Clara stumbled forth, walking in between the trees. Her hair was a mess, covered in slimes, blood, and other remains of monsters. Her clothes weren't spared from this fate either. The feathers on her coat were coated in dry blood, hardening them into small spikes all over her body. It didn't offer any extra attack though. She had the blood aura knife equipped in order to attract more monsters, but even with that not many monsters dared to approach her.
Looks like there is a certain radius on this ability.
A rustling noise in a nearby tree caught her attention, so she threw the explosive knife at it and watched her exp bar fill by a bit. She sighed, looking at her level. Thanks to the golem and the massacre that followed after, she was now level 64.
The wave is in less than two days. I'm so tired but I can't rest now. I need more levels.
Clara dragged herself over to whatever remained of the monster and tossed it into her knife. It was then that she noticed something weird under her.
Was this grass… always blue?
The sound of a branch breaking startled Clara. She shot up and raised her pot again to block any incoming attacks. What she wasn't ready for was a wolf with a semi circle on its head to walk out from behind a tree, followed by four more wolves with a small glowing crescent on their foreheads.
A light blue glow emanated from all five of them, most noticeable being the aura of the half moon wolf. It looked at Clara and growled. The other four wolves stopped and sat down behind it, as their leader slowly approached Clara.
The wolf stopped just a few paces away, growling and glaring at the girl before her. He turned back and barked something to the wolves behind him before turning back to Clara. Clara equipped her best knife and got in a battle stance. The wolf glared at the knife in Clara's hands and growled in disdain.
I guess that's the Half Moon Wolf. One step up from Crescent Wolf. Well, Sherone said that the other guy was as strong as the half moon one despite its rank, so I should be able to beat it myself this time, right?
The wolf growled and his fur began to glow. Clara raised her knife and glanced over her list of skills one last time before taking a deep breath.
I got this!
The second the wolf opened its mouth, Clara made her move.
"Erst Throw!" she yelled, launching her explosive knife directly into the mouth of the beast. However, it was much faster that Clara anticipated, and a wave of light erupted from its mouth. Clara and her knife were sent flying back and a loud explosion rang out behind her where her knife landed. Clara quickly scrambled to her feet just in time to see the wolf lunge at her at incredible speed.
"Second Lid!"
Clara summoned her protective barrier just before the wolf reached her. The skill shattered almost instantly, but that second gave Clara just enough time to duck and dash away from the wolf. The attack meant for her hit a nearby tree, obliterating it in an instant.
Ok, that didn't work. And the Erst Series will take a while to recharge.
The wolf looked at Clara for a moment, as if challenging her to make another move.
Alright, try this then!
"Shine Knife!" Clara exclaimed, raising her knife. In an instant, the entire clearing they were in was lit up as her knife began to glow so bright that it blinded everyone around her. Clara used this moment to point her knife at the wolf and use two more skills.
"Chain Bind, Knife Rain!"
Clara aimed both skills at the wolf, hoping to end this quickly. Knives descended onto the wolf, kicking up dirt and dust. But once the cloud of dust settled, the wolf was still there, completely unharmed. Even the ground near it wasn't damaged in the slightest. The chains were already disappearing and the wolf shook his head before lunging at Clara.
Clara grappled to a nearby tree and pulled herself out of the way, narrowly avoiding the wolf. It stopped and its fur began to glow again. Clara grappled onto another tree to try to dodge the attack, but to her surprise it never came. Instead, the wolf leaped into the air, way higher than it should have been able to, and landed on four glowing semi circles.
IT CAN WALK ON THE AIR?!
Clara didn't get a lot of time to think as the wolf ran at her, charging another attack inside its mouth.
"Crescent Slash!" Clara sent her attack at the wolf to try to stop its attack, but it was too late. With a loud bang, the two attacks collided, the shockwave sending Clara flying through the forest.
She yelled out in agony as her body crashed into a tree, pain ripping through her body. Clara grunted as she scrambled to her feet. However, she didn't have any time to recover as the wolf lunged at her again. She barely had time to raise her shield to block the hit, but it barely helped. The wolf's glowing claws stabbed through the shield and cut deep into Clara's arm.
The wolf tried to move away from her, but its claws got stuck in the shield. Clara grit her teeth and stabbed her knife into the wolf's leg, drawing blood from the beast. It roared out in pain and ripped its claws out of Clara's arm, breaking her shield further. Clara tried to attack him again, but the beast sent her flying back with another shockwave.
Just how much can he use that attack?!
Clara landed on her feet and glared at the wolf before her. It licked its bleeding leg and growled, lowering it to the ground but not putting any weight on it. It began to charge another attack, but Clara knew she wasn't gonna be able to stop it. She equipped a pot and raised her shield. She finished by setting Erst and Second lids in front of her just before the wolf released another attack. However, instead of a shockwave like the other times, a thin bright beam of light erupted from its forehead.
IT HAS LASERS?!
It shattered the first and second barriers with ease before crashing into Clara's shields.
"GAH!" Clara yelled out as the beam burned through her shield and crashed into her pot, pushing her back. She grit her teeth and pushed back, trying to stay on her feet.
How strong is this wolf?! My arms are already burning!
Finally, the beast stopped, and Clara fell to her knees, clutching her arms and trying to rip off the shield on her hand. It was almost completely melted, now with a bunch of crystals sticking out from under its broken and melted metal, which was glowing red hot and burning Clara's arm. However, the handle seemed to have melted into her armor and simply wouldn't come off.
"GAAAAAAH!" she hollered, bashing the shield into the ground several times. It was almost off when Clara noticed that the wolf was rushing at her. It was a lot slower than before, but the speed was still incredible.
Despite her shield burning her skin, she raised it to protect herself and poured her mana into it.
A bright light surrounded Clara, creating a barrier around her to block the attack, but it didn't hold against the sharp claws of the wolf. They dug into the melted shield's magic circuit, tearing it to pieces. However, instead of simply breaking apart, the shield suddenly exploded, sending Clara and the wolf flying back.
Clara hollered in agony as the skin on her arm was blasted and burned. She tried to look at the damage but almost vomited from the sight. The skin was burned and torn, looking almost like beef jerky stretched onto some bones. One of the bones in her arm was broken in two and sticking out of the burned skin with blood dripping off of them onto the ground.
Clara grit her teeth and looked at where the wolf was. The beast looked even worse for wear than her. Both of its front paws were gone, bones sticking out of where the front legs would be. The fur on its face was burned away, revealing scarred skin, some scars old, some new. It was growling and trying to move, the glow on its fur flickering. Either way, at this very moment it wouldn't be able to attack her.
Clara pulled out a few bandages and quickly wrapped her broken arm as fast as she could to stop the blood loss. The broken bones could wait until she was out of danger. She tried throwing a skill at it just in case, but her skills were on cooldown and her SP was completely drained. So Clara slowly stumbled towards the wolf, transforming her pot into a knife. With that, she limped over to the wolf from behind and jumped onto its back, using the elbow of her broken arm to hold it down.
The wolf began to thrash around more, trying to reach Clara and bite her head off. But it couldn't quite reach her. Clara raised her knife and was about to stab it, when she felt a strong tug on her hair.
The wolf, unable to reach any other part of her body, grabbed her hair with its mouth and began to pull her to the ground. Clara tried to break free, but the wolf was pulling her lower and lower. With a groan, Clara put her knife to the top of her head.
"Erst Slash!" she yelled, cutting her hair short. The wolf saw this and tried to bite her again, but Clara didn't hesitate. She stabbed her knife into the wolf's tough skin. The wolf roared out in pain and tried to charge up an attack, but Clara stabbed it again and the glowing disappeared for a moment.
"AAAAGH!" Clara screamed, bringing down her knife over and over again, creating wound after wound. The wolf thrashed around trying to break free, but it was no use. Soon, its movements began to slow down more and more, until they ceased completely. Finally, the wolf collapsed onto the ground and Clara sighed out in relief.
She continued to sit there, panting as her whole body hurt from the fight. Her injuries were healing at an incredibly slow rate, and she didn't have the energy to reach into her weapon for healing potions. So she simply sat there, trying to regain her breath for several minutes, as the cold night air blew the sweat and blood off of her face.
"How typical of you. Always so eager to kill to gain so little power," a voice rang out, startling Clara. She looked around but she didn't see anyone else.
Oh great, I'm starting to hallucinate.
'You are still sane of mind, human. For better or worse," the voice said again, as if coming from Clara's head. She looked down at the wolf and her eyes widened from realization.
"You can… talk?" she muttered.
"Not all monsters are as barbaric as humans believe," the wolf replied. Its eyes were slowly losing their glow. "It is a shame I wasn't able to avenge my fallen brethren. But to lose to a weak human like you, simply because you got lucky to get the strongest weapon in this world. What an embarrassment."
Clara looked at the wolf, her body filling up with anger. She wanted to lash out at the wolf, but her exhausted and damaged body prevented her from swinging her knife. She glared at the wolf and took a deep breath.
"Lucky? YOU CALL THIS LUCKY?!" she screamed, tears forming in her eyes. "I died in my world, torn away from my family, and summoned to fight a war for a world I never knew existed! One of the two vassals died in front of my eyes, and the other one left! I have two days till the next wave and I don't have nearly enough power! I'm sorry that the only way for me to survive is to kill a bunch of things! I don't want to do it either, but this is the only way I have to return home alive!"
Clara stopped and took a second to gather her thoughts.
"I don't want to fight, but I don't have a choice. If I'm not strong enough then I will die to the waves and the monsters will kill everyone here. Killing a bunch of monsters and getting stronger is the only chance I have of going back home," Clara continued.
"But why attack one of my kind unprovoked?"
"Your kind attacked me first! The crescent wolf saw us and began to attack without any thoughts about negotiation. He was more concerned about killing me than surviving!" Clara yelled back. "He tried to kill us in broad daylight, so don't blame me for defending myself against a crazed monster!"
"Crazed monster… is that how humans see us now?" the wolf mumbled.
"No. He was foaming at the mouth and tried to attack me even when his organs got caught on a rock. I don't know much about your kind, but I don't think that's normal," Clara countered. The wolf didn't say anything for a moment. Its breathing was beginning to slow down.
"So he was infected. If he was of sane mind, he would have never attacked during the day, and one of the three pillars no less. But what do you want, owner of the cooking tool?"
Clara paused. Her shoulders slumped and she wiped away the tears that formed in her eyes.
"I just… want to go home," she finally whispered.
"I see. So you aren't one of them. I wish you luck then, Hero of the Cooking Tools," the beast said, before its eyes closed completely and the glow from its body faded. The four wolves behind him bowed down to their leader one last time and disappeared into the forest.
Clara was left alone, her body covered in blood, which had long turned cold, making her shiver. She let out a sigh of relief and looked down at the wolf. Its fur has turned dark, only illuminated by the green light from her gem. She looked down sadly at the corpse before her and pressed the gem onto the body. The wolf disappeared in a flash of light, and a new form popped up in her status. Clara shivered and began to tremble as she got up off the ground.
The stats of the new knife were pretty good, but Clara couldn't swap to it yet. She sneezed and tried to wrap her coat tighter around herself, but the cold was beginning to get to her bones and her teeth clattered.
What happened? Why am I suddenly so cold? Is it blood loss or something else?
A sudden noise that sounded like the flapping of wings caught Clara's attention, forcing her to look up. On the branches around her she saw several flaming vultures looking down at her with hunger in their eyes. But one stood out amongst the rest.
A large vulture with feathers that looked like they were made of blue ice was standing on a large branch just above Clara. Its glowing pale eyes looked down on the girl, sizing her up. Snowflakes seemed to fall off of the bird as it raised and lowered its wings.
A blue aura was emanating from it, and Clara saw a matching aura wrapped around her.
"S-s-shoot-t-t-t, k-k-knif-f-fe r-rai-," Clara began, trying to activate the skill through her clattering teeth. But the next second something happened that Clara wasn't prepared for.
Suddenly, all the energy Clara had in her body vanished, as if it wasn't there to begin with. It could have been a skill the bird used, it could be the adrenaline wearing off, it could have been that Clara hasn't slept for days, or a combination of the three. She didn't know which one. But what she did know was that her body had collapsed, leaving her to tremble on the grass, as the cold continued to bite through her skin and into her body.
The flapping of the wings and clanging of the beaks of the vultures has gotten louder. Panicking, Clara tried to get up, to move her body and to call out her portal skill. But her mouth and body didn't respond at all. It was like somebody had severed the connection between her brain and body. She pushed herself too much and now her body finally gave out. Now, Clara could only watch out of the corners of her teary eyes as the vultures slowly began to approach her.
I… I don't want to die! I just want to get stronger! I don't want to die! Somebody! Please! Help me!
But nobody could hear her pleas. Tears streamed down her face and onto the grass below as Clara felt a sharp pain in her leg. It felt like something large just bit her leg and began to move back and forth, tearing her skin and muscle. Clara tried to move or to scream. However, her body refused to let her do anything but cry on the ground as several more birds began to bite her freezing cold body.
I'm sorry everyone. I don't think I'm cut out to be a hero that your world needs.
The pain was unbearable, but very soon Clara felt it start to fade bit by bit as her consciousness faded. A notification appeared in her status, but she didn't have any energy left to read it. Her mind was beginning to slip into the darkness and she couldn't resist getting dragged into it Soon enough she stopped struggling as her vision began to darken.
I'm sorry Jim, I don't think I can make it home.
A dark aura gathered around her body, but it didn't deter the monsters feasting on her. Clara let out one final sob, unheard by anyone except the vultures. Any resistance she tried to put up crumbled, her entire body and mind relaxing. Clara let out one final sigh, accepting her fate, letting the pain and despair wash over her soul.
Is this what dying feels like? It… hurts…
[Requirements for the Curse Series have been met]
A loud shriek suddenly erupted from the forest and Clara felt the biting and movement on her limbs disappear. From how she was laying down, she couldn't see what was happening. However, after a few seconds she felt the unnatural cold disappear, stopping her body from getting any colder. A few exp notifications started to appear. However, Clara could barely see anything anymore, as her vision was very blurry. She tried to listen to what was happening, but her consciousness was fading as well despite her best attempts to keep herself awake.
"-iss Cl—-! Mi— -la—!" Clara tried to look up again but to no avail. She couldn't even hear the voice properly, but she really wanted to know who her savior was. Clara felt something warm wrap around her as her body was lifted off of the ground. When the little hero saw what was in front of her, she gasped. Or she tried, but her body was still paralyzed with exhaustion.
Before her stood a beautiful glowing white figure, looking at her with ruby red eyes. A halo floated above her head made of a light blue light, and a pair of blue feathered wings were protruding from behind her. The glowing figure gently touched Clara's cheek and forehead, her touch warming up Clara's face in an instant.
"An… angel?" Clara mumbled in awe.
The figure gave off a gentle aura that put Clara at ease. She felt like she could finally let exhaustion take over and she could rest.
The angel wrapped her arms around Clara and hugged her tightly, warming up Clara's body and soul. A couple of tears ran down Clara's cheeks as she felt her body relax under the gentle care of the figure. For the first time in a while she felt like she could relax and rest without anything going wrong.
For the first time in a while, she felt safe.
With warmth spreading through her entire body, Clara let out a choked sob and let her heavy eyelids close, plunging her into a peaceful sleep.
"Miss Clara! Miss Clara!" Reiya yelled out, trying to wake Clara up. She tossed the dead blue vulture off of her back and looked back at Clara. The girl in her arms looked terrible. Her eyes had heavy eye bags under them, her clothes were torn and bloody, and her hair was a tangled mess with leaves sticking out of it.
Reiya gently combed her fingers through the girl's hair, brushing out the leaves and dirt inside. The girl in her arms smiled weakly in her sleep.
Miss Clara… Why did you push yourself like this? Now let's go back home.
She looked around and her eyes fell on the blue vulture and then the knife in Clara's hands.
You absorb these for power, right? Will it work if I do it?
Reiya gently put Clara back on the ground, much to the sleeping girl's protest, and pushed the corpse of the bird against the gem of the knife. In just a moment, the corpse disappeared and the gem returned to its normal soft green glow. Reiya picked up Clara once more and let out a heavy sigh. But once she saw the girl in her arms smile weakly, her frown disappeared. Reiya stood up and began to float back to the ship.