Chapter 2: The Consequence and Its Action
He was jostled from his less than peaceful slumber as the ground shook and what sounded like shattered glass echoed along with the boom like that of thunder. His humble abode was slanted by the impact of whatever just hit the ground. 'If something hits the ground, then someone is after it!' he had little time to make sense of his predicament, he needed action now.
He sat up quickly and nearly blacked out, he slowed due to dizziness and grabbed the only two of five weapons he had taken on his fateful day. A Mosin Rifle and its late iteration bayonet, quickly affixing the blade to the Mosin, he made it into a venerable spear. Rushing outside to hear some female voices, he feared the worst had finally come. He cleared the front area of his home, taking major note that the Magical Stave he had created was destroyed by some kind of impact, as parts of it were still crumbling in a shower of blue embers.
He went around the side of his house to his left, away from the impact point to get potentially a longer sight angle on it. Any distance was a healthy distance if he was dealing with strong monster girls. Although the power of the 7.62x54mmR was next to godly in this world by other weapon's comparisons, it still barely could pierce a Wyvern's scales, let alone a Dragon's. At this, he only had a bandolier left of ammo for it, having wasted the three other bandoliers during his crazed misadventures.
At the corner now, he swung wide in his approach, tracing the former edge of the stave as he got sight on a smoldering crater with golden dim light emanating from it and four female silhouettes dimly illuminated by the glow. He leveled his rifle with the horizon, taking a knee and bracing the buttplate against his shoulder. Like a switch flipped in head, he shouted at the females in a commanding tone, hidden against a backdrop of darkness and distance, aiming down the scope attached to the rifle, "Identify yourselves now!" in one breath, "Do not move or you Will be killed!" the next exhaled in a flowing rush of adrenaline. The scope showed a Greater Demon in the middle left of the group flanked by a lesser succubus and two Succubi. 'Take the man t-' the thunderous crack echoed through the river valley as the Greater Demon fell dead to the floor, a hole through her nose and out the back of her head in a grotesque mist of blood, bone, and grey matter.
"One" click-clack-clunk-click, the next target was one of the succubi. The next one falls as the other two begin to fly up and try to dive down on him. He kept his breathing in check as he led the remaining Greater Succubus, the first muzzle flash of the night illuminates his position for the lesser succubus as she dives for him, he switches to using the Bayonet, not enough time to cycle and use the final round in the internal magazine. It was too late when the Succubus tried to abort her ill-fated dive. He skewered her on his bayonet, down the collarbone and into the heart, as he kicked her off his bayonet, he slashed the jugular and the femoral artery to ensure she'd be dead.
He flicked the blood off his bayonet as he stood upright and cautiously approached the crater which had stopped smoldering. He checked the breach, which was unfortunately empty, he gazed into the internal magazine, thinking he might've gotten rusty and only pulled back the bolt to the point of the ejector or that it just failed to feed the last round. It too was empty, he hushed a 'fuck' as he closed it and was forced to rely on his bayonet as he didn't grab the bandolier packed away in his bag. He wasn't really thinking straight at all. Drowsy from oversleeping and now coming down from an adrenaline high.
He ducks down as he approaches the crater before lunging up, only lowering his rifle calmly. Not because the crater was empty, but rather because there was a sleeping Valkyrie in the crater, or some kind of Angel. He didn't really see any distinguishing features aside from the halo, glowing aura, and armor. He had seen an angel in the past, and a light brush-in with a Dark Valkyrie made him familiar with the Looks of a Valkyrie. She was both and neither at the same time. As dawn rose and dwindled upon the land with morning twilight, The Angel looked at him. In his heart it fluttered the words: 'In the Mist Continent, a peak stands. It is the closest to heaven as one can get from land. Take me there hero. I trust you' He was taken aback. The Angel was awake for all of three seconds before falling back asleep and conveyed that message in that time. . .
"What in the god-damned fuck?" he stares at the unconscious angel, still thinking answers will come, but nothing happens, "But. . I- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" his heart still rings with that quest, his head is a mixture of emotions. Sure, he has many gold coins he can use to get through such a journey by himself, but the Mistlands? 'No one has really returned from the Mistlands, and the monsters there are undoubtedly vicious and brutal, especially with a known Mamono Zone being all but confirmed there, It is tantamount to suicide.' He recalled, "I-. . . Well, I wasn't given a choice in this matter either, I never get a choice anymore. . ." he looked at the sleeping angel and contemplated his actions.
Undoubtedly those Demons have reincarnated already and are striving to make their way back here. Obviously they're going to track both him and the Angel down, assuming that he defended her because he was human, not because he had to defend himself. He let out a frustrated sigh as he picked up the Angel. Now obviously, it'd be really suspicious carrying around a girl, let alone an angel of the gods. Now that he recognized he was on a job, he was different, thinking about how to do things logistically and how best to not attract attention.
For the Most part he could walk and wander freely if he were to avoid the Towns and cities, however it has its own risks. He carries the Angel inside the building and puts her on his bed, gathering around his essential equipment and unpacking the rest of his rig. 'Three bandoliers of ammo with only one full, Two holsters with sidearms plus one mag for both, A sheath for a Bayonet, a Journey Pouch for stowing my scope. Two layers of overcoat with my cloak, and some canvas covers with netting to attach foliage to my rifle and cloak. Empty metal MRE cans, An MRE instant coffee pouch, and a box of unused and unopened medical equipment. . It's not much, so I definitely need to follow the towns. I can't get anywhere on just coffee alone, let alone perishables like what I have in stock.' He pondered on his predicament.
Ammo was a concern as while 225 rounds of 7.62x54mmR was a considerable amount, if he had regular run-ins with demons and no doubt encountered more and varied races of them no less, it could pose a problem. It took nearly 25 rounds just to take down a wyvern, even while aiming at its center-mass, hitting the same scale over and over again. "So, evasion over confrontation, which means I also have to take a longer route, huh? Damn." He said aloud, Starting to equip items.
He'd need to wear his Backpack on his chest, because he wouldn't be carrying her out in front of him towards danger. The Bandoliers would be handy as straps to hold her in place. The full one could also be strung between them easily. First and foremost, he'd need to hastily build his camouflage ghillie suit so that he couldn't be found easily, the first part of evasion is to not be seen in the first place. But the capacity to be unseen in plain sight would prove invaluable. Though to what degree would visual sight be useful, only time will tell. He rushed into the brush to procure branches from the forest floor. If he needed to hide in plain sight, he'd more likely be on the ground rather than the trees. With height being a non-obstacle with demons, The more convincingly he blended in with the ground around him, the greater chance he held at escaping their search area.
By the Morning's proper sunrise over the valley, he had fully packed up and strapped the angel to his back. He placed a pillow around her, mostly to subdue her golden aura glow, but also to make carrying her and being carried a bit more comfortable for the both of them, not that he had any feedback if it was helping or not. But it was helping him by not having a glowing yellow light on his back. She was shorter than him, but he tried to make her as small as he could comfortably.
"Now, I just need to decide my route. Obviously, I'd lose time by taking alternate routes, but gain more options in terms of approach. As long as I can keep them guessing, they'll possibly never happen upon me while traveling. So it gives me some breathing room. . ." he thought aloud, carefully planning his route in his head, consulting the old map he had purchased many years ago.
'Over the ridge to the southeast is a village on the other side. Or at least reportedly there was. . . I can take the shorter trip to that village, stock up at it with much longer lasting perishables like Jerkies and dried foods so I can take longer routes. Though it might just take me a few years to cover not just this continent, but also pass through the Japan-like region. Then it'll take me a lot of luck to cross the sea in one piece. I might just blow all that luck in an attempt to find a boat with a one-way ticket to the Mist Continent.' he contemplated.
"By the way, fuck you for dumping such a tall task upon me with no reward or even preptime, you piece of shit." He directed at the angel. Now that he was mostly over the planning phase, now he was in the state of mind to start complaining and whining. He cursed out the angel on his back as he left his house for what felt like the last time. He was elated to have a purpose, but wasn't so happy that the purpose was forced upon himself without even being able to choose whether or not to do this quest.
Regardless, now he had to ford a river to get to the southeastern peaks. There was a narrowing to the northwest and a narrowing to the south where the river meanders around towards the west, but the rapids is what he was trying to decide. He hadn't been in the river at all so he didn't know anything much about the situation of the rapids at either narrowing. Coming to an impasse, he figures he'd leave it to chance, while going north would result in him being a kilometer closer to the Mamono Region to the north, that wasn't so much a problem as going to the south, it made very little difference.
Going north was the easier way out of the valley and head-long into the demon's patrols, but he wasn't stupid and for certain, a Sniper knew how to at least avoid detection. Flipping a coin, he headed south per its directions. Tired of complaining and having gotten everything he could possibly complain about out, he had quieted down and at the very least, he found no words left floating in his mind, his frustrations were properly vented and he had even the chance to complain to the angel about being sent here by pure happenstancial circumstances.
He was just quiet as he carried her south towards the narrowing some kilometer and a half distance. Being left with an empty head, he resorted to the one thing that had kept him sane during such solo adventures. Songs from the old world, this one he vaguely remembers the lyrics, only having them beaten into his head when he was really young. Of a gray eagle, and a woman longing eagerly for her warrior to return home.
Author's Note
Hello again! Now, at the rate I'll be uploading these until I'm caught up with where in this story I have written to, It won't be uploaded at this rate for long. I am still writing other projects and one other project I'll be uploading to Fanfiction when I work up the courage to. I do not know if I'll be able to release chapters with such consistency. Regardless, the little interest that has appeared for this story already is encouraging. Special thanks to the one person who commented that I should break up the walls of text I was taught and told were "Paragraphs". I have since improved what I've been uploading, continued feedback is appreciated but not required. Still, I have seen the horrors of what fandoms could possibly do and I am thankful the MGE fandom is understanding and merciful. I continue to request your benevolence, but am not begging for it. I am wishing you folks a decent time, however that manifests for you and With this chapter published, I shall return to either procrastinating on other projects or maybe continue writing something. Focus is a very fickle thing.
-Sincerely, Soryuz