in front of the shaman. The arrow hits straight on the shield with a bang. However, contrary to expectation, the arrow does not bounce off but pierce through the shield and into the head of the guard. And that¡¯s not even the end. Another arrow comes and passes through the hole on the shield and right at the tail of the previous arrow. The stacked arrows puncture a hole in the goblin¡¯s head and continue its flight path toward its final destination, the shaman¡¯s heart. Blood spurts out and the shaman collapses as its heart stops breaks apart. Shock and confusion spread among the guards, causing a gap in defense that lets the archer kill two more of them. With the sniping assist, the battle is slowly tilted to the human side. ¡°Good job, Harold. I know we can count on you.¡± One solder yells his praise as he beheads the last goblin in the current area. ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down, yet. The real thing is still there, without being scratched a single bit.¡± The captain reminded the other units. His words dragged their victory mood down as they observe the most terrifying and the most dangerous creatures in this battle, the Earth Snakes. For unknown reason, the Earth Snake stopped moving and thrashing around the area. Instead, they just stood high in the sky, observing the area. This gave the human side some time to reorganize and issue orders. But then, the goblins suddenly appeared and thus, the current condition. Harold, a level 29 warrior, scans the area for any remaining enemy. Despite his warrior class, Harold is specialized in scouting and archery. His archery skill is very excellent, combining with good scouting and hiding ability, makes him an outstanding assassin, specialized in sniping the enemy from unknown locations and in an unexpected way, giving his nickname ¡°Magic arrow¡±. Being a high-level unit, he is assigned a task to go assist the fight on many fronts. He has helped the army retake the barrack and repelled the enemy in several places. However, that is his 2nd priority task. His primary mission is to investigate the goblin¡¯s plan. Being taken by surprise in the last attack from the goblin, it is taken that the goblins will prepare something unexpected and that becomes a reality. There are many strange points regarding this invasion. First is the enemy force. There is a vast difference between this and the previous invasion. The latter only has two high-level goblin with class, while this time, there are too many high-level goblins with class, rather, all the goblins he has seen have classes, be it warrior, scout, mage or shaman. Their worst equipment is at least about as rank E adventurers, who have basic bearable defense, and the best of them is about C rank. A drastic improvement in troop¡¯s quality.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The second point is that they can control the Earth Snakes. Defeating one of them can prove to be quite a challenge, not mentioning taming them. He heard that only tamer at the tier of commander can tame such ferocious beast. It is unthinkable that the goblin can tame and control so many Earth Snakes at once. This implies that in the goblin army, there must be a level 40 and above goblin with tamer class, and it is near here. His priorities include locating this being. And lastly, it is their technology. He has investigated where the goblins came from and the truth shocked him. The compartment on the Earth Snake is very durable and does not hinder the snake while digging underground at all. Based on how elaborate their strategy developed in the previous and this invasion, it is confirmed that there is someone with intelligence behind all of these. According to the adventurers who arrived at the town, a goblin king has appeared and possesses a cultivator inheritance. Such information is not verified yet, but the higher up leans to believe it, because a cultivator inheritance is that powerful and mighty, enough to change how one can perceive the whole race or a country. After confirming there is no enemy nearby, Harold proceeds to check the corpse of the shaman. Going from battlefield to battlefield, his job is to locate any high ranking goblin and tries to get anything out of them. It is common for the mage or shaman to bring along some parchments or writings, which contain information. Unfortunately, there is none on this one. At that time, a loud explosion occurs, blowing out the building wall. When everyone turns to the source, a hole made by intense fire melting the brick appears. From there, a creature on fire jumps out, followed by a small black shadow. ¡°What on earth is that monster?¡± *rumble**rumble* Before he can look clearer at the newly appearing monster, the Earth Snake starts moving and thrashing around, destroying the buildings. Luckily, all the personnel near the monsters were given the order to evacuate already, so there is no need to worry about casualty at the moment. However, the solders all have to brace themselves, as the giant snakes will come at them after the building. They must get their attention before the snakes move the target to the evacuating citizens, and until the reinforcement comes. Little do the soldiers know, outside of the town wall, another army is slowly approaching. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. When the chimera goblin brings its scythe down Makoto¡¯s neck, the blade contacts a layer of transparent ice. The ice is hard and durable, capable of blocking any normal weapon, but before the fire on the blade, it is still cut through as easily as butter. Even so, that blade is successfully stopped by Makoto¡¯s 2nd defense. From her neck to half of her face. the white soft skin is replaced by multiple grey scales. Those scales are very hard, hard enough to stop the blade from cutting Makoto¡¯s neck further. The goblin is shocked, as it realizes those scales are similar to those from the Earth Snake. ¡°How dare you!¡± Lexar suddenly appears and strikes with his claws. Realizing the danger, the mantis goblin quickly jumps back, distancing from Makoto and Lexar. ¡°You ok, Makoto?¡± ¡°No problem, just a single scratch on the neck. That was close, luckily I absorbed a scale from that giant snake and earned the skill ¡°Harden¡±. Or else, I would be a headless now. Sorry, but I am counting on you to take care of it. My eyes are not fast enough to catch its movement.¡± Makoto touches the neck side where the goblin hit. Blood flows out from the gap of her fingers. ¡°Besides, my physical resistance is not enough to block another attack like that. I will become a hindrance for you at this rate, if it keeps targeting me. That¡¯s why I can only focus on defending now. Forgive me for not being able to give you any support.¡± Saying that, she creates a barrier of ice, then a layer of earth wall enclosing her. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can take care of this myself.¡± Confirming her safety, Lexar turns to the goblin again. Both sides glare at each other, wary of their opponents. The goblin realizes that the small cat¡¯s speed is much faster than before, not losing behind his fast speed movement, while the cat wonders how such a monster can move at a speed above 350 agility point. Seeing the glowing back shell slightly dimming, a thinking comes to Lexar and he uses his full speed to charge at the enemy. Spark flies as the chimera goblin and a cat exchange clash. With Lexar¡¯s advantage over agility, he manages to hit several times after a few exchange, but they are not serious. The goblin¡¯s high sword skill does not fail it. But after getting the first hit, the goblin has to shift from attacking to guarding, and slowly becomes passive. However, despite defending, the red turtle goblin has to keep moving at high speed, otherwise, it will lose sight of the cat and let it attack its blind point. Lexar moves in a very unpredictable manner. Like a mosquito suddenly disappearing in one¡¯s eye, his figure can be lost if the red goblin does not move in high speed and focus attention. Dashing, backing, jumping up and down, and circling around. The cat can do all of that in a fraction of second, and his moving pattern is very confusing. Although the goblin has its shield on the back and only needs to focus on the front, the attack still comes from a very tricking angel, bypassing its guarding stance, and injures its flesh body. As time passes, the red shell becomes dimmer and dimmer, and the goblin can no longer keep the speed above 300 agility point, resulting receiving heavier wounds than before. When both sides stop and glance at each other again, the goblin is drenched in blood. Cuts all over the body, left scythe hand is completely cut off, blades on the other hands are chipped off in different places. The only intact parts are the turtle shell on the black, which now only has obsidian color and its head, which it desperately defends every attempt. The cat does not have it easy either. His elongated claws are also chipped, the paws are slightly burnt because of contacting the flame blade. But that¡¯s pretty much nothing compared to the other side. Furthermore, Lexar knows how to heal. ¡°Heal.¡± A green aura wraps around Lexar¡¯s body, healing his paws and claws. The cat has shown up a trick in his sleeves, and so does the goblin. The long blade arm retracts, turning into a five-finger hand. That hand puts in the pocket on his belt and takes out a syringe. Without any hesitation, the goblin stabs the syringe on his neck, injecting the fluid inside. The cooled down turtle shell glows in red again, though not as red before. Its eyes become bloodshot, filled with ferocity and violence, losing the craftiness of the goblin. Lexar dashes at the enemy, going for round 2 between them, but the other side does not intend to comply. It turns its back from the cat, showing the red-hot shell. The shell glows very brightly, turning from red color to dazzling white, illuminating the whole area. *BOOM* A blast comes and a hole on the building¡¯s wall appears. The goblin immediately turns back and uses its fastest speed to run out. Its hand holds a small whistle and brings it to the mouth, blowing an inaudible sound. The turtle goblin has made all the effort and attention to come out and blow that whistle, not noticing a black shadow land on its neck. Chapter 52: The second battle of Brendhill town (V) ¡°Is it over?¡± Makoto dispels the defense and steps out when Lexar kills the red goblin. *rumble**rumble* An earthquake comes and shakes the floor where Makoto is standing. A moment later, cracks start appearing on the walls and falling apart, leading to the whole building crumbling. *swoosh* Makoto flies out off the hole with the wind propelling. When she turns back, a disastrous wave of destruction caused by the giant monsters occurs in front of her eyes. ¡°Graaao¡± The Earth Snakes roar loudly as they slam and swing their tails at the building. They act in a chaotic and crazy manner, like the one controlling them just died. ¡°Is it because their special squad is annihilated that they start acting amok and destroy everything? Damn it. Because I cannot extract memory from the dead creatures, I cannot investigate why they sent out a special squad.¡± Makoto bites her finger, thinking hard how to deal with the situation. ¡°Makoto.¡± A cat falls next to her feet. ¡°You are amazing, Lexar. That red goblin is so fast yet you managed to kill it. However, its death brings a more troublesome problem.¡± ¡°What will come will come. We cannot avoid it. By the way, Makoto, have you noticed anything out of place?¡± ¡°Out of place? There are too many things out of place here. Why do the goblins can tame so many monsters that are much stronger than them? Why do they stop acting and not destroying this place? And many more things.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. But let us change our perspective. We have been analyzing a lot about the enemy, but what about our side?¡± Lexar gives a hint. ¡°Our side? ¡­.. Wait, where is the town manor, Sir Brian? He ought to be the highest authority here. He should have been here and commanded the army. Why is he nowhere to be seen?¡± ¡°Probably his disappearance is related to the objective of the special goblin squad. I have investigated the locations where the snakes came from. They selected the buildings used for dwelling and other facilities. But places like the weapon, food storages, and treasuries are not attacked. We can assume that there is something there and the goblins do not want to destroy them. But the strange thing is that the special squad goblins do not head there but a certain direction. That gives us two clues. First, they are knowledgeable about this place¡¯s layout and know what they want. Second, this military base is hiding something that the goblins want and is afraid to accidentally break it, not letting the Earth Snake go on rampage. More importantly, this thing is something that Brian knows and headed there immediately to protect right when we were attacked.¡± ¡°Then what on earth is that thing? We have just come here and barely know anything. We have no idea what it can be.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t we just ask a solder? Maybe he can tell us something useful.¡± ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. Harold strugglingly runs from building to building. His movement is quick and nimble, jumping from roofs to roofs, floors to floors on the different buildings in a more professional manner than park out experts. If there is a game nerd here, he will definitely shout ¡°Wow, assassin creed.¡±, judging from his get-up: a hood covering his head and a cloak over the whole armor body. The cloak is not only there to dress up like a scout. It is a magic item that is enchanted with invisible spell, making it hard for people to detect him. Dark magic can serve the purpose, but as his proficiency with it is not good enough at the moment, relying on item is the answer. The snakes have started their rampaging, attacking both the soldiers and buildings. If they let the snakes keep on freely, the casualty will be massive. His objective is to go to a further vacant area, get on an open space and shoot the snakes in their eyes. That way, he can attract their attention to the vacant area, lowering the casualty to the other soldiers.Stolen story; please report. Buildings can be built again easily with magic, but the life of the competent soldiers can take years of training and fighting. The soldiers have an important mission: achieve the class change to commander class or true mage. Only by becoming a commander or true mage, he can be the true protector of the country. The seeds of future commanders and true mages lie in those young soldiers. Harold is already above 40, an age near to retirement, but has not yet achieved the commander class, a sign of only mediocre talent and ability. A man of his age, still being placed in the green zone, means a failure in career to him. Although he is respected for being an upstanding solder, it still pains him when he realizes that he is one of the oldest soldiers in this town. Realizing his incompetence to be part of the true national force, he devotes all of his effort in whatever he can do to create a better path for the younger generation. He does not hesitate to sacrifice himself to save more soldiers. Reaching the roof of the watching tower, he watches over the entire battlefield. Soldiers busy with fighting the goblin, attacking the Earth Snake, dodging their attack, citizens evacuating under the adventurers or soldiers¡¯ command. The scene of a losing city etches in his mind. He does not know when the reinforcement will arrive but as an aged veteran, he chooses to draw the enemy¡¯s attention to himself, not only minimizing the damage on the soldiers, but also to buy more time for the reinforcement. Harold takes out a vial from his pocket and drinks it. The cold bitter liquid flows in his throat, later gives a warm feeling through his stomach. That warm feeling starts to move upward, through his spine, and reaches his brain, then flows to his eyes. The strange energy flowing in his eyes and brains give Harold a brief feeling of enjoyment in this chaotic night. Archery potion, a potion that gains the consumer a power-up when using the archery skills, increases accuracy, concentration and far sight. It lasts for several minutes depending on the user. A very powerful consumption item for any archer in this world. Just consuming it can raise the one¡¯s archery skill proficiency one to two levels for a brief period of time. Therefore, this is a very hot product and always sold out when a new batch comes out despite its expensive price. Harold only has one vial and now is the right time to use it. ¡°Eagle eye¡± ¡°Sharp concentration.¡± ¡°Night vision.¡± Three skills boosting his vision are used. Right now, he can see things clearly 5 km away, even in the dark. He can see clearly the yellow eyeballs moving around even with this distance. His target is clear to see. From his back, Harold takes out an arrow. It is not an ordinary arrow with the body made of wood and feather tail, but a whole body made of silver metal. With a close examination, one can see tiny runes carved along the body, a proof of a magic enhanced weapon. This arrow is called Mythril arrow, made with Mythril, a rare metal used in magecraft. It has the property to retain the full power of the enchantment cast on it for a long time, making it the common component for all magic items and weapons. This arrow is embedded with a homing spell, automatically following target until it hits, a god sending feature for all the rangers in the world. By setting the target with a spell, all the archers need is to enhance the arrow to the maximum, using all the skills he has, and release it. With Harold¡¯s current ability, he cannot kill the snakes with only a few of these arrows, but that¡¯s enough to draw their aggro. Drawing the arrow on the bow, he sets his target on a snake at the center of five more snakes. With that one in enraged, it will attract the attention of those nearby, possibly dragging more of them to come along and target him. Mana flows again in his hand, the bow and the arrow. The blue aura wraps around the silver arrow beautifully, making it more mystical than ever. However, Harold does not release it but still keep it on the string. The mana aura on the arrow becomes brighter and brighter, bright enough to cover the whole outline of the arrow, and shine like a big white torch in the dark sky. ¡°Arrow cannon, fire.¡± A boom sound and the arrow flies in the sky. It draws a white arc on its track and heads with a high speed toward its destination. Like a shooting star in the sky, it appears for a short moment and disappears, followed by a loud explosion on one snake¡¯s head. ¡°Gaaaaaaahhh!¡± The snake cries in pain as one of its eye is charred black upon contacting the arrow. It furiously turns to the direction of the arrow, glaring with intimidation at the culprit. The ruckus also stops the other snakes, making them all turn toward the same direction. A second later, a second white arrow comes, heading to another snake far away from the previous target. The snake moves its head away, but the homing feature kicks in, turning a sharp angel at the snake¡¯s surprising face. An explosion comes and the snake appears behind the smoke with one of its eye closed. ¡°Khhhaaaaa¡± A monster scream comes like a signal, and all the snakes move in one direction, the watchtower where the outstanding archer stands. ¡°With this, I can buy some time for everyone.¡± Surprised by the result, Harold is overjoyed with his agro drawing working much better than expected. He then braces his self, preparing to drag out as much time as possible. In a corner of the battlefield, a girl in samurai armor stands there, hand holding on a katana piercing a goblin¡¯s head. She mutters ¡°So that¡¯s how the archery in this world works like.¡± Chapter 53: The second battle of Brendhill town (VI) *rumble* *rumble* The Earth Snakes move with fast speed, wrecking every construction on their path. Their objective is only one, the soldier standing on the watching tower. ¡°How terrifying. Only by seeing them moving together like that I know how much destructive they are. But that¡¯s also more of the reason I have to buy more time for the others.¡± Harold starts moving, running toward the empty residential area. Jumping from building to building, with the mana boost, Harold has finally entered the residential area. However, at this moment, the snakes already catch up with him, one snake opens its mouth wide, ready to plunge and swallow him whole. *Kleng* A sound of a metal hitting the wall, and Harold immediately moves to the right at high speed. Rather calling him moving, something forcefully drags him to the right and he just allows himself to be pulled like that. The abrupt movement causes the snake to miss, only slamming at the buildings without affecting the solder a little bit. The old scout is pulled to the top of another building and kicks on the roof, ready to run in another direction. Before continuing, he collects a hook attached to a string coiling around a column. Confirming that the hook is functional, he nods then continues to escape. Confused by the sudden escaping of the prey, the snakes stop for a moment then continues pursuing. What does the destruction caused by several Earth Snakes look like? imagine multiple container trucks simultaneously running randomly into the buildings in the city, crashing every wall in their places, and still keep going at high speed without caring. The whole residential becomes a ruin in only a few seconds. In the midst of that destruction, Harold still survives. He jumps agilely from building to building, dodging every snake coming at him by only a few meter apart. His hook allows him to move in an unpredictable manner that the snakes have no way to catch him accurately. However, everything has a limit. Moving so intensely without taking a breath wears both his physical and mental state down. The hook flies again in the mid-air, but it bounces off the wall, not landing on the edge of the targeted building. The sound of it hitting the wall tells him that his time has come to an end. (Ah, it seems that I have reached my limit. I guess it is the end for me here,) That is his thought when he closes his eyes, with a mouth opening right behind him. *BOOM* Part of the building next to Harold is suddenly blown away, kicking off a dust smoke covering the entire area. Affected by the sudden wind, Harold stumbles, nearly falls off the roof until regaining his balance right at the edge. ¡°What are you doing? Hurry and move away! There are more of them.¡± A girl''s voice shouts out. Controlled by the hard trained instinct, the solder immediately recovers the hook and throws it to a different building, moving out of the smoke area. Only then, he sees the appearance of his new reinforcement. A girl in full body red armor with unseen design, her arm is carrying a long curved sword with a long handle. He is not unfamiliar with her, one of the few honor guests of the mayor¡¯s house. Despite being a young age, she has an aura of a seasoned warrior. Thus, she stands out a lot in the soldiers¡¯ eyes, in a positive way. ¡°You should not come here. I am luring them here to buy more time for the mayor. He will soon contact with the reinforcement and bring them here. Only then, we can strike back and kill these snakes. Girl, you are a strong warrior and I do not deny that, but this is not the place for you to die. Only an old man like me is enough to fulfill this task.¡± Mistaking her intention being the same as him, he advises the girl. ¡°We do have reinforcement? That¡¯s great. But waiting for them is too long, and when they arrive, there will be no one left. I cannot allow that. That¡¯s why I will kill all of these snakes right now.¡± says Yuuko confidently. ¡°What nonsense are you talking? Go back to where you were now!¡± ¡°Sorry, but that¡¯s already too late.¡± Yuuko turns to the area in dust. The dust has settled, leaving the area visible. The snake surfaces from behind the building. However, there is a deep red scar on its eyes, making the Earth Snake more intimidating when glaring at the culprit of its injury. ¡°You see, old man. The aggro is on me now. You should use this chance to escape. With you here, it will be more a hindrance to me than helping.¡± Yuuko speaks while spinning the handle of her blade. Seeing the situation, Harold knows that the girl in front of him is much stronger than him. Using the sword to create an air blade and deal that much destruction. That¡¯s the power of those in the realm of the Sword Commander. He expected that she is quite strong, but not to the extent of a commander. Different from the normal soldiers, commander tier officers are a whole different league, having a strategic meaning in the battlefield. Perhaps, she has something that can turn this situation around. ¡°I understand. Then I shall leave it to you.¡± He salutes then quickly moves away from the battlefield. Seeing the source of this chaos running away, some snakes run after him, only get stopped by an air blade that cuts a whole building apart.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°You shall not pass, monsters.¡± Yuuko says calmly. To get all the attention from the snakes on her, her katana glows brighter in the blue color, along with louder screeching sound in the air. The snakes can all sense that weapon is extremely dangerous, more than the arrow cannon that the archer just shot. *Puff* With a sound, Yuuko¡¯s image suddenly disappears in every monster¡¯s eyes, along with the screeching sound. Before any snake can understand anything, the screeching sound comes again but from a different location. Yuuko appears on top of a snakehead, sword pointing down on its forehead. With a strong stab, the katana pierces through the giant skull. Netherless, the snake still survives, screaming in agony and thrashing around in order to shake her off. Yuuko still holds the katana tightly. A screeching sound suddenly plays in the air. Around the blade that is embedded inside the snake''s head, mana forms sharp razor edges and they moves with a high speed, tearing the brain tissue inside. This is one of Yuuko''s new techniques as she researched the use of mana these last few days. With her current mana manipulation level, aside from embedding mana inside weapon to temporarily powering it up, she can condense mana around the blade to a high concentration, and give it concrete forms surrounding the weapons. By giving a flow to mana, the edges arround the blade can move at a high speed, making the weapon more deadly. Right now, what Yuuko holding is a chainsaw, and she is currently chainsawing the skull of a giant monster. With a swing downward, the magical saw splits the upper skull into halves, ejecting blood and tissues all over Yuuko¡¯s body.
Level up!
Rained in blood and meat, Yuuko does not pay any heed to either of them. She just coldly stares at the remaining monsters surrounding her. Her icy cold glare, along with the deep red armor covered with blood, makes all the snakes shudder in fear, temporarily forgetting that they are the ones in advantage here. Another puff sound and Yuuko disappears again. She later appears on another snake¡¯s head and stabs strongly in the skull. However, this time, she meets a greater difficulty. The snakeskin turns into metallic color and her sword meets a greater resistance while traveling through the thick skull. In the end, she manages to pierce through and the time takes much longer, 5 seconds. Seeing another of its friend being done again, the snakes again become frenzy, forgetting all the fear they experienced. One snake swings its tail at the victim¡¯s head, where Yuuko is standing. Unable to cleave the skull easily, she just pulls out the katana straightly and disappears again. She quickly appears on another snake¡¯s head, but before she can stab the sword, another tail comes straight at her. The snakes figure out Yuuko¡¯s strategy and adopt a plan to counter it. Each snake will look at the other¡¯s head and get ready to swing the tail when there is a shadow appearing. Describing is long, but from the time Yuuko killed the first snake to the next one, only 15 seconds. However, such a brief period is enough for the snakes to form a plan to counter and coordinate perfectly. It is a very hard feast for the humans, not mentioning wild monsters with only simple idea of cooperation. In other words, there is someone controlling these monsters, and that person is quick at assessing the situation and gives appropriate plan. Even so, that only hinders Yuuko a little bit, only a little bit. After several attempts of hitting each other¡¯s head, Yuuko still mysteriously disappears and appears between them. Right now, several snakes have their heads smashed by their comrades and spin around in dizziness. It does not take long to realize that the whole area becomes a mess with the snakes tangling each other. In that midst of confusion, Yuuko successfully kills two more Earth Snakes with the chainsaw. During that time, she realizes one thing. If a snake is standing still, that one is using the skill Harden, which explains why she met hard resistance when stabbing some snakes. Therefore, her targets are those moving around their tails to swing at her. Luring one to hit another then lure another one to hit the one that just hits. The end result is that one that does not use the Harden skill and gets hit in the head. There is no easier target than that. Quick thinking but short sight, that¡¯s Yuuko evaluation of the new strategy the snakes adopt. No doubt that the controller is confused now that more than 30 seconds have passed but there is no change in their behavior. Only about a minute has passed and 4 more snakes are killed that they change their tactics. They adopt a defensive form, using the body coiling around the head and harden them. Multiple chunks of metal now stand in the middle of the residential area in silence. ¡°I see. You don¡¯t dare to attack recklessly now so you defend yourself now. Good trying, but it is too late. That harden skin cannot stop me anymore.¡± Yuuko opens her table and checks her status.
Yuuko Kurosawa Race Human (error cannot process)
Class (error cannot process) Level 19 (10)
Strength 564 (230) Vitality 1030 (325)
Resistance 333 (190) Agility 445(280)
Magic ??? (error cannot process) Magic Resistance 230(110)
Skills
Language Comprehension, Archery (Lv 7), Enhanced Strength (Lv 6), Precision (Lv 8), Penetration (Lv 5), Sword Master (Lv 2), Close combat master (Lv 4), Assassination (Lv 5), Mana enchantment (Lv 7), Shadow magic (Lv 7)s
¡°Honestly, the change is so rapid that I do not feel that this is my body anymore. I have to be careful touching something or I will accidentally break it.¡± Yuuko does some sketches and exercises to get used to the new status of her body. Now that the monsters are standing still now, she can afford to have some free time to take a break. Furthermore, due to the rapid level up, her body starts reconstructing itself, and her left arm can start moving again. Clutching hands rapidly to get a feel of her lost hand again, Yuuko proceeds to hold the katana with both hands. The firm feeling of holding the sword properly again gives Yuuko a great joy. She cannot help but want to test out her new full power. Approaching the snake slowly, she holds the sword high and swings it down. A gale blows around her and the lump of mass in front of her is cleaved into two parts, then later falling into several segments of the Earth Snake. Chapter 54: Encounter with the summoned heroes ¡°Are you okay, Hitomi?¡± A girl in mage clothing shakes her friend¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Oh, sorry. My bad. I was just spacing out again.¡± Her friend whose thinking got interrupted replies with a low voice. ¡°Get a hold of it, Hitomi. It will be dangerous if you space out like that in the middle of a battle, you will be injured, you know.¡± ¡°Sorry for worrying you, Airi. It¡¯s just that I feel very nervous, you know, with so many towns being under attack from the goblin army.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can understand that. I heard that things are quite bad in the places the other groups go. The place that Kaito¡¯s group went to suffers the most. It¡¯s said that there were already more than 40,000 people died when the reinforcement request arrived.¡± ¡°So, finally, we are going to step into the battlefield, right? Into a warzone, as a student.¡± A timid girl next to Hitomi says worriedly. ¡°I know that you hate fighting, Kazuko. But your healing is necessary. A lot of people are injured and they need your help. We will also have to rely on you when we get hurt too.¡± Grabbing the timid girl¡¯s hand, Airi says with a begging voice. ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I agree to go along with you to the battlefield. Not to fight, but to save the life of the people. But you can understand it too, right? Stepping into a real battle without anyone looking after you, having to adapt to the situation with the right judgment, making a correct decision what to do and what not to, giving instruction to people. All of these actions can determine the life and death of one person or many. Just thinking about the responsibility makes my shoulder feel heavy.¡± Kazuko whose job determined is a priest replies. Hitomi and Airi become silent as they hear her friend¡¯s words. They know that this is a trial they must face when accepting their identities as the summoned heroes. The country Vahalla is facing a national crisis. Right in its territory, a goblin army suddenly appeared and attacked every town and villages it came across. It¡¯s not a simple monster wave, but a calamity to those who heard of it. Brendhill town is not the only place currently under attack. After the first wave destroying a lot of the villages, a second wave has come, targeting the surviving towns from the previous wave, with a completely different scale of power. Not only the level of the goblins is higher, they are also more organized, have more classes. Furthermore, there is a report that some of them have grown parts belonging to different monster species. To add to that, the goblins also tame high-level monsters as part of their elite forces and devise strange strategies that are giving the ones commanding headache. The country has given orders for the cities and strongholds to send out reinforcement to the towns, but an unexpected development halts such order. A large army from the demon country is stationed at the border. As a result, a majority of the army and elite forces are forced to station at the border for the incoming battle with the demons instead of supporting the towns. However, despite stationing there, the demon army does not move at all. They just silently stare at the human¡¯s wall and army while organizing a battle formation. Meanwhile, aware of the crisis inside the country, the human army does not dare to make any initiative to attack at all and does the same thing as the demon army, organizing the troop without actually fighting. Thus, a strange battle of starring starts between two races. Comparing to the threat caused by the goblin army, the demon army is much more of the concern. Therefore, the reinforcement sent to the towns is cut down and become not enough, that¡¯s when the summoned heroes come to use. Being only recently summoned, and just recently consenting to fight for the human side, the summoned heroes have been only trained with the human trainers so far, getting only the fundamentals of fighting in this world. Even so, the quality of the summoned heroes shines brightly in Vahallad royalty''s eyes. After two weeks of instruction, from being non-combatant with zero experience, they can already fight as skilled as veteran soldiers, reaching the level of the commander or true mage in a short time. But that is still not enough for the battle with the demons. With the appearance of the goblin army, the king uses this as a chance to sharpen the blades of these heroes, giving them a chance for real combat experience, a chance to level up and mature as real fighters for humanity. The heroes are divided into many groups, sending to different towns as reinforcement. The group that Hitomi is in will go to the Brendhill town. These three girls will lead a group of solders from the royal capital to help defend the town. The king heavily emphasized that the survival of the town depends on them. In Tristina, there exists a device called teleporting gate, allowing nearly instant traveling between two connecting gates regardless of distance. This powerful magic device can only work by being powered a large of amount of mana, provided by a mana reactor. Both are very expensive and hard to produce, making them quite few in number. Even so, the country Vahalla is special, sparing no effort to possess a large amount of them, and install them in important places throughout the country, creating a network of teleportation portals. The group will use this network to travel to their appointed places.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. After waiting for more than an hour, the teleporting gate finally finishes setting up and connecting to the other side. The hero group consisting of three girls: a martial artist Hitomi, a priest Kazuko, and a mage Airi check their equipment for the last time. Accompanying with them is a group of knights whose levels are between 30 and 50. ¡°May I have a word, Lady Tanaka Kazuko?¡± A person in plate armor approaches. His twin horn helmet and red cloak differ him from the rest of the knights, indicating him being an upper rank. ¡°You can drop the honorific, knight commander. Is there anything you would like to say?¡± ¡°Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but I think that you are thinking too much about it. We are fully aware that you are still inexperienced and need training. That¡¯s why we are here to help and advise you when the need arises. Although this is not what I should say, you should not pressure yourself too much because of his majesty¡¯s words.¡± ¡°He is right, Kazuko. What we should concentrate now is to do what we are good at. Things like giving out order or accessing the situation, we still have much to learn and require help from the commander and those at the scene. Stop thinking too much about those. Knight commander, I trust that you can give us the best instruction so that we can perform the best on the battlefield.¡± Hitomi says. ¡°Yes, thank you for giving such an honor.¡± The knight commander bows in respond. ¡°Yosh, the gate has finished setting up. Let us all depart.¡± Hitomi signals to everyone present. ¡°¡±¡±¡°Yes!¡±¡±¡±¡± All the personnel respond at the same time. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­. Embracing the resolve to march through the battlefield, fighting a horde of monsters and overcoming danger and death, Hitomi and her friends brace themselves for a fight staking their life on. However, the situation at hand no longer requires them to do so. The fight is already over. When they pass the teleportation gate and meet Brian Rondo, who is the town mayor and commander of the local army, an urgent messenger comes in and says ¡°The Earth Snakes are defeated. We have won, Sir!¡± Surprise appears on everyone¡¯s face as they hear the news. From what they know, this town is nearly doomed. With more than 20 Earth Snakes above level 30 accompanying with hundreds of goblins with specialized classes, there is no way that this town could hold long, and now suddenly someone says that all the Earth Snakes are defeated. Such a contradiction can make everyone doubt what they are listening. ¡°Tell me the details. How can the snakes be defeated when I just felt the trembling they caused just a moment ago?¡± Brian grabs the messenger at the collar, shaking him violently. ¡°It is the truth, sir. The mysterious warrior girl that came yesterday slain those snakes with just a few slashes. And before we realized what was going on, all the snakes were in pieces, scattering around the ruins of the residential area.¡± The messenger hurriedly replied. ¡°That girl? I know that she is strong, but to think that she can kill all those snakes with ease. I really have underestimated her. I guess her background being the disciple of a solitary master is true. What about the other girl?¡± ¡°We have seen her in a different area. It seems like she fought an elite unit of goblins. It looks like a hard fight as the building they fought in is now in ruin. Traces of magic skill belonging to upper-rank true mage are present. I believe that the elite goblin unit was quite powerful but she managed to take them all down.¡± ¡°I see. So how about the rest of the goblin army?¡± ¡°Despite their specialized classes and surprise attack tactic, we managed to kill all of them with a moderate casualty. However, the overall damage is quite intense, with a lot of non-combatants and combatants dead by the rampaging of the snakes and the elite goblin unit. We have lost more than 1000 people tonight, with many injured heavily.¡± The messenger reports. ¡°Haiz. Such a heavy loss for the town. To think that we have lost so many people so fast in a single night.¡± ¡°Sir Brian, may you hear my request?¡± The knight commander approaches and speaks up. ¡°Yes. If there is anything I can offer, I will help. Sorry for making you come over here, taking away the opportunity from the other town to receive help when we can manage it by ourselves.¡± The town mayor apologizes. ¡°That is unnecessary. I doubt that you expected that you could fend off the sudden attack as well. May I have a meeting with the two people you mentioned just now? I think we will need their help to provide us the information on the enemies they fought. Unlike the low-level monsters, high-level monsters require a lot of information and planning in order to subjugate them. Asking for this information from them can benefit us greatly as we can quickly come back and send this knowledge to the other towns, helping them making a strategy. If possible, if we¡¯d like to have their cooperation to come with us and help the other towns. With their powerful force, we can save more people in shorter time. Of course, we will reward them appropriately after everything is over.¡± ¡°This matter I cannot decide. As you have heard, they are disciples of a solitary master. Their perception can be very strange at time. Although they are quite open-minded and have a kind heart, they are also quite careful about everything at the same time. I can ask them to meet you but everything after that I cannot help.¡± ¡°No, what you have just said helped me a lot. I will try the best to negotiate with them.¡± ¡°Very well. You heard them. Send a message to those two immediately.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The messenger receives the order and gets ready to leave. However, a voice stops him from doing so. ¡°There is no need for that. I am already here.¡± A girl in black witch clothing appears behind the door, accompanied by a cat next to her feet. ¡°Now I know why you are missing when the outside is a mess.¡± ¡°Good evening, Makoto Tachibana. Your words really shame me. This place is very important so I have to come here and defend it.¡± Despite being surprised by her sudden appearance, Brian quickly gains composure again and greets the girl. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I can understand it. Seeing so many strong people in this room, I believe that your priority is put on the right thing.¡± The girl strides into the room, assessing everyone in front of her. ¡°Makoto Tachibana? A Japanese name?¡± Hitomi lowly mutters. At the same time, Makoto focuses on the three girls leading a group of knights. In her eyes, their stat table has a hidden property in the job tab, which is written as ¡°Altered to be hero¡±. Then she speaks. ¡°Summoned heroes?¡± ¡°Heh, who?¡± Brian becomes confused at her words, but the face of the knight commander suddenly pales in response to her word, then quickly becomes tense as he stares at Makoto. Chapter 55: First meeting between the magical girls and summoned heroes ¡°Summoned heroes?¡± That simple question sends a shock to three Japanese girls and their accompanying knight commander. The reason for that is because the matter of summoning heroes from another world is supposed to be a secret, after all. Instead of becoming welcomed as the savior like in the usual isekai stories, summoned hero is pretty much a taboo in this world, judging from what the previous hero had done. It is true that the hero defeated the demon in the previous war, however she also defeated the human side after that. Both sides were devastated heavily by the hero and a new force emerged in the darkness of history, The Heaven Sect, an organization composed of cultivators who are supporters and disciples of the previous hero. If words about Vahallad arbitrarily summoning the heroes from another world get to the other factors in this world, the country will suffer many problems and hostility from all directions. The other human countries will give pressure to Vahalla on the negotiation table, affecting the relationship between them, while the demon side will concentrate their attack on them. However, that is still not the worst scenario. If the Heaven Sect learns about this and this organization appears again in Tristina, mass panic will arise and, it will probably spell the end of the current countries. That is why the matter of summoned heroes is only known by a handful group of people in Vahalla. The heroes are reminded not to expose their identity under any circumstance. Unfortunately, that identity is suddenly discovered by an unknown person. They do not know how the girl in front of them found out, but the fact that she knows their identity makes her a dangerous thread to Vahalla. The relaxed air suddenly becomes suffocating and tense after her question. The knight commander quickly hides his emotion and shows a befuddled face at her question, ready to pretend he doesn¡¯t understand what she is saying. But in his head, he is thinking various ideas how to get rid of Makoto and keep this information hidden. However, different from the knight commander, the three heroes¡¯ reaction is completely opposite. ¡°Hey, that face, and also that name, Makoto Tachibana. There is no mistake that is a Japanese, right?¡± Airi whispers. ¡°Yeah, I think so too. She is definitely Japanese. And she immediately said ¡®summoned heroes¡¯ without any reserve. I think she is pretty much familiar with the term. Otherwise, I don¡¯t think any normal person in this world will suddenly say something outrageous like that.¡± Hitomi agrees. ¡°Isn¡¯t that great? We are meeting people from the same world as us aside our classmates. As fellow people from the same world, and even the same country, we should help each other out right?¡± Kazuko says with excitement. The excitement of meeting fellow countryman in an unexpected place fills the three girls¡¯ heart. They are so excited that although they have talked in small volume, the others cannot help but direct attention toward them. The surrounding knights and solders cannot understand anything, because the three are speaking in Japanese. But that does not apply to the magical girl and the cat. ¡°Hey, Makoto. It looks like we hit a jackpot.¡± Lexar whispers. ¡°Yeah. This is an unexpected surprise. We have made the worst assumption having to search any corner of this world in order to find out anything regarding the summoning ritual. However, to think that there are summoned heroes at this time and judging from their age and behavior, they are no doubt Japanese students. It looks like our journey will be complete much faster than we estimate.¡± Makoto says. ¡°What are you going to do now, Makoto? Should we tell them our real identity?¡± ¡°From their conversation, they have already found out that we are also the same as them. There is no need to hide that we are also Japanese and got thrown into this world. However, I don¡¯t know whether we should tell them our world¡¯s situation. The matter about Animium is not something we should disclose easily. You can notice it right, Lexar? There is no trace of Animium inside them, neither of two types.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the strange part. It¡¯s very rare to see young people without Animium. There are two possibilities that I can think of. The first is that their Animium has been drained out from them. The second one, I hope that it is not the case.¡± ¡°What is the second possibility?¡± ¡°The second one is that they are not from the same world as you. Like me, they are not from the same Earth as you.¡± ¡°That will certainly be bad. If we can reverse engineer the summoning ritual and perform a reverse summon, we can probably end up in a different Japan. But now you have mentioned it, we will not make that mistake. Confirming whether they are from the same world as us is easy, and that actually does not matter much. Either way, we still need to get into contact with them to learn about the summoning ritual.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The exchange is short and silent, but does not escape the knight commander¡¯s sight either. However, seeing Makoto use the same kind language with the heroes, the knight commander seems to realize something, making him reduce the hostility toward her. But he still holds the caution inside. ¡°Nice to meet you, Miss Tachibana. My name is Victor Kradia, commander of the 9th royal knight division. Although I have heard it from the messenger, I want to confirm with you again. Are you the one who defeated the elite goblin unit that infiltrated this town?¡± Victor decides to ignore the taboo word she just said and resumes their supposed exchange. ¡°It seems like the intel unit is doing a good job, to notice that there was such a group of goblin. I thought that only I know about them. You are right. The one who defeated them is me.¡± Makoto nods, confirming the knight commander¡¯s words. ¡°And Yuuko Kurosawa, the one who defeated multiple Earth Snakes out there, is your friend, right? To think that you two are so powerful at such a young age, your master must be an amazing person as well. May I ask who your master is?¡± ¡°I am sorry but my master forbids us to say out his name. He says that telling his identity will bring more troubles to us than help. That¡¯s why I¡¯d like not to say it.¡± Pausing for a moment, Victor closes his eyes and seems to be thinking something. After that, he bows his head to Makoto ¡°Then, I apologize for my rudeness. And let me thank you for your effort and contribution to save this town. If it were not for your help, the destruction would spread further, and the casualty would be more serious.¡± Following him, the town mayor, Brian, his solders and the knight corps follow suit. Even the hero girls also stop their exchange and bow slightly to Makoto to express the gratitude. At that time, they see Makoto moving her lips silently. ¡°Ni-hon-jin (Japanese). There is no mistake about it. She is a really Japanese like us.¡± Hitomi whispers. ¡°Talk-later-with-you-alone. She wants to talk with us without the knight commander around. I think she has something important to discuss with us.¡± ¡°Um. Judging from their strength, they also received the same cheat as us. Probably much stronger. I think she has as much strength as Kaito¡¯s group and Ishida¡¯s.¡± Kazuko comments. Kaito Takehara is the leader of the active hero faction in class. He thinks that living in this world is much more worthwhile than in the world they belonged to. He believes that with the given special ability, they can lead a better, more fulfilling, accomplished life than in Japan. That¡¯s why in order to take root deeply in this world, he proposes the other students to actively work their duties as heroes to be useful to the country. By being useful, he believes that they become an inseparable force and become truly citizens of Vahallad, and if possible, part of the royal family. Ishida Shirogane, former class leader and member of the student council, is the leader of the skeptic faction. He holds caution toward the country who summoned them, thinking that they are plotting something. Despite the warm welcome and being open to them about any question he asks, Ishida is suspecting that the country only thinks of them as disposable pawns, ready to sacrifice them when it is necessary. He strongly believes that Vahallad does not really have any good opinion on them as summoned heroes and citizens from another world, except for the help they can give. While on the surface helping as the heroes, the skeptic faction secretly investigate and gather information on any possibility that ill intention is directed to them. With two separate factions, the class becomes divided. Kaito¡¯s friends and Ishida¡¯s also happened to possess strong cheat skill and stat, leading them having more influence. Thus, the class is separated further. ¡°What should we do, Hitomi?¡± Airi asks. ¡°I think we need to talk to them first about our class situation. After that, we will have her meet everyone else. But honestly, I don¡¯t think that knight commander will not let us talk alone quietly, with my current situation.¡± Hitomi says. A few minutes later, a girl in samurai armor enters the room. A slight blood stench enters everyone¡¯s nose as they see the blood red armor. On that armor, they can see traces of blood oxidized by the air, further enhancing the intimating aura she is emitting. ¡°Such strong pressure. This can only come from a warrior who has bathed in blood from thousand of corpses. And to think that it comes from a young girl, it is quite terrifying.¡± Victor is in awe. The atmosphere becomes icy with Yuuko¡¯s entrance. Her presence is like a sharp sword ready to cut anyone in the path, making the solders, and even the knights strain up, not daring to relax around her. The hero trio become afraid instead of being excited meeting another Japanese. ¡°Hey, is she from the same time as us? I don¡¯t think there is any modern Japanese girl with such a scary and bloodthirsty vibe. If you tell me she is from the Sengoku era, I will believe it.¡± Kazuko hides behind Hitomi¡¯s back says. Hitomi shields both of her friends in front of Yuuko. Although she knows that Yuuko is not hostile toward them at all, she still instinctively does so. The same goes for the knight captain, whose hand is on his sword hilt now. Suddenly, a ball of water appears and splashes on the armored girl. The water washes off the blood on the armor as well as the menacing aura around her. Yuuko¡¯s icy and expressionless face finally relaxes, showing an emotion fitting her age. ¡°How is it? Have you cooled down a little bit? You are scaring everyone here.¡± Makoto, the caster of the water ball, waves her hand at her friend. ¡°Sorry, looks like I just entered a very strange state. If it troubled everyone, I am sorry for it.¡± Yuuko makes an apologetic expression to everyone. Her sincere behavior surprises everyone as it contradicts her previous behavior. ¡°No problem. No problem. Seeing Miss Kurosawa being such a strong warrior makes me convinced of your ability to handle the biggest danger of our town. I want to thank you very much for your effort.¡± Brian laughs cheerfully then offers the same bow same as to Makoto. Following him, the other solders and knights also do so. After the short exchange of gratitude, the knight commander speaks up to the magical girls. ¡°Although I¡¯d like you two to take a rest today, the current situation is urgent. Would you please follow us to the capital and help to repel the goblin army?¡± Chapter 56: The emperor is a cultivator Passing through the teleporting gate, Makoto, Yuuko, and Lexar arrive at the capital of Vahallad. On the other side of the gate is a very busy station, consisting of a very large plaza connecting with many teleporting gates. Like them, many people are going in and out of the gates, bringing stuff back and forth. It is clear to see who go out and who go in. People with injuries, dirty clothes definitely come from the other sides, where many harsh battles are ongoing. Their identities vary, from normal people to soldiers, merchants. There are also some clean people too, but judging from the high-quality clothes they are in, it is not hard to guess that they are some VIPs or nobles who evacuated from the battlefield. Yuuko frowns her eyes when she sees a fatty man clutching a chest with gemstones ornament on it while looking around cautiously, like somebody is going to steal it from him. For the people who go into the gate, they are soldiers, priests, adventurers and bulky men bringing a lot of supplies. Those bulky men stand out a lot as they are all wearing the same brown thick leather uniform, differentiating from the other people. In addition, they consist of more than half of the people in this station. They all are bringing supplies in form of barrels, chests, and bags through the gate. Seeing the two girls curious at those men, Hitomi explains. ¡°They are the militia, citizens who are drafted in an emergency. Their main job involves a lot of tasks that are not related to combat such as moving supplies, constructing buildings and defense structures, making food for the soldiers and so on. In summary, they are responsible for logistics. After some time has passed, the other side must have secured the frontline and area for transporting goods and supplies. That¡¯s when the militias come in and go through the gate.¡± ¡°Amazing, seeing so many people moving in such an organized manner is awe inspiring. I can see the panic and hurried look on them, but there is no disorder here. It¡¯s like they practiced properly beforehand.¡± said Makoto. ¡°Agree. At first, I thought that we are in a medieval fantasy and the culture is undeveloped. But I guess we were wrong. Everyone here is quite cultured and educated, to the point that even us modern people can be ashamed in some areas, especially in the time of disaster.¡± Yuuko sighs. ¡°Yeah. We were also quite surprised at first too. To be honest, the level of education and culture in this world is quite high. They already know concepts like compulsory education until 12, and that compulsory education involves a lot of practical subjects such as economics, literacy, laws. Furthermore, in this world full of monsters, the government established a set of procedures and practices what to do in what situation. The kids all learn them and everyone knows what to do in the crisis. Even we, the summoned heroes, have to learn them too and find all of the subjects useful. The Japan government should learn one or two things from this. Stop cramming all the difficult stuff in us, students.¡± Airi joins the conversation. ¡°Um, um. If you think about it, a lot of the things we learn are used for getting into the university. If you fail, you never get to use 80% of them. If you pass, you use 40% and discard the rest to put new stuff into your head. What an inefficient education system.¡± Yuuko nods in agreement. ¡°*puff* Hahaha. You are making me feel good for being in this world, now that I don¡¯t have to deal with the whole deal of university entrance exam.¡± The Japanese girls start chatting happily, reminding themselves of the things back in the modern Japan. The topics vary such as their student lifestyle, convenient things and services back in Japan, Japanese food, to the recently popular songs, animes, mangas, and so on. Those common daily chat topics in the previous world now have an important meaning to the summoned heroes, now that they are in another world, with a high chance not being able to come back home forever. They try to lower their voices as not to disturb the tense atmosphere, but cannot help it since they become too engrossed in talking about stuff in their old life. To them, a few months in this world feels like years away from home. After half an hour since the knight captain left, he returns and asks Makoto and Yuuko to have a meeting with his supervisor. The girls part way as the summoned heroes have other tasks to do. While walking through the busy corridor, Lexar jumps on Makoto¡¯s shoulder. ¡°How¡¯s the investigation?¡± The cat quietly asks. ¡°Our luck is still good. 90% They are from the same world as us. Most of the things we chatted are pretty much things we all know. Be it lifestyles, common sense, important events, places and even the recently popular songs, animes, and mangas. Things are exactly as we know without much difference. Furthermore, they are from the same school that we¡¯ve heard of. The possibility of them being from a world parallel to ours is low. However, there is something that bugs me.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°They said that the time they were summoned was in July 2014, and they were all summoned at the same time. This means that in our world, there should be a report of a big missing incident or something like that. But I don¡¯t remember there is such news.¡± ¡°Either there is something related to the summoning, or they are from the same world that happens to be the same as ours.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°The former is more likely. As I touched their bodies, I was able to analyze a little bit. They have the same body as us, different from the native humans in this world. That is the first. They also show sign of being modified by the program and system too. However, the integration degree is higher than us. If we are modified about 30-40%, then they are about 80-90%. Our awakening also contributes to the resistance of modification, but I think the summon ritual is probably the main cause. It does not simply transport people from the outer world, but also does something to them too. For more information, I need to get into contact with the ritual itself.¡± Makoto gives her finding. ¡°We are much closer to our goal than we thought now. I think we should focus on how to get contact with the ritual first. Such an important thing like that will not be easy to find, not mentioning getting close. We should get in touch more with the summoned students to get a better idea about this place.¡± Lexar suggests. ¡°Yeah, the students are the breakpoint. I hope that getting in touch with them will be easy.¡± While the magical girls are discussing, the royal knight does not miss that conversation. Although he doesn¡¯t understand anything at all, after staying with the summoned heroes for sometime, Victor can at least learn that it is Japanese. It is not uncommon for the heroes to chat within themselves in Japanese, despite being able to speak in this world common language very easily thanks to the skill. Perhaps, they haven¡¯t realized it, but whenever they chat freely not minding people hearing, the heroes speak in the common language. But when it involves something secret, they instinctively switch to Japanese. Their conversation asserts him more about the girls¡¯ identities. (Did someone secretly perform the summoning ritual? Or is it a country or an organization? Or is it by accident? This time we have summoned 30 people, many more than in the past. Did that cause the accidental summoning?) Victor cannot help but ask himself. Before long, the group arrives in front of a big gate with extravagant decoration and carving. There are two guards standing on two sides. The size of that gate can tell that it leads to the grand royal hall. Behind it, there is a very important person. Makoto becomes perplexed, not because of the beauty or size of the gate, but the power of the two guards standing on two sides. (Level 60, class Royal Guard, strength above 500 value, other stat about 300 to 400, defense is extremely high, above 800. And that long list of skills. There are more than 20 skills there. These guys are more like monsters than the giant snakes. Even a knight captain cannot be compared to.) Makoto analyzes quietly with her skill. The gate opens and a majestic hall appears. Inside is a vast area that is wider than Makoto¡¯s schoolyard. The white marble floor is divided into two by a large long red carpet in the middle. On two sides of the carpet, 10 guards stand there solemnly. Each of them is either about strong or stronger than the 2 guards outside. At the end of the carpet, there lies a big luxury throne. Different from the kinds of throne in European often seen in medieval fantasy, this throne has an eastern feeling to it, with the handles and the top having the long dragon decoration. The width is quite long, more than 2 meters, enough for a person to lie down. On the seat and the back, there are soft red cushions. To sum up, it is a throne in sofa form. Sitting on it is a man in his 40s. The man wears a sleeveless red tunic, a black long-sleeved undershirt with open neck, a red sash, and black pants. His blond hair is styled with Caesar cut, paired with the shaved bread, giving him a clean and serious outlook. He is currently reading a document from a pile of them on the table by the left side. Despite his straight face, his loosen carefree body gesture says that he is not worried much about the situation. ¡°Your majesty, I have brought them before you.¡± Victor bows before the man. ¡°Un, you have done enough. You may leave now.¡± The man throws the document on the seat, puts the arms on the legs, and leans forward ¡°You don¡¯t need to do anything like bowing in front of me. After all, you are not from this world and it is quite rude to make the guests from outer world lower themselves for such a pointless gesture. If I want to demand any respect, I¡¯d like to have it from the bottom of your heart, not something through superficial display.¡± Even so, the girls offer a greeting bow to him ¡°Your words are truly generous, your majesty. It is quite an honor for us to be accepted as guests in this world. We deeply appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity.¡± Realizing that the other side has figured out their identities already, they do not need to hide it anymore. ¡°Oh, quite a solid attitude. Although you look the same age as the others, you seem quite experienced in this situation. When they first met me, they were acting in panic and disorder. When the representative came out, he stuttered a few times. It gave me an experience that the Japanese are shy people.¡± ¡°They must have been panicked when they were first summoned here. Unfamiliar circumstances and the suddenness of being in a different place is a big source of stress and fear. I believe they were not really themselves at the time.¡± ¡°I believe that is the case too. After associating with them for a while, they all act differently from then now. Well, we have strayed too much. Let me introduce myself. The name is Xavier Wang, the 12th king of Vahallad.¡± ¡°Wang?¡± ¡°¡¯Wang¡¯ in King. It is really a fitting last name for those who receive the throne from generation to generation, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°Forgive me if I ask. Do you know that it is a word from a language called Chinese?¡± Yuuko worriedly asks. ¡°Correct. And this king also knows how to speak Chinese too.¡± Savier proudly confirms that. Both girls look at other in awe. To think that the king from another world knows a language in their world. ¡°Can you really speak in Chinese?¡± Makoto suddenly asks him in Chinese. ¡°Hou! Amazing. To think that you know the language of the ancient royalty.¡± Savier claps and replies in Chinese ¡°You have impressed me quite a bit, mage lady. How about it? Do you want to join my personal royal squad? They have better treatment than the heroes. Higher salary, higher power, higher rank, access to higher level secret of the nation. Or if you want it, I can give my son to you. Being a princess can give you some special privilege.¡± The group is shocked at the offer. Just by being able to speak Chinese, the king offers such a generous condition. Is this only a joke by the king or there is any deep meaning behind? It would be good if that was just a joke. But the words from a king cannot be taken lightly. Furthermore, Xavier Wang is not just simply a king. He is the one who has that legendary job: a cultivator! Chapter 57: Negotiation with the emperor (I) ¡°What are you trying to imply, Your Highness?¡± Makoto¡¯s voice carries caution. ¡°Simple. I want you girls to join under my rank. You girls¡¯ power is quite amazing. Different from the heroes who acquired their power through the summoning ritual, you already have your own power before coming here. I can sense the otherworld¡¯s power flowing inside you, different from the power in this world. You can¡¯t hide that in my eyes.¡± Xavier¡¯s eyes suddenly become sharp. His words are deep and dominating, and then an intense pressure weighs on everyone in the room. ¡°I will ask you again. Which one will you choose?¡± Like standing in front of an almighty being, Makoto, Yuuko, and Lexar are caught off guard. A heavy feeling appears in everyone¡¯s heart, making them feel submissive to the king in front of them. Unconsciously, they now kneel in front of the king head down, not daring to speak anything. (Such an overwhelming presence, and that intense killing intent too. He is like a cold heart monster, completely different from the carefree man a while ago) Yuuko is intimidated by the pressure. (He is forcing us to accept his offer. What on earth is he trying to do? What will happen the moment we agree? This is bad. I have an omnious feeling about this.But if I decline here, no doubt the other guards will immediately apprehend us. What should I do? The guards here are too strong, and that guy is even stronger.) Makoto is also panicking. The sudden change in the emperor is too abrupt, and her sense of danger is tingling, warning her not to agree. But if she declines, the guards will move. The numbers floating around her are too scary. Those lv 60 stats are a whole dimension apart from the previous enemies she has fought in the past. Furthermore, surpassing those lv 60 guards, there is even more of the monster in front of her, a level 200 cultivator! What is even scarier are those ¡®?¡¯ marks in the tables. That means the cultivator in front of her is an existence that cannot be measured by this world¡¯s normal means. Lexar, without exception, is also compelled to kneel down under the pressure. He is also surprised for a moment but soon regains his calm. The man Xavier does not look like a good nature king at all, but an arbitrary and dangerous one. Similar to Makoto, he notices that there is something wrong with his compulsion His words carry the power of those who have high standing, the power to makes everyone submissive below him, the same power as Hinami''s! Luckily, he and the girls are not normal people so they can resist his pressure, not saying anything. But if it was any other person, he would already accept it by now. In such a situation when both options are dangerous and no good, dealing with such a difficult opponent is still too difficult for the girls. At this time, as their guardian, he has to step out and deal with this. ¡°I will have to decline those offers.¡± Lexar speaks out, in Chinese and human voice that the other people can hear. ¡°Hou¡± Xavier is surprised when the cat suddenly speaks human language, furthermore in the ancient language of the royalty. His interest is switched from Makoto to Lexar. ¡°What gives you the permission to object my offers in their place?¡± ¡°I am their guardian, and also their teacher. Though my appearance is a cat, that is not actually my real identity.¡± Lexar answers. At the same time, the white flame rises and covers his whole body. The guards all prepare their weapons and point at the trio. However, Xavier rises up his hand, signaling them to stop and stand back. His face does not have that intimidating look from before. At first, it is a look of interest, then turns in surprise, awed, and amazement. He stands up from the throne, walking closer to Lexar. ¡°That power, it is the first time I¡¯ve ever seen anything like it. It holds too many things in it. I can sense energy, life force, many elements, mana, ki, ¡­ and evolution power. It is like all of them mixed inside, but at the same time not. Tell me, how did you do it? What is that power?¡± Xavier¡¯s concentration is entirely in the white flame. ¡°Animium. The energy that can produce other types of energy itself. It is the source of our power.¡± ¡°Tell me. How do you obtain this energy? No, how do you train to get this energy?¡± Xavier impatiently asks. ¡°We don¡¯t train to get this energy. We have to go through a ritual to get it in our world.¡± ¡°A ritual? What ritual is it?¡± ¡°For that, I am not very sure. What we know is that we underwent a ritual in our world, and then we had this power. And it also depends on a person to obtain it.¡± Lexar patiently answers. ¡°What else do you know?¡± Xavier keeps asking. ¡°The place we had the ritual is very special, a place with many criteria that can only exist in our world. That place was filled with animium itself, and many strange phenomena, monsters. The monsters there can also use the same power as us.¡± ¡°You seem to emphasize the word ¡°our world¡± a lot. I see what you are trying to say. You want to return to your own world, don¡¯t you?¡± Xavier suddenly loses all of his interest and throws himself back to the throne.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Yes, we want to go back to our world. Over there, we have an enemy that we have to fight no matter what.¡± ¡°Hm, so what? It¡¯s not like you can go back or anything. For your information, we have summoning ritual but we don¡¯t have the method to return them to your own world, especially when I don¡¯t intend to let them do so. Give it up.¡± Xavier dismisses the topic, waving his hands. ¡°I am sorry to cut you in, your Highness, but we have a way to return to our world.¡± Lexar firmly denies the king¡¯s offer. ¡°As you can see here, Makoto is a mage and knowledgeable in many fields. And this warrior, Yuuko, she may not look like it but she has innate spatial magic talent. Yuuko, please demonstrate your teleporting skill.¡± Lexar then directs to Yuuko. Being suddenly called, Yuuko is a little bit perplexed but then nods and stands up. With a turnaround, she immediately appears at the beginning of the hall, which surprises the guards there for an instant, then returns to the same spot before. Seeing her instantaneous movement, Xavier frowns a bit then turns to Lexar ¡°So? What are you trying to say?¡± ¡°You may have heard it from the summoned heroes, that our world does not have such thing like magic. However, that is incorrect. Magic also exists in our world, but it is on the hidden side, unknown to the regular people. The thing known as spatial magic also exists. In the battle with our enemy, to save ourselves, we used a spatial magic to teleport us somewhere far away. Unfortunately, because of the randomness trait of the spell, we ended up being in this world. That¡¯s the story how we came here. If we want to go back to our world, we can adjust the spell to send us back to where we were. However, because of the difference in the spatial rule of this world, it will take a long time to complete that. We want to hurry back to our world before the enemy becomes too strong. That¡¯s why we search for the hero summoning ritual, for a reference traveling between worlds and fastening the adjustment of the spell.¡± The cat fluently constructs the argument. ¡°So if I let you guys examine the summoning ritual, you guys can configure the spell to go back to your world, huh? I don¡¯t see any merit doing so. I have wasted a lot of resources on summoning the heroes. If the heroes know about it, they will start making a fuss and demand going home. It took me some time to settle them. Don¡¯t cause any more trouble.¡± Xavier boringly waves his hand. ¡°Your Highness, what is the reason you summoned the heroes in the first place?¡± Lexar suddenly throws an unexpected question. ¡°Hm, what are you trying to say this time?¡± ¡°Pardon me for guessing. The reason you had summoned the heroes despite the taboo is to seek a breakthrough in the stalemate with the demons. With both sides going back and forth such a long time, I think it is very straining for the human countries. A positive change for the human side is needed, whether it is a very strong fighting force or a revolutionary development. The heroes can satisfy those two demands.¡± The current situation with fighting the demon is publicly known. The group has learned about it before from talking with the town mayor Brian. Lexar speaks until here then pauses a little. Xavier gives a small nod, unknown whether he means correct or to continue. Lexar resumes his talk. ¡°However, from seeing the fighting potential of the heroes and the power of this country, I think it is not the heroes¡¯ power that you are seeking. After all, they are just students, living in a peaceful world, not accustomed to fighting. Even though they underwent something and became the heroes, I doubt that they reach the expectation that you give.¡± Though uncertain, Lexar believes this is the current situation. He does not know the other heroes, but the three heroes they have met, Airi, Kazuko, Hitomi, mentioned that they could not defeat their instructor, a level 70 general. There was a level and experience difference between the two. However, in this world, any human who has passed level 40, the rank of commander, is not simple at all. This world is not a game where strength is only displayed in number. Any human when they are born start from level 1. To reach from level 1 to 40, that means in their path, there are already countless of monster corpses. Any person who has survived through that much battle is pretty much an ace soldier. Not mentioning those who surpass level 60 and achieve the general rank. That is pretty much the ace of aces. Their fighting power and experience are not something those heroes can¡¯t achieve without time. Even if the heroes had the power that Xavier wished for, Lexar doubt he would be generous with them. To summon so many people at the same time, the risk of doing that is extremely dangerous, considering the history of this world. Only one was enough to shake this world up and down, and there are 30 of them now. What will happen when things start going out of control? The world will face the destruction itself. He doesn¡¯t think that this king is so oblivious not to notice such thing. As such, that leaves only one thing that Xavier can expect from the heroes: the change that the heroes can bring to the human countries. The previous hero, a cultivator, not only did she possess an overwhelming power, she also brought forth a revolution to the human that the history recorded that period of time as the golden age of humanity. Advancement in technology, economy, management and so on. That advancement gave the human countries enormous benefits and great advantages in the previous war with demons. Those things are what the people in this world need, not a powerful yet uncontrollable mad fighter. ¡°The thing that you are looking for is the knowledge and mindset that those heroes have, and by having their knowledge, you hope to make a breakthrough in developing your country. With advancement, your country will be stronger, gaining a better position in the human alliance and a chance to win in this long war with demons.¡± Lexar continues his deduction. A clapping sound, and Xavier sits straight on his throne, hands clapping each other loudly. His grinning tells that he is amused by the talking. ¡°Well done, well done. To think that there is such a smart cat in this world. Very insightful with just a few observations and information. I applaud you for that. You are right about one thing. The prime reason that I tried to summon them is because of their knowledge. And as you have guessed, their knowledge, though trivial and common in your world, gives this country many breakthroughs in developments in many fields. As expected of students from a prestigious school. However, you are wrong about their strength. They match my expectation very well. They are pretty strong, strong enough to become the core of the army, but not too strong to be one-man army. They can also be used as the spears toward the demons as well.¡± Xavier says. Chapter 58: Negotiation with the emperor (II) Every living creature has a tendency to avoid danger and seek safety. The human in Tristina is no exception to that. To the people coming from the outside world such as the summoning heroes, or Lexar group, Tristina is a world full of possibilities, fantasy and miracles. There are fantasy creatures, magic, mysterious yet beautiful wonders, and a level up system. But to the native citizens of this world, it is a normal, mundane world full of uncontrollable dangers. In this world, human is not the dominant species, and the danger of losing life comes from all types of sources. The RPG-like system, in the eyes of the otherworlders, is a miracle bestowed to them. By just simply defeating monsters over and over again, they can get stronger and stronger, gaining superhuman strength that they have long dreamed of. By having such a mean to become superman, they are envious of this fantasy world¡¯s people. I just only need keep killing monsters after monsters, and then I can be invincible and obtain everything I want. Be it money, fame, land, treasures, women, or men, and so on. It is such a straightforward and easy way to obtain everything. That¡¯s what the summoned heroes have thought after enjoying the power of leveling up. However, reality is much more harsher than expected. Although this world has this game like system, everything aside from the level up is the same as any real world. If you get damaged, you will bleed and hurt a lot. That sensation does not spare anyone, including the people in this world, and the summoned heroes. Every human when they are born starts from level 1. Everyone starts from the beginning and has about the same status values in their tables, except some special individuals. This means that human is initially weak and cannot do much again monsters. To defeat a monster, they have to grow up to a certain extend or do some training. Both methods are the only known ways to increase status values without needing to level up, but the former requires time, and the latter requires hard work and determination. When people are strong enough, they will start killing monster to level up. In normal cases, a goblin is usually chosen. Not because it is a weakest creature, but because it has a fair amount of exp, defeating one will usually instantly get to level 2 or sometimes 3. The other reason is to cultivate courage in people. Goblin is a weak monster, true, but it is also a dangerous monster, and can be scary at time. Their maliciousness toward other creatures, especially human, can be extremely frightening. They know how to torture their victims. The females are raped, forced to give birth to the ugly offspring, while being beaten and harassed cruelly; while the males are dismembered into parts, with the meat being used as food, bone for making decorations, and skins to make clothing. Their vicious actions are often told in the children¡¯s bed stories, teaching them the scary nature of the monsters. However, inflicting fear of the monster is not the intended use of those stories. The monsters are not invincible, human is strong enough to fight them. In the old stories, the heroes did not look at the goblins¡¯ actions in fear. They looked at them in anger, in fury, and in shame. Because they were weak, because they were cowards that they lost everything to the monsters. That¡¯s why they had to become stronger, train harder, take up the weapons, muster courage and kill some monsters. The heroes became stronger and stronger through time, at later part of the story, they encouraged and raised up the courage inside the victimized villagers to take up the weapons and raided the monster¡¯s lair, taking back their everything and completed their revenge. The ending is a happy story with every monster nearby slain, giving way for the people to have a happy life and build a country. Revenge and hero story is a sweat deal and folk story tellers know that. With the art of storytelling, the scary deeds of the monsters are frightening to the point of giving goose bump, but later become enraging to the point of madness. The children, while listening to the story, are afraid and cry out during the first part, then slowly regain courage, give admiration to the heroes, and become motivated to become a hero themselves in the future. At the end of the session, the storytellers often say to the children: ¡°As you have experienced, all of you have experienced fear at the beginning, but it is only temporary. By facing it, later you become more courageous and then motivated to fight the monster back.. Courage is the guidance to your heart and survival. Only the braves can withstand all the fear and hardship and achieve the happy ending for oneself and the others.¡± Courage is the most important moral value in this world. Only when you are brave, you can face and fight the monsters, level up and survive in this world. Courage, in combination with hatred toward the monsters, helps fortifying the resolve for the people to fight against monsters. This has lead to a culture practice of this world. When any child is considered strong enough, the adults will capture one goblin and have the child fight it. It is called the coming of age ritual. As the child fights and kills off the goblin, they are considered a grown up and strong enough to defend for themselves. Not only they level up during the process, the fighting experience, the feeling of killing the first monster, the bravity to face against the danger. All of these are essential for the human to live in this world. Unfortunately, that courage usually does not last long when challenged at the higher level. A goblin level 1 does not represent a tiny bit of the true terror of monster in this world. With higher level monsters, not only they are stronger, they are also crafty, careful, and full of things that can surprise a human. Fighting them is no longer a simple battle of strength and courage, but also wits, experience, and skills. And not everyone is capable of that. In those higher level fight, any injury can be very fatal, either with a very deep wound, or a large amount of meat torn apart. The pain is extremely painful that they can drive trauma inside anyone. Although with the support of healing magic, it is possible to restore the lost body part and heal a deep wound with a short amount of time, many people do not want to taste that pain again and stop fighting monster to level up. In worse case, they will not want to pick up a weapon again. As a result, a normal citizen adult¡¯s level is about 5 to 10, as this is the best extend they can reach with only killing low level monsters. If one wants to reach higher level, they need to start focusing on combat professionally and those people usually become either adventurers or solders. That¡¯s how the natives cope up with the harshness of this world. But how about the summoned heroes? To describe them in short and simple term, they are irregularities. Although they are a bunch of teenagers who just only study in a peaceful school in Japan, when they arrived at Tristina, they have showed to be highly proficient in combat. It is unknown whether it is their natural talent, or the work of their hero attribute. They can kill a monster in a calm and efficient way several days after summoning. Their combat instinct, attitude and courage in their first fight were beyond any normal seasoned adventurer or solder. It¡¯s like all the problems related to the difficulty to become stronger or having courage to face monster do not exist to them at all. But that is not all. There is this hero whom the other heroes call him a game otaku. He is a genius in analyzing the monster. With just only a single glance, he can tell all of the possible attacks from the monster, and what kinds of attack should be careful of. He is one of the important members of the hero command team that successfully prevented everyone from getting any traumatic injury that the normal people are afraid of. After studying the encyclopedia of the monsters, his command and analysis of the monsters have reached a higher level, giving important tips that can help solders fighting monsters more safely. One more important hero is a leader of their class. He is a genius at commanding people, giving suitable and on time judgment to the party. His quick wit in analyzing the overall situation of the allies and enemies helps formulating good strategy to take down monsters in the most efficient yet safe manner. In addition to their very strong initial status values and unique skills from the summoning ritual, all of these elements combined together has helped the heroes complete one of the hardest achievement in the history of mankind: to reach level 60 before twenty. With those 30 heroes together, they can become one of the strongest army in the world. It is Xavier¡¯s evaluation after observing them for so long. However, they are only limited to being a strong army. That¡¯s all. They are not 30 different one man armies like the previous hero. The emperor has noticed something in them. A constraint, a limit, a limit that is impossible to overcome no matter what. With that limits, not a single hero can enter the list of strongest beings in this world, even when combining all of their power together. Thus, the heroes can be very strong, high quality pawns, but not a threat in the emperor¡¯s eyes. He has won the bet. The summoning ritual has a limit. It can only give a certain amount of blessing to the hero, and summon hero with certain amount of potential. In the past, the hero was the only one summoned and obtained all the blessing and had the highest potential that the ritual could summon. Thus, she became absurdly strong later and had the power to destroy everything.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. However, by summoning many heroes, the blessing is divided, distributed to all thirty heroes. Not only that, the potential of the current heroes is much lower than the past, with the quota divided to meet requirement to summon 30 people. This dividing has created a bunch of excellent yet half-assed heroes that cannot cause as much trouble as before. Things became too convenient to the emperor as the heroes are a bunch of teenagers from a country called Japan. They actively shared their other world¡¯s knowledge to the country and expressed that they have longed for the so called isekai experience. With honest praise and acknowledgement, and these kids got over excited. It made him wonder about their origin world, why such a bunch of smart kids lack the experience of being praised. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡°You!¡± Makoto and Yuuko become angry hearing the emperor¡¯s thought. He had purposely kidnapped thirty students from their world against their wills, separating them from their own parents and families. To make it worse, he used them as weapons against a bunch of dangerous existences known as monsters and demons. Further than that, he was going to use them as the vanguard in the war. Although the heroes have a certain degree of cheats, this does not change that the battlefield they are going to dive in is extremely dangerous. Makoto and Yuuko fully understand how dangerous a fight can actually be, and if it was not for their fighting experience gained from their other selves, they would have died back in their own world. But they have made their resolves and are willing to get through it. However, it is different for the summoned students. It is clear from their previous conversation that a majority of them are not prepared to fight for their own life yet. They just go with the flow, and barely withstand the pressure. To push them at the front of the battlefield, it is unacceptable for Makoto and Yuuko. The heavy pressure will break them, and in a dangerous situation, it can cost their life. Furthermore, Xavier confirms himself that he sees the heroes as the spears to fight the demons, which means he is seeing them as nothing more than pawns. Those girls they have just met, although their status tables are amazing in the eyes of normal people, they are still nothing compared to all the monsters in this room. It is plausible that if those girls do not show any more worthy values as a summoned heroes, the emperor will see them as lesser pawns, increasing the chance to use them as disposable when the situation needs. Xavier¡¯s words also makes Lexar frown. This confirms Lexar¡¯s wild speculation on the matter. Judging from Makoto¡¯s behaviour when she secretly examined everyone in the room and the emperor, the power of the top humans in this world is very powerful, to the point that he questions whether a hero¡¯s strength is actually needed like in those isekai stories. In a world where strength is measured by status values, levels, it is very apparent that to rise to the top, it is necessary to defeat monsters and level up. The strength is measured in terms of level of individuals, not an army or a technology difference. To sum up, every human activity in this world should surround that. And to the people who are considered the strongest of this world, they must be an expert at leveling up. Under the long history of constantly fighting and leveling up, the study and experience of leveling up is advanced and in depth beyond the imagination of any genius gamer or game designer on Earth can have, after all, the systems they play with is just imaginary product, not real world. A very concrete proof is that they have been at wars with the demons for a very long time and never once, they lost too badly to the demons. This means that the strongest human can rival against the strongest demon. When the humans do not lack of strength, what does this world need from the heroes? That¡¯s why he bet on the other possibility: their otherworld knowledge. It is unknown whether the knowledge of the highschool students can benefit the emperor or his country. But from Xavier¡¯s words, their knowledge is useful and fits what he needs. Knowing that is good enough, because it lets him know one of his cards is effective. However, the point of being able to easily dismiss the summoned heroes¡¯ strength concerns him. They have arrived at this world for a short time and obtained considerable strength. At this rate, they will become much more stronger than the present. In addition, being heroes, they must have a lot of potential to grow and can achieve something unbelievable. Yet, Xavier even looked down on their strength. Lexar doesn¡¯t believe that the man in front of him did not take account of the future. Either he has a way to defeat the heroes, or he has a strength that is even beyond the future heroes¡¯, or even perhaps both options are possible. From the emperor¡¯s knowledge on different forms of energy, there is also a possibility he has other types of strength aside from the RPG system. That unknown strength is a risk to Lexar¡¯s plan. But even so, he has to push forward. ¡°That was beyond my expectation. I did not you would hold a bunch of students¡¯ strength in such high regards. Even so, you have already seen their limits, right? With their power, as well as their knowledge.¡± Lexar continues the conversation. ¡°Oh, why are you thinking so? Their knowledge is wonderful, though in early stage, but in the future, it will bring a lot of revolutions to us. Their strength too, is excellent. Though I belittle them a bit, they are still very strong nonetheless. In the future, each of them can be a high caliber general, leading their own troops. 30 generals, that¡¯s a large number to include in any nation¡¯s army. There is nothing more satisfying than that. What can I expect more? That¡¯s enough for us to win the war against the demons already.¡± ¡°Forgive me for saying this, your highness. But I am thinking you are just talking of things you don¡¯t believe yourself. If you are really thinking those alone can help you win the war, and I will say that you are disqualified for a king.¡± Lexar makes a smirking smile as he says so. ¡°Insolent!¡± A guard shouts in anger. Xavier¡¯s smile stiffens a little bit before he returns his normal smile again. He amused asks the cat ¡°Hou, why do you think so? I¡¯m being very open and generous to you, friends with the summoned heroes. I spoke to you with my honest thought and sincere treatment like the summoned heroes, telling you secrets that the nobles do not even have the right to know. Yet, you are questioning the authority of the host who treated you with such hospitality? Don¡¯t you think you are very rude?¡± His face is smiling but his eyes are not. ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for that, but it is a custom of our world. It is normal for us, citizens, to criticize our leaders when it is related to a serious problem and concerns everyone. When a bad solution or thinking comes out from our leader, it will meet criticisms and be scrutinized as why it is a bad idea. This practice is also common when both sides are working toward a long and good relationship.¡± Lexar explains. ¡°I don¡¯t see making criticism can help building a good relationship. If anyone makes criticism out of me, that means he is looking for a fight.¡± The emperor¡¯s word is stern. ¡°It is true that making criticism every time means you are trying to sell a fight. However, a true, honest, and meaningful criticism at a right time is very valuable, as it portrays the other side is giving their most objective analysis on the issue at hand with you. This is the lesson that a lot of successful people in our world know. When you are at the top, you¡¯d want someone who can argue against you, instead of people flattering you all days.¡± Lexar calmly says. Xavier¡¯s smile curves upward as he listens to the cat¡¯s words ¡°When you are at the top, you¡¯d want someone who can argue against you, instead of people flattering you all days. I can see the deep meaning behind those words. As expected of the teacher of the two powerful and beautiful warriors, you are the most intelligent cat I¡¯ve seen. I¡¯m starting to like you more and more.¡± His smile suddenly freezes a little bit ¡°However, an emperor¡¯s authority must not be questioned. Since you have demonstrated that you have a good will, I will give you a chance to prove it. Tell me, why are the heroes not enough?¡± ¡°Because of the cultivator inheritance.¡± Lexar looks at the emperor¡¯s expression, before continue again. ¡°This has been proven by the invasion of the goblin army. What do you see when the goblin army is more organized, stronger, and more advanced than anything in the past? It¡¯s not the goblin king is stronger that it can command the goblins better, make them stronger. It¡¯s the revolution that the goblins are experiencing. A very good one on top of that. It¡¯s the same kind of revolution that you are expecting from the heroes. I don¡¯t know how long since the heroes have given their knowledge, and how long until the revolution takes off. But there is one thing for certain. The goblin has started their own revolution earlier than us. And when it comes to one of the most important factors in war, it is the time of the revolution that can decisively decides the outcome of the war. The enemy has started applying their advancement on the large scale while we haven¡¯t started a single thing yet.¡± ¡°The goblins are just a bunch of weak monsters. No matter how advanced they are, we can simply crush them in a few days. A mere step forward of an ant does not mean anything to half step of an elephant. We can win them easily.¡± Xavier flatly rejects the cat¡¯s thinking. ¡°You are forgetting one thing, your highness. The goblin is just one side. We also have the demon army.¡± Hearing the demon army, Xavier frowns heavily. ¡°The demon army has stationed at your border, I have learnt about that. Do you think it is mere coincidence that they are there? I don¡¯t think so. Either they are behind this incident, or they learn about it somehow. A revolution is not a simple thing that can be done in a few days. It needs planning, resources, management, facilities, and time to do it. It is unthinkable how the goblins do it without anything mentioned above, even with the cultivator inheritance, Therefore, someone must have provided them all of that, and helped concealing the goblins from your surveillance network. Who is the one behind that? High chance that is the demon side, and if it is not, this means you have one more enemy to concern. Either possibility means that someone knows about the revolution of the goblins.¡° Everyone¡¯s face frowns further when they hear of that. ¡°So you mean that there is someone who used the goblin army to attack the kingdom? And there will be more attack following after this?¡± Xavier thinks he gets the direction where this talk is going. ¡°Possible. But that¡¯s not what I try to emphasize. A revolution is a dramatic and wide reaching change in the way something works or people¡¯s idea. And pay attention to the word ¡°wide-reaching¡±. This means a revolution can be learnt and mimicked. If the other side have known about the goblins for some time, it means they have observed and learnt something from them, applying the revolution in their own way. This means we and our enemies have started our and their own revolutions, and the enemies has strike us first. We lost the initiative.¡± For the first time, a sign of worry appears inside the emperor. He has clenched his hand instinctively without knowing. Chapter 59: Negotiation with the emperor (III) Revolution is usually associated with a forcible overthrow of a government or old social system in order to replace a new one. That is a political revolution. However, in modern time, that word has wider use and is often more associated with the technology, signifying a time where many old technologies are replaced by new ones, a technology revolution, or an industrial revolution. During an industrial revolution, it is not only the technology, but also many things related to human behaviour is changed. How the economy runs, how people¡¯s thinking changes, how the government is restructured, and how the management practice are revised. All of these are done to cope with the revolution, to survive in an environment that is heading to a completely new direction. To be honest, Lexar does not know whether the Japanese students can actually manage to pull off anything so grand that it is considered a revolution. They are having problems handling the pressure of the current situation. They have to fight and train every day in order to become stronger to fight monster. They need to spend time learning about this world in order to live here. Where do they get the time to perform such a grandiose thing called revolution? That¡¯s not the only obstacles. They are only a bunch of highschool students, which means that their knowledge and specialty is seriously lacking. A revolution is a combination of efforts from many specialists in different fields. They are engineers, mathematicians, economists, scientists, politicians, and so on. There is no way these students¡¯ knowledge can match these people when they are still in a period of receiving common compulsory education. And there is also a problem that all students in this world complains: the knowledge they learn is used to pass the test and get high score, they serve little to no practicability. In the novels, the modern world protagonist can apply what he learned from his old world easily, perfectly replicating human inventions from time to time. Sure, it is possible for the impractical knowledge in modern world to become useful in the other world. But there is a problem. Those novels¡¯ main characters have perfect memory and their knowledge are beyond the extend of a normal people. They keep calling themselves normal, but in reality, they are the kinds of people that can launch a successful business in their own world if they decide to work hard enough. In fact, those normal people are actually amazing people instead. In the reality, human¡¯s memory is one of the most unreliable things on our minds. Learning without actually applying often leads to forgetting it. It¡¯s basically like asking the adults to retake the highschool exam. Even if they scored high and passed it during student time, they cannot do that anymore unless studying again. Leaving them alone a few years and they will forget mostly everything. To add to that, in this world, there is no Google, or no Bing, or any search engine or book that can help them to find the reference for. From the beginning, Lexar is skeptical of the possibility whether the summoned heroes can actually provide anything useful knowledge to this country that summoned them. To his surprise, they actually managed to make some drastic advancement or changes from the measly knowledge of the students. He has a feeling that the people in this world, though dressed in Middle Europe, is actually quite intelligent and very open-minded to a new way of thinking. Giving them only a little hint and they can figure out the rest on their own. Despite the initiate to start changing on their own, the new development is not widespread yet. It is probably in development stage, or they need some adjustment to make the new things suitable for this world. This means that they are already a step later than the goblins in changing themselves. When preparing for a war, the biggest advantage a revolution can bring is getting an edge over the opponent in a preemptive strike. While the enemy is caught in a surprise, you can use that edge to keep snowballing, dealing more and more damage to the enemy before the other side finishes analyzing it and catches up. Sadly, in this situation, the goblins are the ones that has the edge and the human has to catch up with them. In the previous fight, he has a basic understanding that the humans still fight in the same manner as cold weapon era. Soldiers fight in formation, using cavalries, archers, and footmen to fight. There are unknown tactics too, as this is a fantasy world, with magic and fantasy creatures present, so there must be some kind of flashy ways of fighting that he does not know. Even so, by putting himself in the shoes of the human here, seeing the goblin develop and change faster than themselves is like a slap to their face. Not to mention, there is also the demon side behind, and probably an unknown enemy too.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Xavier, the emperor, does not even consider the goblins a thread at all. But it is a different story if it¡¯s related to the demons. The proof is that while his country is suffering from the goblins, the king still sends his strongest to face the demon army at the border, leaving the goblins to the heroes in training. However, learning that this is possibly a demon¡¯s scheme, he is thinking of the possibility that the demon has begun their own revolution as well, and learnt something from the goblins. A lost of initiative to the goblin is now the same as a lost of initiative to the demons. The war between human and demon has started, and the demon has made a preemptive strike and secured their advantage while snowballing the damage caused by the surprise. ¡°I¡¯m sure you must already know the advantage of seeking an initiative by a revolution, right? After all, I believe the reason you summoned the heroes is to prepare this decisive advantage after all.¡± Lexar looks at Xavier. ¡°Hha hahahaha.¡± Xavier laughs out loudly. His laugh echoes the hall, surprising everyone inside. ¡°Haaah. This is the most surprising thing I have ever heard in my life. To think that there is someone can see all through my planning. You are correct, my reason to summon the heroes is to create an initiative in the incoming war. We both have warred for so long, so long that we know each other so well, that we have reached a stalemate. For that reason, in order to make the scale tip over again, a big surprise element is needed. When a completely unknown force strikes at the enemy, it can cause a lot of damages, and by riding the momentum, the damage can scale up to a great scale. Of course, the surprise must not only be big, but also mysterious enough, hard to solve, and hard for the enemy to copycat. Certainly, it¡¯s very worrying that if the demon is actually behind the goblins¡¯ movement and they have started their own revolution. However, if that¡¯s really the case, it¡¯s too shallow. We have our own cards and haven¡¯t played it yet. Only when we strike those hands, it will be the real beginning of the war. The demon, they play it surprisingly enough but it¡¯s not decisive enough. Everything is still under control. I think we have a good affinity with each other. No one has figured out so much of my thinking before. I had to spend a lot of time with the royal palace and the generals to explain it, yet they seemed to only grasp a little bit surface of my thinking. You cannot point to the reason that it¡¯s the knowledge of the other world. After all, the summoned heroes spent a long time with me, yet they did not even figure out a single bit. However, despite our first meeting, from just the information alone, you can figure out my whole reasoning behind the summoning heroes. Although you are a cat and an otherworlder, you are still on a human side and try to help me by explaining the situation. I think it¡¯s fate that we meet here today.¡± The emperor has more cards hiding? Lexar cannot help but doubt that. It¡¯s the other world after all, and there are things the emperor is hiding that he cannot imagine. This guy looks exactly like a last boss type, and he obviously has secret weapons that make him deserving the boss title. But Lexar has a hunch that the emperor does have hidden moves, but he does not want to use them yet. The hypothesis that the demon starts working on revolution did make him uneasy, and he has to adjust the plan because of it. In that case, he still has a chance to negotiate. ¡°I¡¯m thankful for your words. I did not expect that my wild delusion can catch your interest and match your thinking. Although I don¡¯t believe fate myself, it must be good luck that I can meet you here.¡± ¡°If you are thinking what you said is just a delusion, I must say that you have a quite far view and realistic sense of imagination. Let¡¯s resume our conversation. What are you trying to say when we lose our initiation? I¡¯m interested to hear the rest.¡± Lexar pauses a little bit before continues ¡°As I have said before, revolution is a wide spread thing. It can be learned and mimicked. That¡¯s true for the enemy, but also for us. After some time observing, if we still have our ground, we can analyze and learn from the enemy, applying the revolution to ourselves. However, that also applies to the enemy. If they can stand after bearing your surprise attack, they can learn and attempt the same thing. As war stands, both sides learn from each other and applies on the field. In the end, it will become a war of attrition, same as the past. The one who holds out longer will win and vice versa. That¡¯s not the outcome you are wanting from this war, right?¡± Xavier scratches his chin, pondering, then speaks ¡°Well, now that¡¯s an undesirable outcome. I can see where you are getting it from. Let¡¯s get to the point. What are you going to offer when we agree to let you analyze the summoning ritual and let you and the heroes make a way to come back home?¡± ¡°Your highness, in fact, letting us analyze the summoning ritual and construct the way to go back to our world is the key to resolve this whole problem.¡± Lexar says. Chapter 60: Negotiation with the emperor (IV) ¡°Constructing a way back to our world !?¡± Makoto and Yuuko are surprised when hearing Lexar¡¯s suggestion. Xavier remains silent for a while, not saying anything, then opens his mouth "What do you intend to do?" His words are stern as the topic of bringing up the summoning ritual comes up again. "We will do the same thing that you exactly try to do. We will summon people from our world to this world." Lexar answers "Of course, this time, it is not a bunch of students, but people with full expertise, knowledge, and capability to pull out the revolution that you originally wished for." "*gasp*" A surprised sound comes from the girls, representing everyone''s shock toward the idea. "And here I thought that you, Japanese people, are against the idea of kidnapping people from the other world?" Xavier chuckles, his smile indicates that he has found something amusing. "No, you are misunderstanding my intention. We will summon people who are willing to come here this time. We will not bring people here by randomness, but through careful selection." Lexar slowly explains "We will establish a both way road between two worlds, ours and yours. Using it, we will travel back to our world, then send people back here to help you out." "What an interesting proposal. However, how can I trust that deal can be done? Won''t you just simply go back to your world without sending any people back here? I don''t see any reason why you will keep your words." Reasonable enough. If Lexar, Makoto, and Yuuko get back home, the first thing they need to deal with is to fight against the evil mastermind behind the school and hospital massacre. They need to regroup with Hinami, form a plan, investigate, and counter-attack. There is also an impending doom falling on their world within a year. Meddling with the issues in this world is not a good idea. However, Lexar has an idea. Since their enemy, Taiga Shindo, has a force and an organization of his own, he figures that the girls and he also need help from an organization to back them, a strong organization that can combat supernatural enemies and big enough to help them with various aspects. Their enemy is too strong, too big, and has prepared so much than them. Going against such enemy on their own is very risky. Thus, he needs to get the girls some allies. And the chance to have those allies is at this moment, from the negotiation with the king of a country from another world. "I''m afraid that I will have to object that notion. After all, there are many reasons why we want to visit this world again. And since we want to return here, we would like to establish a long-term relationship with the local people here, so that we can get the help we need when we return to this world.¡± Lexar explains his motive. ¡°Interesting. So not only you want to return to your own world, you would like to return here another time. Let me guess the motive. To prepare an escape place from your enemy, right?¡± Like reading the cat''s mind, Xavier points out one of the reasons Lexar wants to come back to this world. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s part of a reason.¡± Lexar calmly admits it. ¡°And if your enemy comes here through the path between two worlds, my country has to deal with another enemy from another world aside from the demons. Do you think I can accept such a deal like that?¡± Xavier coldly says. ¡°You will accept, in fact, that¡¯s what you want to do.¡± Lexar refutes. ¡°Why do you think so?¡± Xavier tilts his head. ¡°Because you are the man who embraces the change, the man who seeks to create a revolution under his name to renounce in the history. You have a very big ambition. This country alone is not enough for you.¡± Lexar continues ¡°I have been analyzing your thinking up until now. You sought to summon the heroes despite the taboos, to create a decisive move and prepare to win over the demon. And once you win, you want to expand your power and influence by taking over the land of the demons. At that stage, it will be not the demon that is your opponent, but the other human countries. They will fight together over the spoil of war, and decide their position in the new world¡¯s order.¡± ¡°Oi, oi, you have been jumping too far ahead, little cat. All I wish is to end the war with the demons with a victory.¡± Xavier denies it but his smile and eyes do not do so. Knowing that he is walking on the right rope, Lexar continues ¡°After all, a good king is one with an ambition. An unambitious king is not a good king as he will not have a guideline, a good image of what he wants his country will be. That is the same as a coachman not reining over his horses, letting them roaming freely as they like. And I know you are not that kind of king. And for a good king, he needs to see further in the future, especially for the king who is embracing new changes, a revolution. Opening the pathway to the otherworld sure has its risks, however, a lot of opportunities are also present there. And I am sure you can understand the opportunities that the pathway between both worlds present.¡±This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. ¡°Such as ¡­?¡± Xavier asks. ¡°In addition to getting the people with the knowledge to help you with your revolution, you can also go over to the other world to learn firsthand that knowledge yourself. I¡¯m sure you have already investigated our own world from the summoned heroes. If you didn¡¯t do so, would the revolution based on those summoned heroes¡¯ knowledge be incomplete? After all, understanding better the country they are living reflects part of the result of those revolutions. And aren¡¯t you interested in traveling to a certain country, the place where Chinese is originated and spoken?¡± Silence fills the hall again, and Xavier sits in throne, deep in thought. As expected, throwing in traveling to China does work its trick. After all, it is strange how Chinese is spoken by the emperor in this world. Even his family name is a Chinese one. This world ancient history is all tied to the cultivators, a concept that is originated from China. If his deduction is correct, the previous summoned hero is someone coming from China, or at least, related to China someway. It is unknown how that person has so much knowledge that was enough to create development that the historians in this world called that time a golden age of human. But regardless of her achievement, the probability she is related to China is high. And betting on a high chance car is his way to go. Xavier remains silent for a while, not saying anything. Then his next question comes ¡°Can you do it?¡±. YES! Lexar tightly clenches his fists in his imagination. This means that the king has finally allowed them to get close to the summoning ritual. He prepared many more reasons to appeal to his approval. However, the China card worked surprisingly well that he does not need to use them, thus allowing him to have more leeway in the future negotiations. ¡°We can do it. We have our method.¡± Lexar then turns to Makoto ¡°Makoto, please demonstrate your ability.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Hearing Lexar¡¯s word, Makoto nods then stands up. From a pouch behind her waist, she takes out an object. ¡°What is that?¡± Xavier¡¯s eyes are on the small whistle on Makoto¡¯s hand. ¡°This is the device that the goblins used to control the big snakes. Before we finished the mutated goblin, it took this out and blew it. This was probably used to signal for the snakes to act in rampage that the plan had failed. That¡¯s the reason why those Earth Snakes started rampaging after staying still for a long time.¡± Makoto explains. ¡°I see. What a surprising catch you have there. It must be related to how the goblins control those monsters, and with this device here, once the scholars examine it, we can figure out how this device works, and think of measurements. Then? What are you trying to show with this?¡± Xavier turns his attention to Makoto, asking her in curiosity. ¡°I can tell you all the details about this device, right now, without the need to summon the scholars. This is how I do it.¡± Finishing her word, a white flame erupts from her hand, engulfing the whistle. ¡°Hoo! Amazing! That is the power of the otherworld.¡± Xavier does not bother to hide his amazement, looking at the white flame in enchant. His expression looks like a man born of curiosity rather than a man of power, a man seeking knowledge and discovery. With the flame engulfing the whistle, the object gradually disappears and Makoto closes her eyes for a while. Silence fills the place, and no one speaks anything. Everyone is waiting for the girl¡¯s result. A few minutes later, she finally opens her eyes. ¡°The analysis is done.¡± She says ¡°This whistle is called monster whistle. Although it looks simple at glance, this is actually quite a high tech product. It works like a specific signal transmitter than a simple whistle. Each whistle is paired with a number of specific signal receivers. These receivers are attached to the monsters somewhere on their bodies. When the whistle is blown, it creates an inaudible sound that only the receivers can receive it. The receivers then decrypt the signals into commands that instruct the monsters to act as desired.¡± In her hand, the whistle appears again, while Makoto is showing a worried look. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why don¡¯t you continue?¡± Xavier urges. ¡°Yes. This device, despite some limits, is quite powerful. The current whistle is set to only give three signals: go back home, stay silent, and go rampage. It is designated for the goblins to be easy to use, as they cannot blow properly with more complex signals. They cannot command the monsters to attack at designated target, cannot move to the defined place, or do anything else. Aside from that, everything else is perfect. Its signal can be transferred for a very long range, a radius of 5 km. The signal is encrypted, and very specific to the receiving devices, that means it is difficult to eavesdrop the signal. In case there are multiple whistles with different monsters, the goblins can control different types of monster silently, over a long range, and do not interrupt each other¡¯s command at all. That¡¯s how powerful the device is.¡± Makoto concludes. ¡°And if there is someone smart enough to use the complex command, the whistle can be set so and used to give more specific command to the monsters. Is that correct?¡± Xavier asks, replied by Makoto¡¯s nod. ¡°Anything else you have found? Like how do they actually control the monster? What do the receivers do to the monsters? Furthermore, can we do something about it?¡± Xavier keeps giving questions. ¡°The receivers just only receive the signal and relays it to the monster. The thing that is used to control the monsters is something else. For that, I do not know, but we can find something if we dissect the snake corpses. There must be something else installed on their bodies aside from the receivers. However, with the current knowledge, I have an idea how to negate their tools. I can design a new device, one that can jam the signals the goblins send to the monster. If the signals fail to deliver, they cannot control the monsters at will.¡± Makoto confidently replies. ¡°I see. The ability to analyze the object at hand. It¡¯s quite a convenient ability for the researchers. So this is your bet on how to analyze the ritual and use that to create a pathway between two worlds. Very well, I accept the proposal.¡± Xavier says in satisfaction. Chapter 61: Behind each others back (Emperor side 1) Hours have passed since the audience. Xavier is resting his back on the throne, eyes closing. Although his country is still under attack from the goblin invasion and a possibility of an impending threat of a demon at the border is lingering, his face does not show any tension at all, only a small smile is there. Hands tapping on the cushion, he is thinking of the harvest he had today. The decision to summon the heroes, it was not a very easy decision to pass at all, with all kinds of obstacles and problems that may come up in the future. There is a taboo among all the humans within this world, that one shall not research or attempt to summon a hero from another world. The hero is a disruptive being that challenges the order of this world. In the past, it was not simply because the hero was betrayed that she wanted to destroy the world. The story behind was deeper than that, and that involved a lot of secrets either lost or still known within the upper society of the humans. However, he still did it and successfully summoned the heroes. His intention was exactly as Lexar had said, to gather the knowledge to start his revolution for the country. However, it was also different from what Lexar thought. What he wanted is not the knowledge of the modern earth, but the knowledge of the ancient past, the golden era of the human. He was expecting someone from the same world as the previous hero, hoping they have the same knowledge and thinking that were used as foundations to develop the wonders of the past. But the result was disappointing. He ended up summoning a bunch of good for nothing kids from another world. Although their knowledge and thinking are fresh, new, and worth a try, it was far from what he expected. They only knew about things such as economics, management, mathematics, physics, etc. Fields that the only scholars may get interested in studying, and perhaps, some of them can become useful. But the most disappointing thing is that they don¡¯t know how to become strong. The core of the previous golden age was to let the human become stronger than any other species in this world and climb on top of the food chain. The cultivator was the symbol of the achievements in the past and the previous hero was the one who brought that job to this world. She was also a martial artist who taught the people in the past how to become stronger. What about these heroes? They had never even killed an animal to feed themselves before, never held a true weapon, and only knew how to fight on the same level as the kids without having the job evaluated. Learning all of that, he thought that his summoning was a failure. Not a single objective of his plan was achieved, and he was stuck with a bunch of helpless kids from the other world. However, after analyzing their strength, he realized the summoning was not really useless at all. They still had the strength and developing potential as the heroes. By dividing the potential power of the heroes into many more smaller parts, it would be easier to manage the heroes than dealing with a very strong one. He had modified the ritual in order to do so to control the heroes better. Dealing with a group of weak ones is easier than dealing with a very strong one. It is the common sense of this world, where individualism is much more emphasized than on earth. A level 50 soldiers are much more valuable than 50 level 10 soldiers. A talented scholar is much more valuable than a group of educated people. In this world Tristina, the value of a high capability individual is emphasized more than anything else. With the RPG system, the upper limit of what one person achieve can be very high, so high that one person strength can be stronger than the power of a hundred people combined together. Furthermore, with how dangerous this world is, the might and power are heavily emphasized more than anything else. This is in contrast to earth, where one individual¡¯s power is limited by many factors, be it the environment, or the body. Because there is a limit of what one individual can do, the importance of teamwork, collaboration, being one with the community is more appreciated. Even with their potential divided, the heroes still had tremendous potential and excellent quality to fight in the incoming battle in each of them. That¡¯s why he had modified his plan, with the core of using the heroes¡¯ power instead of knowledge. A new organization was created, with its focus on utilizing the heroes¡¯ power and knowledge to fight the war in an unprecedented manner. S.W.O.R.D was created. The heroes would be divided into different groups, each either organized with balanced roles and statuses for general purposes, or for a specialized function that is used in certain circumstances. At first, he let them stick together to show his goodwill toward them and assured their will to fight for the country. It was a move to let their guard down after summoning them to this world. However, letting them sticking together too long is a problem. Although individualism is emphasized in this world, the power of union is also a strongly praised value as well. One dragon is now divided into a horde of lions, and a lion is much weaker than a dragon. However, they are still very dangerous when being in a pack like that. He needed to divide them further in order to weaken the overall strength of them, especially when he realized that a portion of heroes still displayed their ¡°uncooperativeness¡± despite his big effort to curb their favor. It was troublesome.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Luckily, a chance showed itself while he still pondered the solution. The class was divided into two factions, and he immediately seized the chance to cut the group into two. That group led by Kaito Takehara, the active hero faction as he heard, intended to fully comply with his commands, wanting to truly integrate into this world, becoming an inseparable part of this country. It seemed like that they hated their lives in the previous world, and wanted to turn a new leaf, getting a new better life in this world. He likes that group a lot, a bunch of obedient kids ready to work at his order if given the right compensation. They are very cooperative and work according to his will, and even at times, exceed his ¡°expectation¡±. To reward for their enthusiasm, he promised them a lot of things, guaranteed their positions after the war with the demons, enhancing their belief even further. On the other hand, that ¡°uncooperative¡± group is led by their former leader Ishida Shirogane. He is an intelligent kid, the type that is oriented toward mastering knowledge and management. All of his qualities resemble a scholar, an excellent one at that, excelled in both working with specialized skills and performing general tasks, unlike those narrow-minded ones, who only know about their work. Most of the useful knowledge from the other world came from him. A very annoying piece, being both useful and troublesome at the same time. That kid has been trying to sniff around the reasons behind the summoning, investigate the country¡¯s both light side and dark side. Given enough time, Ishida may grow into a capable man with his far and wide view on the future. It¡¯s too bad that he has exposed himself too early. Although he has been trying to do it secretly, those actions did not escape Xavier¡¯s surveillance and he did not even realize that. That¡¯s why Xavier has a plan. Since that kid loves sticking nose around a lot, he will have another place to stick his nose in. Those ambitious and suspicious nobles have been testing Xavier¡¯s nerve for a while recently. It will be a good thing if the hero can dig out something, giving the king a chance to remove those nobles. If someone believes in something, he will lean to believe evidence and facts that support his belief more than anything else. A person who thinks Xavier is suspicious tends to believe another person who also doubts Xavier. The knight captain that is assigned to Ishida group will play such a role. By creating many chances for the heroes to investigate, no doubt that the knight captain will gain that hero¡¯s trust, and with time, that knight captain will become the ¡°true companion¡± to the hero. And to do so, Xavier needs to let a few of his secrets exposed. In reality, there is also a third group, but it is not really considered a different group. This group composes of indecisive kids, who cannot decide their future. They do not know what to do, who to believe, and their purposes in the future. A bunch of sheep will go along the flow but stand still persistently as one whole group if confused when there are many ways. Either faction, Kaito or Ishida, requires one to act wholeheartedly and pursue the objective until the end. The heroes know that once they follow either side, they cannot turn back anymore, making them indecisive. The higher the risk the better the reward, no pain no gain. Both sides know these two phrases. For Kaito faction, to get the reward they desire, they have to get involved deeply with Vahalla, dealing with the royalty and the nobles, and that means sooner or later, they will participate into the political conflict of this country. The political war is always dirty. Kaito Takehara, though looks like a hot-blooded, impulsive teenager at glance, actually knows of this risk. By entangling themselves into this messy network of political power of Vahalla, they may be dragged into the dirty political battlefield, but they can avoid the risk of being isolated and cut off once the war with the demon end. Their existence will tie together with the benefits of some factions, thus there will be people protecting them once the time comes. That¡¯s the danger of joining this faction. Ishida faction¡¯s risk is easy to see. If they uncover a bad secret of this country, they will face this whole country as an enemy. It will be very hard to escape as they will have no side to support them, neither the other human countries nor the demon. There are countless bad consequences that are imaginable when in such situation. Facing such choices, they opted to stay silent, doing nothing and not choosing any side. However, they know that they cannot keep being indecisive forever and has to choose a side eventually OR find another course of action. That''s where Xavier uses the knife to further divide this class. Though Kaito¡¯s group is obedient, their way of doing risks damaging the current balance of political parties in this country. The more heroes joining them, the more complicated the situation may turn in the future. The best way to deal with this third group is to give them purposes in the future, purposes that will not let them join either of the current factions. S.W.O.R.D tried to investigate each of their habits, their dreams, and their original plans for the future in the old world. The organization will design a dream, a future plan for each of the hero, then create a scenario, an opportunity for the hero to pursue and chase that dream. Those scenarios can be varied. It can be a coincident meeting with the future other-half in a difficult situation, a random talk where two persons happen to realize they are chasing the same dream, or an elopement of two people that runs away from their responsibility. The irony is that this plan came up when he studied ¡°marketing¡± from one hero. He taught the scholars the importance of using empathy and people¡¯s emotion to appeal to people¡¯s approval of the revolutions they are conducting. A vision toward a better and desirable dream for everyone can let people have a positive outlook on the proposal, allowing it to have more acceptance. To portray that vision, an advertisement is needed, and that advertisement will be in a form of a story, a touching story that will be sung and told by the bards to the mass. At that time, while attending the lecture, Xavier had an idea, if we could tailor a touching story for just one specific person, would it be much more effective than the stories for the whole mass? Chapter 62: Behind each others back (Lexar side) A group of four people is walking in a hall. A knight wearing very sturdy and luxurious armor is leading ahead, followed by two girls and a cat. No one is speaking anything, and the silence lasts until the group arrives in front of a door. ¡°This is your room, ladies. Are you sure you don¡¯t want separate rooms? Most of the heroes have their own rooms and a group of servants serving for them. Although you are not them, you are still our high-esteem guests. You can receive the same treatment as the heroes.¡± The knight says, being open enough to talk about the heroes. ¡°Thank you so much for your consideration. You don¡¯t have to worry that much. We are pretty much like sisters and prefers to stay together. And you also don¡¯t need to assign a group of servants to us. We are not used to having a bunch of people following us. You can just assign one or two persons outside for us to call when we need something.¡± Yuuko politely declines the offer. ¡°As you wish. You have fought hard today already. Please rest well. And also, breakfast will be delivered to your room in the morning.¡± The knight opens the door then leaves. Entering the room, it has a big canopy bed enough for three people to sleep together. The room is quite extravagant with all the furniture available, wardrobe, sofa, working desk. There is even a bathroom inside. It has all the convenience of a 5-star hotel room aside from the TV and electronics. An unexpected thing in a medieval fantasy world. Removing the armors and cloaks, the girls and a cat sit together and begin their meeting. ¡°What are you trying to do, Lexar? Building a stable road connecting between two worlds. Is that something we can do?¡± Yuuko objects the idea. ¡°Throwing aside the possibility of doing it, are you serious on building a stable connection between two worlds? You should have known clearly what that guy is. He is pretty much a dictator, and the one who likes to use force at that. What if he is trying to invade our world? Having one big villain is enough, we don¡¯t want to also face the invasion from another world.¡± Makoto expresses their worry. Lexar looks at both girls¡¯ expression. Seeing their worried face, it is an expected reaction. His negotiation is not different from inviting a mafia boss to his house, flaunting the richness while exposing how weak the security is. The other side has a fantasy army, capable of casting magic and doing amazing skills. Each solder is stronger than the most trained soldier in Earth, and guns can be useless against this fantasy army. If by any chance, Xavier knows that the army on Earth is much weaker than his army, there is a risk of an invasion on Earth, considering how ambitious he is. From those facts alone, it is easy to see that bringing the people here to their world is a bad idea. However, Lexar is not really worried. His negotiation may look like he was begging to let them use the summoning ritual to get home. The benefit for the emperor to travel to the other side seems to be much greater than for the group to travel back to this world. The risk of danger is also higher for Earth than this world too. That¡¯s if certain facts are not taken into account. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Makoto, Yuuko. I know what you two are afraid of. However, the risk of an invasion is actually very, very small. Girls, remember the risk we have to take when we go back to our old world.¡± Lexar hints. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Makoto claps her hand ¡°If we travel back to our world, the program in our world will malfunction. If we don¡¯t remove it, bad consequences will occur. And since this world¡¯s residents¡¯ bodies heavily rely on the program, without the support of the system, they will have a greater backlash than us when arriving at our world.¡± That¡¯s right. The reason for all of Lexar¡¯s confidence for the whole negotiation is that this world¡¯s native can¡¯t live without the support of the RPG system. The people of this world, when they are born, their body is already deeply integrated as one with the program and bit, and grow up by using them. These two components need the support of this world¡¯s system to operate properly. If they are out of the reach of the system, their body will malfunction. The effect will be the same as throwing normal humans into space. ¡°And with their inability to enter our world, they will not be a threat anymore if they try to invade our world. Amazing! You actually thought of that and used it to plan out the entire negotiation in that short time while under pressure. With us practically desperate to find the way back home, you offered all the possible benefits you could think if the road exists. Those benefits tempted that emperor to think about expanding his ambition if he can establish a plan to travel between worlds. Since he is an arrogant man, he probably thought that we were a bunch of na?ve and stupid kids, unknowingly betrayed our world. But in reality, all of his plans for his domination will crumble when he realizes his strength becomes non-existent over there. Amazing! You have managed to get us to reach that important summoning ritual while taking no risk at all.¡± Yuuko becomes happy as she realizes the cat¡¯s plan. ¡°Correct. If that emperor truly intends to invade our world, he will have a taste of his medicine if he tries to do so while we successfully go back to our world. However, that¡¯s only the worst case scenario. To be honest, I am seriously thinking about the alliance between us and that guy. I really intend to commence the trade of knowledge between two worlds. And the road to go back to this world has more uses to us than you think.¡± Lexar slowly explains. ¡°First, we need a backing of an organization, a very big organization at that. The fight between us and that Shindo guy is just only a small conflict. The calamity that is going to occur in 1 year is the real deal. We don¡¯t know what kind of troubles we will meet on the way, and we can¡¯t just fight by ourselves. It¡¯s not only fighting. We need someone to help us with gathering information, looking for something, investigation, research and so on. Those are works that will take a lot of time, and you girls are not experts or someone with connections to do them. That¡¯s why we need relationship and help from a big organization. The first choice is the government.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. When we arrive back at our world, what we have to do is to contact the government, someone from the higher up. It will be a tough job to convince them. Our special power alone may not be enough to convince them of supernatural things, but the existence of people from another world, and the path connecting two worlds cannot be ignored. The government cannot absolutely ignore an unknown country that can attack them at any moment. And when they learn they can also move to another world, they will also be attracted by that idea. Think about it. An unknown world with unknown material, unknown resource, and unknown technology, and there is magic there. There will be some big people attached to those and the government will move to investigate this world. The best scenario is that we can act as an intermediate between two countries. That way, we will meet a lot of important people and gain enough trust to investigate what we want.¡± Both the girls nod at his plan, agreeing with it. ¡°The second choice is obviously Xavier. Although he looks like a dictator at glance, he is a smart person. It will be good if we can be friendly with each other. He will be a powerful force when we need people to fight with us.¡± ¡°Wait a minute! You really mean to be friendly with that arrogant guy? I admit that he is strong. However, can he survive when he goes to our world? What can he do there, really?¡± Yuuko asks. ¡°His strength does not only rely on the RPG system alone. He has other types of strength too. Remember when he analyzed the animium, that means he is also knowledgeable on different kinds of strength. Not to mention, he is also very strong, even without the system, he may still survive and adapt to that environment. And even if he is weakened without the system, he can still put up a fight by using those different kinds of strength.¡± Makoto explains. ¡°Then isn¡¯t it dangerous? Does this mean he and his army can still fight in our world too?¡± Yuuko raises her voice. ¡°The risk is still there, but it is minimized a lot already. That guy is a special case, and perhaps several other individuals in this world. However, that does not extend to the army. The large portion of people here can only rely on the RPG system. Only a few people can come over and still survive and fight properly. With that few number, it is impossible to do an invasion.¡± Lexar explains ¡°And besides, if we want him to regain his strength in our world, we have a method to do that, right Makoto?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Makoto nods ¡°I figure out that we still need our strength and skills gained from this world to fight in our world. That¡¯s why I have devised a method to let the program work while without the system. I¡¯m still working on it, but once it¡¯s done, I will tell you.¡± ¡°And remember, if we are friendly with Xavier, we have another force that can really help us, the summoned heroes. With the support of Japan when the relationship between two countries is done, the importance of the heroes will be lessened. We can negotiate and let some of the heroes back home. First, they can fight, and second, if they know their world is in danger, they are more willing to protect their own world than fighting here.¡± Lexar points out. Both girls are silent, digesting his plan in their heads. A few minutes pass, and Yuuko opens her mouth first. ¡°Amazing. You have thought so far for the future. Honestly, if it was me, I could just only ask for the emperor to let us see the summoning ritual. And if he declined, I would have to agree to a lot of his conditions and obey his orders, as an exchange for the condition to use the summoning ritual. I could have never thought of any advantage or useful things to exchange with that guy, and the situation would be very bad. ¡° ¡°Un, me too. I also think the same. To be honest, at that time when he intimidated us, my head basically became empty. I couldn¡¯t think of anything and just stood there like a doll. I may have nodded at his request to work for him. But, thanks to you, we have managed to get nearer to our objective without having to obey any of his unreasonable demand. If it wasn¡¯t for you, we would be helpless and in a big trouble now.¡± Makoto says. ¡°It¡¯s kinda late to say it now. Thank you very much, Lexar. You have been guiding us for so long. You gave us our power, helped us escape the school, fought together in the hospital, teaching us how to survive in the wild, and planning the long course for us and our world. You have been a great help to us.¡± Yuuko then bows to the cat. ¡°I promise that I will not let you down after all you have done for us. I will fight well, to survive and save our world.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the same. Thank you very much, Lexar.¡± Makoto sits next to Yuuko then bows to the cat. ¡°We have come this far, all thanks to you. Please continue to guide us in the future.¡± Her word is full of respect, unlike the playful tone she often uses. ¡°You girls ¡­¡± Lexar is lost at words. Being thanked so sincerely, he feels very touched. He was helped many times when he reached old age, troubling his kids and grandkids a lot while not being much help to them. It has been a very long time since he has done much for someone else and is thanked. A warm feeling fills his chest. ¡°I also need to thank two girls, too. Thanks to you, I was able to find my life meaningful again. I could have not come this far without you girls either.¡± Lexar says while raising his head, then he realizes the girls are already asleep while still kneeling on the bed. (They must have been really tired.) Lexar thinks. Such a bad posture to sleep. The cat jumps on their back and drags their collars to lie out properly on the bed. Seeing their soundly sleeping faces, Lexar cannot help but sigh deeply. They remind him of his children when at their age. He had been a strict father, always telling them to do this and that, not to do this and that. He had been hard on them, teaching them a lot of things, pushing them to become mature than their peers. Perhaps, in the other parents¡¯ eyes, he had always been doing the right things. His children were excellent, had a lot of praiseworthy qualities. Their academy work was top of the school, they held the leadership position of the elite classes, they were mature and knew how to deal with everyone in the appropriate way. Everyone praised them and they were considered perfect children in their eyes. But thing always comes with a cost. He had too high expectation of them. His children had been under pressure and stressed all the time. They were good kids and knew how to hide it, not wanting to disappoint me. He hadn¡¯t realized it until one of his children collapsed. She was diagnosed with the stomach ulcer and had to be hospitalized for a few days. That¡¯s when he learned that he should not put on too much responsibility and pressure on the children. Makoto and Yuuko, they are really amazing girls. Despite being afraid of death, they can still face it head on and fight. And then they were thrown into a strange world, having to survive without the basic need of a modern human. If it were other people, they would have thrown a tantrum after a day or two. However, these girls endured it all without any complaint. But with all these intense fighting, their stress definitely is piling up. Worse enough, the future fighting will be even more intense. They still don¡¯t show it on their faces yet, but sooner or later, he knows they will break down. What can he do to relieve their stress? ¡°Lexar ¡­.¡± Makoto murmurs in her sleep. Deciding that it¡¯s enough of thinking today, the cat lies in a round shape in between two girls, then let them cuddle him when their hands extend out. Chapter 63: The summoned heroes battle (1) A thick smell of blood and iron mixed together fills the whole place. That smell becomes thicker as time pass unless the battle creating it does not stop. The ground becomes very squishy, filled with countless pieces of meat littering around. Blood puddles form wherever there are holes on the ground, created by the stomp of the marching or the destructive power of magic attack spell. For any reason, this place has become quite hard for people to walk on. Yet, there are still numerous creatures walking on this land. They walk, run, stomp, stand, jump on that slippery ground like it is the least of their concern when the enemy is right in front of them. Many of them fall on the ground, some manage to stand up back again, but the rest just lie there for a while, contributing their blood to the blood pool on the ground, and waiting for next incoming. ¡°BOOM¡± Another explosion comes, followed by several others a few seconds later. There is no intact corpse on this battlefield. Once someone falls, within a few seconds later, an explosion will come at his position, blowing away the entire corpse into smithereens and causing damage on anyone nearby. ¡°Keep going!¡± A seventeen-year-old boy yells from his lung ¡°Smash all those green skins to dust. With the next generation magic cannon, we can win this war without any further bloodshed. ¡± His voice is deafening, echoing the whole battlefield spreading over two-kilometer radius. The tension in his voice can be felt, but there are also excitement, confidence, and belief in victory. His feelings are transmitted to everyone, boosting their morale and confidence in their new commander. Next to him, there is also another boy who is also wearing the same armor as the commander boy, indicating his rank. He does not say anything, just only stands on the tall wall, looking over the horizon where the massive goblin army is lining up and being blown away by his inventions. His fists clench tightly, but his grin is very wide. He has been glaring at the scene nonstop without blinking. (Yes! This is what we, the summoned heroes, have to do in another world. This is our supposed strength, our true potential. This is my power.) Such thought keeps repeating in his mind as he sees the goblins being blown away while being helpless against the human attack. ¡­¡­¡­. The city of Alvanka is under a siege of the goblin army. Unlike the Brendhill town which is only a small town out of nowhere, the city Alvanka is one of the biggest trade centers in the entire kingdom of Vahalla with the population over 3 million people. The scale and the richness of the city make it a good place for wealthy people and nobles to live there, as well as people trying to establish a business there. The merrier the trading, the more attractive it is for more people to come. This also results in a large army also stationing here, consisting of over 100,000 troops of different ranks. There are also numerous adventurers and private guards working in this city too. Combining all of these fighting powers along with the big walls surrounding all side, Alvanka is supposed to be an impenetrable fortress. But today, that reputation is being challenged. The fact that a city of this scale is being challenged means one thing: the invasion of the goblin army has come to the next phase. From the current intelligence, the goblins started their invasion in an easily noticeable manner: destroying all the villages in the area, then attacking the town at the center of those villages. It is clear to see what these green skins want to attempt: isolate big fishes after killing all nearby small ones. And by deduction, after clearing the towns, their target will be the cities. And when a city is attacked, it means the nearby towns have fallen. Fortunately, the situation is not bad as it sounds. Due to the strength of security in this area, they managed to push back the initial wave of the invasions at the village. Information managed to reach the nearby villages and towns and appropriate response was given out. Thanks to being able to estimate the strength of the goblin army, they decided to evacuate from the villages and towns, gathering all the strength at Alvanka, where there are enough defend structures to withstand the attack. However, there are two sides to everything. As the evacuations were successful, the take over of the towns and villages became easy with few losses on the goblin side. With only the city left, all the goblin forces attacking different towns concentrated their power into the frontal assault toward the city, an estimated force of 500,000 goblins, the highest record of monster count in the human history. ¡­¡­ ¡°Damn, look at that. A sea of dark green. Is this how it is like to face an entire population? Even though we have an upper hand, it¡¯s still quite overwhelming.¡± On another part of the wall, a boy is using the telescope to see where the vast goblin army ends.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I agree. Even so, this is quite amazing. Without using the archery skill, I can even see from such far away. Not only that, this ¡®telescope¡¯ thing can be used by everyone. This will make everyone rethinks the importance of the academy again.¡± A knight captain on the boy¡¯s left side says in admiration. ¡°Please don¡¯t talk to me those topics. I really dislike studying. I¡¯m just a user and only knows how to use things that are useful. Studying is annoying. It¡¯s always very boring and I always want to sleep in class.¡± The boy says in a dissatisfied voice. ¡°Hahaha. True. When those scholar guys discuss, the topic changes rapidly from one to another. After a while, I don¡¯t even understand a shit what they are saying. I guess I am not suited to these studying thing either.¡± The knight captain agrees. ¡°How many cannonballs do we have left?¡± The boy changes the topic. ¡°We will only have 50 left soon. After hearing their effectiveness, the great general has passed the order to increase the production of both the cannons and cannonballs. The other city mayors and nobles are also pushing the requests to purchase them. We can finally get a lot of money from those bastards¡¯ pocket.¡± The knight captain says. ¡°When will the next batch arrive for us?¡± ¡°There will be 100 delivered to us at the end of the day. The other gates will also have the same amount. After that, there will be no more delivered to us.¡± ¡°Do you know the reason?¡± ¡°Apparently, we will be prioritized for today only. Tomorrow¡¯s batch will be delivered for the other cities to prepare. And also, since we have been so effective, the higher up thinks that we don¡¯t need that many cannon balls anymore.¡± The knight captain sighs deeply, not being happy with that decision. ¡°One ball gets about 30 goblins. We have shot 200 so far, 6000 kills. With our reserves, we can only get 1500 more. Damn, we have fired so many, yet that number is still only a drop for that sea. So this is how war is, even though what you are doing is effective, the number you achieve may be impressive, but it can still be very small in the overall view.¡± The boy mutters his thinking, making the knight captain smiles. ¡°You are correct, commander. Even if one person¡¯s strength is great, he must work together with everyone when facing a big disaster. Our artillery unit managed to kill a lot of enemies, enough to make a name of ourselves in a normal campaign. However, with our strength alone, when facing this big of a disaster, it is still helpless. That¡¯s why we also need to work with the other 100,000 soldiers in this city to fight this war.¡± The knight captain gives the lecture to the young boy. ¡°Thank you very much, gramp Robert. I have learned my lesson. I, Kaito Takehara, will keep working better to become the hero for this world.¡± Kaito smiles in response to the old knight captain. His sincere smile and sudden casual attitude give Robert a fresh feeling of respect, a genuine respect from the bottom of the heart, not caring about anything else. This makes the old man, who does not have any children, feel attracted to him. Kaito Takehara is a strange hero. Out of all heroes, he is not the smartest, the most knowledgeable, the most powerful, or the most charismatic hero. Yet he is the leader of a faction within the heroes, though the person himself denied so. He is an adolescent boy, learning things to become a hero suitable for his name. At first, when Robert met him, he actually disliked his hero, always spouting na?ve or unrealistic thought at random moments that made the everyone speechless. The old knight truly thought he was stupid beyond idiocy and deeply separated from the reality. Then one day, unable to tolerate the stupid thinking, Robert lost himself and shouted at the young hero, telling him straight into the face that he was stupid and what was wrong with his thinking. In response to his disgracing words, Kaito just blanked out ¡°Eh, is that really so?¡±. At that time, Robert really snapped himself and gave an hour lecture long on the life lesson before he realized that he overstepped the bound. He expected a comeback, for example, a threat or an attack on him, as that is the common response when commoner disgraces a noble. But there was no such thing, Kaito wholeheartedly listened to his whole lesson. From that moment, Kaito really changed a lot. Instead of being stupid and thoughtlessly throwing out random thought, he became serious in his attitude toward anything, whether it was training, studying, or fighting. He really changed in a good way that the fellow heroes were also surprised. Sometimes he faked his old stupid behaviour, but everyone knows that he was changing for the better, so their attitude toward him changed as well. Robert could not help but believe that such change was credited to him since Kaito really listened and followed his advice. Robert then noticed that the most distinguished thing about him is that he the most honest hero out of everyone. He was stupid, na?ve and also looked down by the other heroes, but his words truly meant it: to fight for the human side and get a better future. He was unlike the other heroes, who either distanced themselves from the people here or befriended in a fa?ade that schemed a lot of things. ¡°You are the first stranger who talked my bad points straight in my face. My parents have never talked to me those things. My friends just fool around and talk the stupid things. But you are the first one who gave me a proper lesson. Thank you very much.¡± He still remembers Kaito¡¯s words at that time. Those words have changed his impression on this young man. (I want to make this young man into a true good hero for the people and this country) or so Robert thought from the bottom of his heart. Since then, the knight captain has devoted his full effort in being a mentor for Kaito, teaching him about the common sense here and how it works in the society. And Kaito, who faithfully listened to him, becomes a respected hero, both among the hero circle and the people here. ¡°Please call me Captain Robert, or just Robert, Commander Takehara. We are still on the battlefield.¡± Robert replies to the hero. ¡°Ok, captain. Please send the order to the troop to shoot more sparely. We will need to save 20 cannon balls left for the emergency. And get the archery group and mage group to get ready. It¡¯s time to work their body.¡± Kaito waves his hand and turns his attention to the battlefield again. ¡°Ok, where are you now, big monsters? I am looking for you.¡±