2. A Rather Grimm Situation
Morning had come once again the village. It's first rays of light piercing through the curtains of Sung Jin-Woo's window. He let out a small groan as his eyes slowly opened. He tried to get some more sleep but the morning sun brightly glaring at him prevented him to do so. He gave out a heavy sigh and got started with his day. Once he fixed the bed, he did some initial stretches before leaving his room. He walked down the hallway of rooms before taking the stairs which led down to the lobby.
He could see Matilda already setting the chairs up, getting ready for today's wave of customers. She looked up once the finished setting up one table to spot Jin-Woo. She gave a short smile before continuing on with setting up the tables.
"Sung Jin-Woo, help me out with these tables." She said as she was already making her way to another table.
Jin-Woo gave a short nod before walking over to one of the tables for him to set up. As they set up the all of the tables and chairs, Jin-Woo noticed a board with papers posted on them. He walked up to each one and read some of the papers posted on it. To his surprise, he could read the language of this world, they were American letters. He could've hoped that it was written in Korean, but he wasn't going to complain. At least, he didn't need to worry about learning a brand new language from scratch.
After reading through a few of those papers, he noticed that they were simply odd job requests around the village, each providing a reward that fit the chore. While he read through the requests, it dawned on Jin-Woo that he needed money in this world. It was decided then, he would take a few of these odd jobs and earn some lien before booking it to the nearest city.
"Miss Matilda" Jin-Woo called out.
Matilda was already behind the bar counter, scrubbing glass cups. "Hm?"
"How close is the nearest city from here?"
Matilda slowed her scrubbing to think. "Hm… the closest city is Vale; a good week of walking and you'll get there. Heading for the city?"
"Maybe" Jin-Woo said before taking a request from the wall. He walked up to the bar counter and placed the paper for Matilda to read.
"This request?" Matilda asked.
Matilda took a moment to read the request. The request was an extermination one. A large pack of Beowolves have been seen gathering in the eastern road of the village and has been terrorizing any incoming visitors for a month now. Roland, the only resident huntsman in this village, mentioned that he could take care of them himself but that would leave the village extremely vulnerable for any stragglers that might come for the village.
As for why the village has a request board, the village has seen it fair share of mercenaries, huntsman and huntresses looking for a quick break before leaving to resume whatever they were doing to begin with. Some of them are eager to earn lien which is why the village chief deemed it fit to put down a request board.
Matilda gave Jin-Woo a dubious look. "Are you sure you can take this quest. No offense, but I doubt you could handle yourself in a fight."
Jin-Woo gave a small smile. "Don't worry Miss Matilda, I may not look like it, but I can fight."
She raised an eyebrow. "You say that, but didn't you just get mugged by a group of bandits last night?"
"Fighting monsters is a lot easier when they don't think." Jin-Woo stated.
Matilda looked at him for a moment before resigning with a sigh. "Ah, fuck if I care. It's not like I know what it's like to fight Grimm."
Matilda reached beneath the bar counter and brought out a pair of dull daggers. "Here, something to help you out. I don't really want your death to be on my conscience."
Jin-Woo flashed Matilda a grateful smile and took the daggers and left the inn.
If there was one thing that Cinder Fall prided on, it was her ability to create plans and manipulation. Today was no different, she grinned darkly as all the pieces fell on the right spot all because she skilfully directed the Fall Maiden to take refuge in that village. She took one more glance at the map, it was a road that went from the village that the Fall Maiden is in and another village. Her plan was simple and well done, overwhelm the Fall Maiden and steal her power.
For her plan to work her mistress, Salem, had graciously lent her a large pack of Alpha Beowolves. These creatures were fast, and they were well coordinated. These Beowolves are also specifically created to go completely berserk when their eyes lock on the Fall Maiden. However, Alpha Beowolves or not, they will not be enough to go up against a living fairy tale legend. That is where Cinder and her group will come in. They will come in and strike a mortal blow on the Fall Maiden while she is distracted.
Of course, she didn't fully rely on this plan alone, she did not make it this far in her life by simply relying on one plan. No plan survives when coming in contact with the enemy and Cinder's enemy is not just any goon that is easily forgotten. Should the Alpha Beowolves be killed sooner than she would expect, she is confident enough that they have tired her out enough for them to win a head on fight with her. Emerald Sustrai will become a crucial part of her plan B, constantly messing with the Fall Maiden's eyes with visual illusion, creating an opening for them to deal damage to the Fall Maiden.
Should plan B also fail, they will retreat. Cinder was not a fan of retreating but she knew that she had to properly pick her fights well enough. Should this plan fail, she would simply create a new one where fate favoured her. However, she knew that today was the day. Today is the day that she would take the Fall Maiden's powers.
"So, these creatures are called Grimm." Jin-Woo thought.
Standing in front of him were large packs of Alpha Beowolves. From one glance alone, the Sovereign of Shadows was not impressed at all. He had seen weaker monsters more terrifying than what he is looking at right now. These creatures had pitch black skin with bone white armour that looked natural. If there was one thing that popped in Jin-Woo's mind, it was how it mimicked his shadows. A poor mimicry at that.
It would not be hard for Jin-Woo to simply call forth one of his many shadow soldiers to deal with these creatures. But he was curious, curious at what these creatures are capable of doing. He slowly pulled out the two daggers that were given to him by Matilda. How convenient that she gave the weapon he is particularly good at using.
Packs of Alpha Beowolves closed in on him, growling but keeping their distance. Experience taught these monsters which is prey, and which is predator. However, staring at Jin-Woo, all they could feel is certain death. It was not known to the humans of Remnant if Grimm could experience feelings. Whatever the pack of Alpha Beowolves were feeling, it surely wasn't hunger nor rage.
It was fear.
"It certainly has been a while since I fought something."
He stood on the same spot for a few more seconds, noticing that the Alpha Beowolves aren't making a move on him. He eyed each one warily before taking a step forward. That one action prompted all of them to move. With sharpened class and bared fangs, the pack of Alpha Beowolves pounced on Jin-Woo. To a seasoned huntsman or huntress, managing this much Grimm, experienced one at that, might prove problematic. However, Jin-Woo wasn't a huntsman. He was the Sovereign of Shadows, and as the Sovereign of Shadows, he had to put an end to this poor mimicry of his Shadow Army.
In the blink of an eye, Jin-Woo pulled out the two dull daggers and made a move. These beasts seemed to pride themselves with their speed, unfortunately Jin-Woo was simply faster. The ground thrummed deeply, and the earth shook for a quick moment. Jin-Woo was standing on one spot, a second later, he was disappeared. Time seemed to moved incredibly slowly for Jin-Woo, the claws of one Alpha Beowolf was just inches to his eye, slowly closing in on him, another already had its fangs closing in on his neck.
He moved away from the claws of one and backed off from the jaws of the other. His eyes glowed a deep purple, twirling the dull daggers that Matilda gave him, he made his move. Time resumed back to its normal speed and the Grimm finally understood that they messed with the wrong person. Jin-Woo swiped his arm towards the neck of a Grimm, cleanly slicing its throat, and threw the second dagger at the one who tried to bite his neck with incredible strength. Though the blade was dull, it managed to sink itself deep in the Alpha Beowolf's skull.
Two Alpha Beowolves dropped to the ground, one choking on its own blood and another with a dagger on its head. Now that he had a free hand, he used it to block a swipe coming from in front of him, their claws didn't even cut through his skin, a by-product of having a toughened body in order to inherit the former Sovereign of Shadow's power. After blocking the attack, he sliced the arm off with the dagger he had on his other hand. Another tried to lunge and bite him on his legs, and he responded with a jump. The Alpha Beowolf skid on the ground, frustrated that it had missed its target. Noticing the vulnerable form of the prone Grimm, he dropped his knee on its back, the bone armour had done nothing to protect its owner and quickly gave away with an audible crack.
Jin-Woo's knee drop created a strong shockwave that pushed the other Alpha Beowolves back, each of them looking in horror at the damage he had done to them, and he did not even look the least bit winded. The Alpha Beowolf that had just lost its claw hand stepped back in terror, something never thought a Grimm could feel, before going for a full blown retreat. Try as it might though, Death will come. And come it did, in the form of Sun Jin-Woo. A purple streak zoomed through the pack of Grimm and made a beeline towards the retreating form of a wounded Alpha Beowolf.
"Who told you to retreat?" He muttered.
Dull dagger blades struck the beast with such speeds, it could not be discerned, the only sign that the wounded Alpha Beowolf was cut to pieces were the purple lines which represented the strikes that Jin-Woo did. Standing in front of the monster, Jin-Woo looked down at it, making sure that he was the last thing it had seen before falling part to many diced pieces.
Jin-Woo spared another second staring at the dead and mutilated Alpha Beowolf before locking eyes with the rest of the pack.
His irises glowed a deep purple.
Anger filled Cinder's eyes. Who had done it? She and her group stared at the disappearing corpses of Alpha Beowolves. There was no way that these creatures were defeated so quickly and for the attacker to leave no trail of leaving, it irked her to no end. And she made sure to let her lackeys know that she was in no mood to talk.
"Should I pull back and plan again? If I do that now, Salem will be upset with me, after creating these Grimm, to come back empty handed would be asking for certain death. I need to find out who did this, she might understand then."
Considering it closely, if there was someone who was capable of taking out an entire pack of Alpha Beowolves, it would grab her attention and would understand why they failed. Still, a failure is still a failure, no two ways about it. Finding the one responsible for this will only lessen her punishment but she will still get punished.
"What do we do now, mistress?" Emerald asked.
Her anger disappearing for a moment, she considered her options. Who knows when an opportunity like would present itself again. Months of planning had lead to this. However, she understood that without the help of the Grimm that Salem created for her, it will be a daunting task to complete but it could just work. She turned her head to Emerald.
"We continue with the plan, Emerald. However, there will be changes. Me and Mercury will be relying on your semblance even more now. Without the Grimm helping us, we will be fighting a well-rested fairy tale legend. Overwhelm her visual senses and she just might slip. I trust that you could do this?"
Emerald froze on her mistress' s words. She took a deep breath, pride swelling up inside of her. A determined look set on her face. "I won't fail you, mistress."
Cinder flashed her a fake smile, a smile that she practiced nearly a thousand times that it was nearly indiscernible from a genuine smile. "I know you won't."
If push comes to shove and this attack failed, she could simply throw Emerald away and retreat with Mercury. The young man barely cared about her anyway. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath before setting the plan in motion.
Amber gave out a tired sigh as she rode on her horse. She gazed across the open landscape, her mind wandering to wherever it wants to go. It had been an hour now since she had left the village she resided on for a few days. Her pack fully stocked up once again for a long journey ahead, where was she going? She did not know. Only thing she knew, and the only thing that mattered to her was to stay alive.
Amber could still vividly remember what happened before she received this power. She just sat there as she slowly died in her arms, a hole in her gut where an obsidian arrow had pierced her. She had warned Amber and showed regret for giving this full responsibility to her. Her last words were very clear to her.
"Run Amber. Run and live."
And that is what she had been doing this entire time. For past year, all she had done was run away. She did not know who or what she is running from but if she had hazarded a guess, the ones who are chasing her wants the power that rested within her.
Her attention was grabbed when she noticed a figure of a slumped girl beside the dirt road. Her face devoid of any forms of life, body so thin she could see her bones. She looked like she was on the brink of death. Her horse suddenly whinnied, hooves raised and stomping to tell Amber that something was wrong. However, no matter how she looked at it, it was just a starving young girl. What could possibly go wrong. She jumped off of her horse, gave it a few kind words to calm it down before approaching the hungry girl.
Un known to her, that hungry girl smirked mischievously at the fact that she had just successfully fooled a fairy tale legend.
"Here you go Sung Jin-Woo." Matilda said, laying down the small pouch of lien on the table.
Jin-Woo took the small pouch with a half bow but the grateful look on his face still told Matilda that he was happy to be paid. Jin-Woo looked inside the pouch to see the contents of it. Plastic cards of varying colours told him that the coloured cards perhaps symbolised the price of a Lien depending on the colour. He closed the pouch again and gave Matilda a nod, a confirmation that he has been paid as per the request's reward.
Matilda placed her hands on her waist. "Still, I must say, I never expected you to come back. To be honest, I thought you were dead."
A soft chuckle escaped Jin-Woo. Silence graced the both of them and that was when Jin-Woo noticed that there was something missing. "That girl is not here anymore?"
Matilda seemed to have picked up the meaning behind his words. "The hooded one? Yeah, she just left an hour ago after you had left to do the request. Suspicious looking bastard if I have to say. She just sits on one corner and slowly drinks and eats. She barely talks to me or anyone in the town. It's like she is purposely distancing herself from everyone." Matilda shrugged. "Not my fucking problem. All I care about is that she pays up."
"I see." Jin-Woo simply said. "I'll be going back to my room. I should get ready to leave as well."
Jin-Woo continued walking past the counter. Just before he could reach the stairs that lead to the many rooms of the inn, Matilda called out to him. He turned his attention to her only to suddenly catch another pouch full of Lien. Confusion settled in the Sovereign of Shadow's face.
"You're going to need it. I could tell. Vale is just north-west of here. If you follow the road, you'll get there in two weeks' time."
Jin-Woo flashed her another grateful smile. He said his thanks and went back to his room. As he entered his room and closed the door, his magical sense flared up suddenly. He looking towards the direction he is feeling the sudden burst of mana.
"That mana feels similar to that hooded her last night."
With renewed vigour, he opened his room's window and stepped out. His legs tensing up before pushing against the window frame and jumping high in the sky from out of the window.
"Kaisel"
His shadow dragon appeared in an instant and with one flap of its wings, it soared across the skies, eager to take its master to his intended destination. Whatever is happening, Jin-Woo will find out when he gets there. He just hopes that he's not too late.
A/N: And it's a cliff hanger. I know, you guys probably hate me for this. Currently, I am using this story to further improve my word count and maintain a steady amount of motivation to write because from what I noticed about myself, once I start the first paragraph, I don't stop from there. Until I reach a break where perspectives changes, I won't stop.
Anyway, enough about me. Tell me what you think of chapter 2? Any thing of note that you want to point out? Constructive criticism is well appreciated because I want to improve as a writer. I hope the pacing wasn't too fast and I hope that the story flowed smoothly to you, my dear readers.
That's all I have to say and with that, I bid you all adieu!
Peace~