Hi all!
Like usual, I'm thankful for those following my story so far, either silent reader or vocal reviewer. To be honest, on the first day I didn't expect to get quite an amount of followers, and now I'm happy that it has gone far beyond my initial expectation.
Let me tell a reminder that I put two links in my account profile leading to a gallery which should help visualize objects that appear in the story.
Without further ado, here's the next chapter.
[X][X][X]
Rose was in a predicament, although not quite.
Right in front of her was the demon who was being hunted down by the group of adventurers she had been walking along with. However, she had never imagined the demon to be such a cute girl. Putting aside the horns and blazing red left eye, this demon looked really human.
Rose was confident in her capability. She should be able to defeat this demon easily if this demon's strength was within this world's standards. However, there was no telling if that was really the case, and none of the adventurers were around to test it.
"Who... what are you?"
Rose asked a question to the demon. She was ready to smash the smoke bomb as a distraction, but so far she could not see any malice from the demon.
"I'm just... a sheep passing by..."
The demon moved around the bush and slowly approached Rose. It was at this point Rose finally could see the bottom half of the body.
The demon wore a tight type of short skirts with matching color of her suit, and below that she wore dark grey thigh-high socks with frilled edge of lighter grey color. There was a black leg pouch strapped on her right thigh, and she wore a strange thick belt around her hip. What was strange of her belt was the bunch of what seemed to be crystal sheets cut in pentagonal shape hanging under it. Lastly, her shoes were low-heeled short boots of dark grey color.
All in all, the demon's outfit gave off a strangely modern vibe compared to this world's level of civilization. Rose felt strange seeing that, but she remembered that some of the evil overlord's underlings wore somewhat modern clothing too, so she concluded that this world's demon civilization level was likely more advanced than human civilization.
Still, Rose couldn't help wondering about the demon's reply.
"Huh...? Sheep?"
The demon smiled a little and also did a small giggle.
"I was kidding"
Her smile was beautiful, but Rose couldn't help thinking that there was nothing funny in her joke. At best it only served to confuse.
*Grumble**Grumble*
Suddenly, a sound came out from the demon's stomach, and she froze in silence.
"You're hungry?"
As Rose asked that, the demon girl's face showed a great embarrassment.
"Aaaah!"
The demon girl immediately turned around and ran away screaming in embarrassment. She went back to the tree she had come out from, and then she disappeared from view behind the bushes.
Seriously?
At this point, Rose began to doubt if this demon was evil after all. By any chance, this might even not be the exact demon they were looking for. There was just no way this shy girl would be able to kill anyone.
While the demon girl was still behind the tree, Rose took the large meat skewer she had bought yesterday from her photon inventory. She then approached the spot where the demon was last seen, and as she thought, the demon girl was sitting on the ground hugging her own legs. She clearly was embarrassed.
"Here, help yourself"
Rose offered the meat skewer to the demon, who looked at her with a slightly surprised face.
"Don't ask any question. Just eat it"
The demon girl stood up and reluctantly took the meat skewer from Rose. She observed the meat skewer for a good ten seconds, and then she took a bite. Soon after, she chewed on the rest of the meat skewers as if she had not eaten anything for days. At this point, Rose could see that this demon girl was taller than her, but still short compared to the average height of people.
After she was done with the meat skewer, she bowed to Rose.
"Thank you"
What just had been happening got Rose convinced that this demon girl was not the one the adventurers were looking for. This one was too nice and shy to be the one who had killed a person in cold blood like how they had described.
Still, the horns and red eye were not something to be ignored.
"Are you alone?"
"I'm not..."
So there are others like her around here.
"...Since you're with me"
What?
In her mind Rose, and probably Meru as well, facepalmed. This demon girl had taken the question literally.
"No, I mean..."
"I was kidding. Yes, I got here alone"
The demon girl made a little laugh again. Rose seriously got annoyed at this point. This girl seemed to be a nice one, and she really was, but her apparent habit of making unfunny jokes was starting to tick Rose off.
"She didn't mean anything bad, Rose"
"I know! I know, but... Uuuurgh!"
"Want me to switch?"
"Right in front of her? No way! Just let me take a deep breath. I can handle this"
Rose wanted to ask if she knew anything about the adventurer who had been killed, but directly going to the point like that might not be a good idea, so she decided to ask something else first.
"Why are you here?"
"I'm looking... for my shepperd"
"Your shepperd?"
"Yes..."
Is this another of her lame joke? But come to think of it, one pair of the horns looked like sheep's horns. Well, in any case, she probably meant that she was looking for someone.
While thinking about that, Rose realized that no matter what, this girl was in danger. There was no denying that this girl had the exact same trait as whatever demon had killed the adventurer, particularly the horns and the red left eye. No matter what she would say, the adventurers would see her as the evil demon and end up killing her instead of the actual culprit.
"This place is dangerous. We need to get out of here"
"Why?"
"No time to explain. Let's just-"
Suddenly, the demon girl went limp and fell on her knees, and then she dropped to the ground on prone position.
"Hey, what's happening?"
Before Rose could get any answer, she heard someone else speaking.
"While I didn't agree with bringing an outsider like you along, I gotta admit you ended up useful"
Rose looked towards the one speaking, and she saw a group of three people. One of them was the leader person who had given a speech before beginning the hunt. She didn't recognize the other two, but both of them wore equipment which made them looked obvious that they were magic casters. One of them was pointing his arm at the demon girl, and his palm had a projected magic circle on it.
Is that guy casting some kind of binding or paralysis magic on her?
The leader looked at the other magic caster.
"Summon the others"
The magic caster nodded and took out some kind of blowing horn which had been strapped on the side of his belt. He then blew it, producing a loud sound. The horn gave out a green glow, and then numerous wisps of light of the same color appeared and spread to all directions.
The leader looked at the magic caster who had been pointing his palm at the demon girl.
"How's the [Perpetual Paralysis] spell?"
"Surprisingly no resistance"
"Keep your guard up while channeling that. It might be faking"
"Yes, sir"
The leader stepped forward and approached the two girls. Rose was wary, but she didn't say anything yet because she could guess that words likely would not work. Once he was close enough, he stopped in front of Rose and stood with his arms folded. His face sported a smug expression, and that was an annoyance to Rose's eyes.
"You have my gratitude"
"For what?"
"For telling me the location of this demon"
"What? What are you saying?"
Rose looked back and forth at the leader and the demon girl. At this point the demon girl was struggling to even raise her head, but Rose could notice that this girl was in disbelief hearing the leader's words. Rose herself would never buy it.
"And also for keeping its attention to you so my aide here could get a clear shot"
He glanced at the pointing magic caster while saying that. Rose herself was very confused because none of those had been her intention. She had followed Tibor's group on a whim, and she had been talking to the demon girl because she wanted to help.
Right now, Rose was very worried that the leader's speech had made a misunderstanding. She looked at the demon girl's face, and what she feared might be true. The girl's face showed sadness, as if she had been deceived and betrayed.
"Rose! Do something! Save her!"
"Aaargh! Screw it!"
SMASH!
Suddenly, a thick cloud of smoke appeared from right underneath Rose. The leader and his two aides were taken by surprise.
[X][X][X]
"UGH...!"
"What's happening?!"
The leader heard a painful grunt from one of his aides, but he still couldn't see anything behind the smokes.
"Was that a smoke bomb?! Where did she get one?! Goro, clear this up!"
"Oh, right, sir!"
[Air Burst]
A burst of air occurred outwards from the aide who had casted the spell. In an instant, the smokes cleared up and they were able to see things clearly again.
The leader saw that his other aide was curled in fetal position on the ground and shivering in great pain. His hands were cupped over his groin area.
"Hey, Argo! What happened?!"
"I... my..."
"Say no more"
It just took a second for the leader to realize that Argo had received a kick to his family jewels. He would stay like that for a while.
"Sor...ry... sir"
The leader stood firmly with his arms folded. His face was brimming with confidence.
"No matter. Goro!"
"It's still active, sir"
"Very good"
Both the leader and Goro smiled with smugness, even Argo smiled while still being in pain. Their plan was still in motion despite the recent event.
Soon enough, one team of adventurers came to his location. It was Tibor's group.
"We saw the Guiding Wisp. Did you find the demon?"
"Not only that"
"Huh?"
[X][X][X]
Rose was running through the woods, trying to escape as far as she could from the adventurers. She was carrying the demon girl with princess carry stance. It was very difficult for her since this demon girl was bigger than her, though not by much.
After several minutes of running, Rose started to run out of breath. Luckily, she saw a hollow tree which she could use to hide, so she stopped there and put the demon girl down.
"Can you move?"
Without saying anything, the demon girl stood up.
"Alright, let's hide in here for a moment"
Rose entered the cavity of the hollow tree and sat down. The space was more than enough for two people to sit relatively comfortably.
However, the demon girl just stood still in front of the hole.
"Hey, come in. Otherwise they will find you soon"
The demon girl then entered the cavity and sat down in front of Rose without saying anything. Rose couldn't think much about the girl's lack of words since she was still trying to catch her breath.
Two minutes later, Rose finally regained her normal breathing pace.
"Why did you... help me?"
The demon girl finally spoke. Rose could understand that she was probably stunned by all things happening so fast.
"I just couldn't let them punish the wrong person"
"Wrong person...?"
"Those people, adventurers, are looking for a demon who killed one of them two days ago. You just happen to share the same trait with that demon. You see, horns, and red left eye"
"Oh..."
"There's no way it was you, right? You're a nice person, and you give off a vibe that you can't even hurt a bug"
"Heh..."
The girl didn't say anything other than that. She smiled but her overall face expression seemed to be not too happy. In fact, her eyes somewhat seemed like she was pitying Rose.
"Uhh, what's with that face?"
"Nothing... I just want to say... things may not be what they seem"
"Well, yeah... But anyway, we still haven't known each other's names. I'm Rose"
Rose reached her hand for a handshake to the demon girl, but she just sat still and not replying to the gesture.
"I... don't want to tell my name..."
"Huh? What should I call you then?"
"It doesn't matter... We won't be together for long..."
"While it is true in a sense... Ah whatever"
Rose decided not to bother both the girl and herself further with the matter. There was likely be a reason for this girl to keep her name unknown. Maybe the people of demon race consider their names sacred, or maybe a simpler reason such as her name sounding silly for humans and she was shy about it. In any case, if she didn't want to tell her name, then so be it.
"Still... Thank you..."
"Don't thank me yet. You're not out of the woods, both figuratively and literally"
Rose then stood up and stepped out from the hollow tree. She tried to scan the surroundings, seeing if the adventurers out there were closing in. There was nobody in sight, so probably they were safe for now. However, what the leader had said got Rose thinking.
"Meru, do you think I have been bugged with tracking magic or something?"
"I don't know"
"I guess I have to assume the worst then"
Rose then peeked into the hollow tree. The demon girl was still there sitting on the ground.
"Hey, Sheep"
The demon girl looked a bit surprised hearing what Rose had just said.
"Me...?"
"What else should I call you if you don't want to tell me your name?"
The demon girl was silent for a few seconds, then she smiled and giggled a little.
"Thats a good one"
"Anyway, keep hiding here for a while"
"What are you going to do...?"
"From what that man said, I am probably tracked with magic. I will pull the adventurers away from here. That will be your chance to escape"
"What if you get caught...?"
"Even if that happens, their attention will be on me for a while"
"What if they harm you...?"
"Don't worry about that"
Rose was confident in her photon armor. Even though her armor was heavily set up towards boosting her attack power, she believed what was left of the protection power was still much more than enough to keep her from any harm. Moreover, she also believed those adventurers would not be so low to harm a little girl like her.
"Why... are you doing this... for me...?"
"Like I said; I don't want someone innocent gets punished for something she hasn't done"
"Uhh..."
"Be well, Sheep. I hope you will find the person you're looking for"
Rose then ran off from the hollow tree, leaving Sheep behind. She ran from the location as fast as she could, trying to at least buy time for Sheep to escape on her own. Ideally, it would be best if Rose herself could shake the adventurers off, but she knew it wouldn't happen if her guess that she had been bugged with tracking magic turned out to be true.
Rose tried her best to shake the pursuers off. She went through thorny bushes, across a river, and even jumped off a small cliff. She was able to do all these harmlessly thanks to her photon armor. However, her stamina was a different matter. After landing from her jump, she stopped to catch her breath.
"Rose"
"What?"
"There's a cave. Maybe you can hide there?"
Rose looked to the wall of the small cliff she had just jumped off from. Indeed there was a small cave entrance. She pondered for a short moment. If she indeed had been bugged, there was no use hiding. However, right now she should be already far away and it would be a while until the adventurers arrive here. Moreover, she could potentially confront them and get the bug removed.
"Sounds like a good idea"
Rose then entered the cave and sat down to rest herself. The cave was actually more like a hole, since she could see the dead end inside just a few meters away. But she paid it no heed, since in her mind, she only hoped that Sheep would safely escape and eventually find whoever she was looking for.
As she had expected, less than ten minutes later someone arrived at the cave entrance.
"Found you, you little brat"
It was the leader, and his way of speaking was unlike his elegant appearance. Like before, the two magic casters were standing at his sides. It didn't take long for the rest of the whole adventurers group to gather behind him, including Tibor's group.
"Alright, you found me. Then what?"
Rose stood up as she said that. Her plan was to stall as much as she could, and depending on their next action she would either cooperate as much as she could, break through and escape, or kill them all in self defense. The last option was only for the case if they all wanted to kill her and she somehow couldn't escape.
Before the leader said anything, Tibor stepped forward and spoke. His face showed that he was both confused and upset.
"Rose! Why did you betray us and help the demon?"
"Because I believe-"
Before Rose could finish her reply, suddenly her mouth got sealed with something that looked like a bunch of thin white strings. Out of reflex, she raised both her hands together in attempt to remove the strings, but more of those strings appeared out of thin air and wrapped both her wrists together. Without giving her any room to react, another set appeared around her knees and her ankles and bound them together, making her lose balance and fell down to the ground.
Tibor looked really surprised and looked at the leader's group. One of his aides were in a spell casting stance, so that must have been him. The one she had kicked at his groin.
"Hey! What's the big idea!? We haven't heard her answers yet!"
The leader calmly looked at Tibor and replied.
"Let me ask you this. If this brat said that she believed the demon is innocent, would you believe her? You're naive if you would"
Tibor couldn't argue against that, so he didn't say anything.
"Anything this brat would say now in front of us would be nothing but a waste of time. It is much more practical to arrest her and question her as needed... with necessary means"
"W-What?"
Tibor was confused about the last part of the leader's answer. He, Morian, and Elize just stood in silence as the leader approached Rose, picked her up, and carried her over his shoulders. Rose wanted to get herself off this man, but no matter how hard she tried her body wouldn't move. It seemed she also had been paralyzed on top of the bondage.
"Rose, Are you okay...?"
"Other than the bondage and paralysis, I'm still fine"
"What should I do?"
"Just stay there. I can handle this"
Despite what she had told Meru, Rose was actually in a bind, literally as well. She couldn't get free from this, and there was no knowing when she would be released from it. But she didn't want Meru to worry too much, so she acted confident.
The leader carried Rose to the middle of the crowd of adventurers. They all dispersed as he walked, giving him quite a lot of space. Then, he stopped and dropped Rose on the ground with a thud sound. Rose didn't feel any pain thanks to her photon armor, but it was still uncomfortable nevertheless.
WHAM!
Without any warning, the leader kicked Rose hard on her face, launching her away several meters. Again. there were neither pain nor physical injury, but it was still a shocking experience for her.
"Hey hey! What have you done!?"
Tibor shouted at the leader's action. Whispers could be heard from the crowd. They were as confused as everyone else other than the leader and his aides.
"Look"
The leader replied calmly while pointing at Rose, who was still lying on the ground unable to move. Most people among the crowd gasped.
"No injury at all, and it doesn't even look pained"
The leader unsheathed his sword and approached Rose. He then, without hesitation, stabbed the sword at her bare thighs just below the edge of her shorts. The sword's tip stopped right on top of her skin, causing no injury. The leader repeated his attempt several times on different spots of her body, all with the same result; no damage at all.
"Now you see what I mean. This brat is also a demon. By any chance, it might be an even stronger demon than the one we are hunting, since it can make itself look very humanlike unlike the other demon"
The crowd whispered to each other, and quite a lot of them nodded, agreeing with the leader's remarks. He then turned around and looked at Tibor's group.
"I expect you to have learned your lesson to always be wary of anything outside the objective in plain sight"
Tibor bowed his head in shame. His two partners also did the same.
"Yes, sir"
[X][X][X]
Rodell Fisc Templar
That was the name of this Orichalcum Rank adventurer. He was born more than thirty years ago, and he had undergone his career as adventurer for ten years. Like most other, he had started his career from scratch and climbed through the ranks in normal ways, though rather quicker than most.
His actual combat capability was lower than his rank implied. Going one on one in a melee combat, even a Platinum Rank still had a chance to defeat him. But he had no problem with it since his main strength was not combat.
His true strength lied in his ability to command.
Thanks to his [Talent], he would have easier time to convince other people to work for his advantage. Throughout his career, he had used other teams as stepping stone a lot of times by doing joint-op quests and then convincing them that his contribution to the quest was the greatest.
His method was not flawless. There had been times when the other party was not convinced, and he had learned that his [Talent] still had limits. Therefore he trained himself, both physically and intellectually, so he would be able to make at least enough contribution to make use of his [Talent].
His method of climbing the ranks had eventually ended up making himself lacking in combat capability, but the years of trying to convince other people had developed his ability to read his situation and act accordingly. Together with his [Talent], this resulted in him being able to command his allies through countless difficult situations which should had become a total wipeout, earning him the title of General among adventurers.
Name: Rodell Fisc Templar
Level: 23
Talent:
Lord of Influence: Higher chance of successfully convincing people to agree with his words.
Job Levels:
Swordsman: Level 5
Fighter: Level 4
Commander: Level 5
General: Level 6
Persuader: Level 3
Equipment:
Gallant Armor of The General
Gallant Cloak of The General
Gallant One Handed Sword
Name: Argo Strega
Level: 25
Job Levels:
Wizard: Level 7
Sorcerer: Level 6
Arachnomancer: Level 5
Inquisitor: Level 7
Equipment:
Robe of Arachnid
Staff of Lesser Amplification
Ring of Slash Protection
Name: Goro Ein
Level: 20
Job Levels:
Wizard: Level 5
Elementalist (Air): Level 5
Elementalist (Ground): Level 4
Scryer: Level 6
Equipment:
Robe of The Overseer
Ring of Stab Protection
Rodell's team might looked unbalanced with two magic casters, one warrior, and nobody else. However, his team almost never did a job by themselves. He always recruited a different team as reinforcement or did joint-op quests, and everything got gradually easier as his team progressed through the ranks.
Still, he had been stuck in Orichalcum Rank for five years with no opportunity for Adamantite Rank in sight. The system in Baharuth Empire minimized the job opportunities for Adventurers, and therefore there had been no chance for heroic deeds which would promote him to Adamantite.
But today, he might had the opportunity.
The raid party he was leading had managed to capture a powerful demon disguised as a little human girl. From the beginning of the quest, he had already suspected the random traveler following the party and eventually joining their travel, especially that her clothing was so alien to him. Therefore, he had Goro silently put a tracking magic on her and monitor her from afar with Goro's scrying capability.
And it all came to this moment where once again his suspicion was right.
The demon which the party originally was hunting down had gone missing, but the culprit of that matter had been captured, and it was an even stronger demon. Right now, the red-haired demon was shackled and pinned to the nearby cliff wall using Goro's ground magic [Rock Shackle]. It was pinned standing in a T-pose with conjured rock shackles on her wrists, elbows, knees, ankles, stomach, and neck. In addition, he also had Argo to tightly wrap its hands with his Arachnid Magic [Spider Bind] so it wouldn't be able to move a finger. The restraint might have been excessive for human, but since this was a demon he could never be too careful. Moreover, Argo had to stop channeling his [Perpetual Paralysis] to conserve his mana for what would come soon.
"What are we going to do with her?"
One of the adventurers asked the question. Rodell calmly replied.
"We research the weakness of this demon, and once we find out we kill it. Two birds with one stone. So... who wants to go first?"
[X][X][X]
Rose was worried out of her wits.
Right now she was pretty much being used as a lab rat by the adventurers. Warriors slashed, stabbed, and smacked her with their weapons. Rangers shot arrows at various parts of her body including her eyeballs, and magic casters used various attack spells on her. None of them did any damage to her thanks to photon armor, but her situation was grim.
She was unable to move and speak. She couldn't retrieve her weapon because her fingers were sealed, and if she could she wouldn't be able to wield it anyway. If the adventurers decided to leave her bound like this, she would starve to death. Another bad scenario was if somehow they found something effective on her, which was unlikely but still possible if Ryu's words were to be believed.
"Rose..."
"I know! I'm in trouble but what can I do?! These guys are beyond stupid!"
"I'm sorry..."
"Don't be sorry! I'm the one who should be sorry for getting us into this mess!"
The leader looked at Tibor's group while all these were happening.
"You three are the only ones not doing anything yet. What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry, but count us out"
"What? Are you getting soft on this creature just because it talked with you last night?"
"Maybe, maybe not. We just don't feel like taking part in this"
"Heh, whatever. Once we are done with it I will lecture you and cut your share of the pay"
"So be it then"
Tibor's group then walked away and just watched from the distance. Rose looked at their pitying eyes. It was likely that they still had doubts on the leader's words but couldn't do anything since the rest of the group agreed with him, making them a minority.
"Nothing's working so far, eh?"
"Sir, how about we just leave her like that? She will starve to death eventually"
A random adventurer proposed one idea which Rose had been fearing. Her heart skipped a beat hearing that. One of the leader's aides replied.
"The mana of the rock shackles has to be maintained or they will crumble. I don't have so much mana to last that long. Only up to this evening at most"
That reply gave Rose a little bit of relief.
"Argo, your turn has come. Show this filthy demon what you got"
The leader spoke to the other aide who had been sitting on the ground and meditating. He then stood up and looked at Rose with determined face. He then conjured a magic circle on his hand and casted a spell.
[Pain]
"!"
Rose suddenly felt a great deal of pain all over her body. The sensation was the same as if she was pricked by thousands of needles. The pain only lasted for a second, but it was very painful nevertheless.
"It worked?"
"It worked! What was that, Sir Argo?"
Some adventurers were excited at what they had just seen.
"It was just an illusion spell to make the target feel an illusionary pain without actually hurting the body. I honestly didn't think this would work"
"Interesting..."
The leader nodded his head and made a smug face.
"Continue"
[Pain]
"Mmmph!"
Once again, Rose felt sharp pain all over her body. She panted heavily after the pain was over.
"Extend"
[Extend Magic: Pain]
"Mmmmmph!"
This time, the pain lasted for a whole five seconds. Rose couldn't hold her tears from the pain.
"Oh, it's crying. Not so tough now, eh?"
The leader made a hand signal to Argo, and then the strings sealing Rose's mouth dissolved.
"Do you have anything to say now, demon? How about telling us where the other demon is?"
"I'm not a demon... please stop this..."
"Nonsense. A human bare skin won't be able to remain uninjured after all that, and no protection spell in this world can protect that much. Argo, again"
[Pain]
"AAAAAARGH!"
Rose's scream echoed through the woods. The adventurers cheered hearing that, while at a distance Tibor and Morian were trying to comfort Elize, who was crying from the sight she found horrible.
"Rose! Switch with me!"
"No..."
"Why? Why won't you let me?"
"I don't want you... to suffer all this"
"No! Rose! Please let me help you!"
"Meru... I'm sorry..."
"No! I'm sorry!"
"I'm sorry..."
Rose's consciousness was fading away. Any more of that spell and she would faint. She had just learned a few lessons the hard way. One, many humans on this planet were not any better than that undead overlord, maybe even worse. Two, she was now experiencing the fact about photon armor being useless against weird magic effect of this planet. Right now she deeply regretted being overly confident about her strength and equipment to the point of being cocky, but she knew that it was already too late.
"Want to speak now, demon? If you tell us your fatal weakness we will give you a mercy of quick, painless death. That is, if your weakness makes it possible"
Some of the adventurers laughed hearing that. There was then a silence for ten seconds. Rose slowly opened her mouth, trying to speak one last time.
"Someone... please help me..."
"Ha, too bad that won't happen. Argo, amplify"
[Boost Magic: Pai-
Without any warning, suddenly Argo's body became headless. Blood spurted out from the hole where his neck used to be, and the body dropped down to the ground. Immediately, the same thing happened to the other aide. Then, instead of his head, both of the leader's arms and his right leg were suddenly cut off. He dropped down to the ground on his buttocks.
Thanks to the death of both magic casters, the rock shackles binding Rose crumbled, setting her free. However, her fading consciousness couldn't keep herself standing, so she dropped down to the ground. But at least she still had just enough strength to hold herself in kneeling position.
"What's happening...?"
"AAAARGH! MY ARMS! MY LEG!"
The adventurers looked around in panic as the leader screamed at what had just happened to him. Rose tried to look around and see what was happening.
What she saw was a series of energy bolt coming from above, one after another. Any adventurer hit by the bolt would get the hit body part separated from them. No exceptions.
Rose gathered all the consciousness she had to stand up and walk away from the cliff wall, so she could see what had been shooting those energy bolts.
Rose couldn't believe what she saw.
The one shooting those energy bolts was none other than Sheep. She was shooting them from above the small cliff with a longbow. She kept firing those energy bolts until most of the adventurers were dead, either instantly or from bleeding out. Rose could notice several of them managing to get away and disappear into the woods, but the number of dismembered corpses in front of her was not a pretty sight.
Thankfully, Tibor's group managed to get away unharmed. While they had not helped her in apathy, they were not as bad as the others, so she was a little happy knowing that they survived. Rose backed away from the corpses and leaned to the cliff wall to rest herself. She was physically fine, but her mental condition was another story. Just a few seconds later, Sheep jumped off from the cliff and landed on her two feet. Her face looked expressionless, but Rose could somehow feel that she was furious. The closest phrase to describe Sheep's state of mind would be Tranquil Fury.
It was at this point Rose could see the bow Sheep was holding. It was quite an intricate design with its colors of majorly pale grey, pale yellow, with a few spots of red. There were sharp blades on both ends of the bow, and its string was bright red. No matter how anyone looked at it, the bow screamed "Demonic Weapon". But somehow Rose felt a tiny bit of familiarity with that bow.
Sheep slowly walked to the leader, who was still alive and squirming with the only one leg he had left.
"G-Get away from me, you filthy demon!"
"...Worthless idiot scum..."
After saying that, Sheep stabbed the bladed end of her longbow to the leader's neck. A lot of blood spurted out, and he died bleeding out from that. The bow then disappeared with a flicker of light.
Sheep turned around and approached Rose. Her walking pace was faster than before, and her face expression showed worry.
"Are you all right, Rose?"
"I... I..."
Rose was actually all right. But right now she was very confused. The nice and shy girl she had helped, had just ruthlessly killed a number of adventurers, and now the same girl was worried about her. The dissonance was too jarring.
"Rose, she saved you. Get yourself together"
"Yeah, but-"
"She saved you"
"Alright, alright!"
"Thank you, Sheep. I was stupid and underestimated them"
Sheep smiled once again hearing Rose's reply.
"Things may not be what they seem, right?"
What Sheep just said could refer to multiple things for Rose. The adventurers, seemingly very weak compared to Darkers, turned out capable of capturing her. The leader, seemingly an honorable person, turned out not hesitant to painfully torture her. Sheep, seemingly a nice and shy girl, turned out capable of ruthlessly killing the adventurers.
"Uhh, yeah. So, does that mean...?"
"Yes... I killed someone two days ago. I just wanted to try talking, but he attacked me"
"So, self defense?"
"No, I didn't want to kill anyone. It was an accident"
Accident, huh? Well, I did kill someone accidentally, so I can understand somewhat.
"But these ones-"
Sheep's face expression turned straight the moment Rose mentioned the adventurers.
"What they did to you made them worthless idiot scum monkey garbage in my eyes"
That's an excessive amount of insult right there, though I agree to a certain extent.
Sheep let out a sigh after saying that.
"Now you will hate me too, right? It's time we part ways, then..."
Sheep turned away and started to walk away, but Rose quickly hugged her from behind.
"No! Wait!"
"What...?"
"Don't leave me alone"
Rose had been acting strong like her normal self, but in truth she was afraid. She could no longer go to any city because the survivors of this event would definitely tell everything, making her at least a wanted criminal. She also had learned that the people of this planet had methods to defeat her despite the huge difference in combat power. Adding to the fact that now there was no ARKS medic squad to rescue her if she screwed up, suddenly the planet had become much scarier than she had expected. While thinking of all these, Rose started sobbing.
Sheep then gently released Rose's hug, turned around, and hugged her in return. While showing a caring smile on her face, Sheep gently caressed Rose's back head. Rose could no longer hold herself, and she cried loudly on Sheep's chest.
"That's fine... Let it out... I'm here with you, and I won't leave you alone..."
As the two girls hugged, rain started falling down. The rain quickly became a downpour, washing all the blood stains away from the ground around them.
[X][X][X]
It was a broad daylight in the 6th floor of Nazarick.
There were nobody in the Amphitheater other than two figures standing in the middle of the arena.
One of them was Ryu, and the other was none other than the owner of the place, Ainz Ooal Gown. They had just arrived there through [Gate] from Carne Village.
"So, Ainz-dono. What are we going to do exactly?"
"We will start with a field test to compare your so-called Photon Techs with my magic spells"
"I hope we will get useful info with this"
"Me too, Ryu. Me too..."
There was a silence for a few seconds, and then Ainz spoke again.
"Alright, shall we begin?"
"I'm ready when you are"
[X][X][X]
Afterword:
There you have it. This chapter is quite longer and also darker than usual, and I admit it. I just wanted to conclude Mel Rose's first arc so I can shift back the focus to Ryu for the next few chapters. Speaking of which, I have some things to attend to, so the next chapter might take a bit longer than usual.
See you later.
