"Tch. Shoot their heads off."
Seiko ordered in a restless breath. He tried pushing off the mummies that were piling on top of his body, but they just kept on jumping him, slowly crushing his body. Their rusty claws kept on digging into his skin and he was bleeding. Poison was slowly entering his open body and is lungs were being squeezed.
Jasmine was standing some distance away and she was fiddling with the hand gun Seiko had thrown at her.
"H-How do I shoot with this?"
"Pull the trigger, damn it!"
His tone was abnormally angered. Jasmine just kept looking at the gun. It was a tiny beautiful weapon, light yet carrying a powerful punch. Its barrel was a dull cobalt blue and the handle was a reddish-brown. Jasmine rose it up and pointed it at Seiko after remembering how the young man shot his targets.
"Like this?"
"Yes! But don't point that at me!"
BANG!
It was too late. She had already pressed the trigger. She kept on shooting wild fires, randomly destroying the mummies, all the while shooting a hole in Seiko's forehead. She didn't notice this however, since all she saw were more mummies jumping onto the pile.
"Ugh! Screw your stupid guns!"
She dropped the gun and took out her daggers. They shimmered purple and she pounced on her opponents, slashing without care.
"I'll save you Seiko!"
She yelled and just kept on attacking without rest. She remained there for about an hour, before she managed to dig out Seiko's body and drag him out of there. He was heavily covered in blood and she could hear a sort of crack sound coming from his body. He had broken some bones.
"S-Seiko… you good?"
She put her head to his chest to check for a heartbeat. There was nothing coming. She realized that his body was cold and then she raised her head. Seiko had died and it was because of her.
"Oh no! Seiko! How dare you die on me, you bastard! N-Now, I won't be able to make it to the city."
She cried out, her eyes starting to tear up.
"H-How will I explain this to any one? That lady you were talking about… she'll kill me, won't she?"
The tears streaked down her cheeks, her voice simply echoing through the empty tomb.
"I-I can't just lose my first friend like this."
She put her head to his chest and let out her sobs. Sure, Seiko was rough, but he was definitely Jasmine's first friend. She didn't even know where she came from so she wouldn't know if she had any friends prior, but Seiko was her friend even in her current situation.
Her face felt hot. Probably from fighting for too long. In fact steam was rising up. No. This was too hot to be the result of her fighting too long. She rose her head and backed away from Seiko's body. He was steaming and Jasmine realized that something was happening to his body.
"Ah… Seiko! W-What is this?"
Budum! Budum! Budum!
She could heart heartbeats and it wasn't hers. And nothing in this tomb was alive, so there was only one other thing that could make a heartbeat. Seiko.
The dark-skinned male sat up quickly and he scratched his white hair.
"Uwaa~ I really don't like dying."
He said. He looked around and noticed that Jasmine was simply staring at him. He scowled at her, but she jumped at him.
"You're alive!"
She yelled, but he grabbed her head.
"Do you know how painful it is to die?! You crazy brat!"
"Greash! Shuev're shtill aive!"
She said with a chipper voice even though her head was being crushed by Seiko's incredibly muscular arms.
"Maybe I should kill you here and you'll understa- Wait… did you kill all of those mummies?"
He looked up and noticed mountains of mummies.
"Ywevsh."
"Ah… You… Sigh."
He dropped the girl and stood up.
"Let's hurry up to the teleport gate. We also need to report this."
"You know, a thank you wouldn't kill you!"
_______________________________________
"Damn it. We could have gotten more information out of them had you just held back a little."
Yokino was angry.
"I know, I know. It's not my fault that he touched me."
"Seriously? But you're just a child… No. In fact, with your speed, you should have been able to grab his hand before he touched you."
She said.
"I know you may not believe me, but he actually sped up the fall. It was so shocking I didn't move."
I tried explaining the situation to her, but she wasn't taking it. She sighed and pinched her temple. I noticed that her hair was glowing red, like some kind of light bulb.
"Um… your hair's glowing."
I pointed out and she looked up, completely shocked. Her hair stopped glowing and then turned a dull purple.
"Your hair changes colour?"
I asked her.
"I-I'm not sure. I guess."
"Ha! So you're a clown, huh?"
We just kept walking in the alleyways. Luckily no one had seen her hair change colour so we were still good.
"Shut it, you damned Bird brian!"
I wouldn't point out the fact that she said Brian instead of Brain. Now wasn't the time. I needed to go to where Kawaii was on the map as well as avoid the person tailing us. I sent a message to Yokino using [Telepathy] and she didn't even act differently.
We kept walking in the alley till we got to a corner where I used [Shadow Travel] to reappear on the nearby roof. Yokino on the other hand simply stayed on the ground and kept walking as if nothing happened. She paused, then looked at where I originally was.
"Tori? Tori!? Mistress, where art thou!"
She screamed like a maiden in distress. I sighed and shook my head. I noticed the person who was tailing us. He was a hooded figure. He was a little bit stronger than Gorm, but definitely not as strong as a C rank monster. He seemed to be a swordsman and not an assassin. This would be interesting.
However, then I noticed a rock fall from the building across the one I stood. I looked up and saw someone pointing an arrow at me. Also a cloaked figure with large eyes. I couldn't make out much more about the person.
We both just stared at each other for a while, neither party deciding to make the first move.
***
Yokino had just realized that her hair could glow and thought that she needed to cover it up, since she wasn't sure of how to control it. She attempted to weave a sort of hat in the moment, but then she noticed that she was being trailed.
Hinotori too had realized this, but showing the person tailing them that they knew was not a good sign, so she acted as if she didn't.
"Shut it! You damned, Bird Brian!"
She messed up. Now the chicken would laugh at her for that mistake.
'Oi, eight eyes. I think we're being followed.'
'Yeah. I noticed.'
'Seriously? You're pretty good with these things. Was your job in your former life some kind of security guard?'
'Assassin.'
Yokino's response came after a bit of thinking so Hinotori was confused whether to take that for an actual answer or a teasing one. She took the latter.
The two proceeded to walk as if nothing had happened, but then Hinotori disappeared into the shadows. Yokino saw this as an opportunity. But, now to get into character.
"Tori? Tori? Mistress, where art thou?!"
She yelled at the top of her voice in an impressively convincing manner. She noticed that the person tailing her came out of his hiding spot and was now looking at her from the end of the alley way. He was looking at her restlessly. Yokino turned to him and ran at an average woman's pace, or what she assumed to be that.
"You! H-Have you seen the young mistress?"
She was getting close to him.
"S-she was about this high, was wearing black dress and blonde hair."
She reached out her hand to grab his chest and cry out to him like some sort of desperate mother looking for her daughter, but then there was a large kick that came flying out from behind the guy. However, she had anticipated moves being made, so she brought out one of her spider legs to stab the man in the legs, but then something intercepted her leg.
She looked up and noticed two girls. One was holding her hands and the other her leg. The girls weren't as tall as the man, just a few inches shorter than he was – several shorter than Yokino. They had cat ears sticking out of their heads and tails waggling behind them. Both of their eyes were glowing as they hissed at her.
"She doesn't smell human."
The one holding Yokino's leg said.
"We told you to be careful, stupid hero."
The other complained. The man let out a nervous laugh and Yokino tensed up at the mention of hero. She immediately freed herself from the girl's grasp and flung her somewhere. For the girl holding her leg, another leg came flying, stronger than the first and blasting her away.
"You! If you're the hero, you have to die!"
She yelled in a rage and went for a slice at his neck. After having completely overwhelm the two beast folk with her physical capabilities alone, she assumed a normal human wouldn't be a problem. She quickly changed this notion as he drew his sword with unbelievable speed and almost cut her neck off.
She shot a water spear at him, but he just cut through it with ease.
'D-DANGEROUS!'
All her instincts screamed at her for a split second and then she became cautious with her work. This guy was the hero, meaning she couldn't take him lightly. His movements from earlier confirm that.
"Woah. That was a close one."
He said and charged at Yokino. He swiped at her and she dodged the move as easily as he did. A punch to his gut and the man stumbled back a bit.
Yokino was surprised. Compared to the charisma he gave off earlier, this was underwhelming. She shot a spider web at his eyes, but the force behind the shot was so powerful he was sent flying back.
'Ah… is this the same guy I thought would cut off my neck a second ago?'
She was really disappointed. The beast folk though were up and charged at her from opposite sides.
"I don't want to play with you two, but let's play for only a second, kay?"
Yokino's eyes glowed in the darkness as the two came and passed right through her.
"Interesting. Interesting."
They looked and saw her standing horizontally on a wall.
"Is this how it works?"
They looked down and saw another Yokino standing there and fanning herself. Another appeared next to them and another sitting over Marcus. More and more kept joining till the girls couldn't tell which was which.
"I see. I see. So not even a cat person's sense of smell can evade this magic spell… let's see. I shall name this spell Spider's Webbed Glass."
Yokino had terrible naming sense.
***
'Should I shoot? Or I shouldn't. She doesn't seem dangerous, but she could use teleportation and noticed Marcus tailing her. Would my arrows even hit? How strong is she? Ah whatever. I'll just shoot her if she makes a mo-AH!'
I tapped them on the shoulder after using [Shadow Travel] to appear behind her.
"You… are… right… your… arrows… won't… work."
I told them and they instantly increased the distance between us, shooting a volley of arrows immediately. Not wanting to make noise, I used [Shadow Manipulation] to put up a wall of shadows between me and the arrows, while also grabbing my target's legs and covering her mouth.
'Damn… my control is quite good. Anyway, now to get more answers out of an attacker.'
I wanted to move towards them, but then I noticed something jumping out from behind me. It was a giant of man clothed in a cloak much like the two. He brought down a large battle axe and I stepped to the side, easily avoiding it. I punched his gut causing him to stumble back after a loud clank.
"W-What the hell?"
He exclaimed. I walked up to him and punched his head, creating a large clanking sound and just digging him into the roof.
'T-This bastard… who wears armor this heavy under a cloak and can still evade radar?'
He looked up at me, his black eyes filled with determination. Was this supposed to be a battle of will power?
'Interesting… but no thanks.'
I started to choke him with the shadows. I lifted him off the roof and just looked at him, trying to grasp shadows. Quite the useless attempt to be honest, since one couldn't actually touch darkness, much like how it was logically impossible to touch light.
I looked down and noticed that Yokino was having her own battles. The guy who was chasing us earlier and two other people. They had cat tails. Two beast folk!
'Damn it! Seriously, did I only now see beast folk? And its cat girls!'
She finished them up in no time. I dropped the guy I was choking and went over to the archer. I removed her hood and her silver blonde hair reflected the moon light. Her large blue eyes glared at me, but I couldn't care less. Under other circumstances, I would have been sad to see an elf giving me those eyes. Or maybe I could develop a thing for this… Nope. That'd be weird.
"What… do… you… want?"
I asked her and she just clicked her tongue.
