"Blood."
Elric could only blink his eyes at the moment the woman disappeared from the skies and appeared in front of him. He tried to take a step back, but she clasped her hands around his cheeks and pulled him closer.
Like a mother easing her child, like a lover caressing their other half, she gently pulled him closer.
Elric's eyes widened, he felt a pang of anticipation before his fear could hit him.
The woman's lips spread apart. Her glistening fangs filled his sight.
The boy squirmed, the woman leaned in closer.
Her tongue grazed over his nape.
And her teeth sank closer.
"Elric!" Claude was left shouting, but no answer came.
A prickling sensation drowned into Elric's neck, blood almost spilling out.
A drop seeped out of his skin and neared her lips.
"GAHH!" The woman seethed. She held her head and stepped back.
"W-what…?" Elric muttered as he was let go. The blonde woman fell on her back and continued struggling.
"Elric! Over here!" At Claude's call, the boy ignored the woman and dashed away. Claude grabbed Elric's hand and yanked him over to where Puzo and Erika stood.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ "Erika the spell!" Claude screamed.
"It's ready!"
"W-wait! The chocolate!" Elric chimed in too.
"Who fucking cares!? Erika go go go!" Claude and Elric jumped into the range of the magic circle that spread below her. Erika closed her eyes.
"[Spatial Magic: Teleport]"
"Chocolateee!"
A blinding flash of light spread.
And they were gone.
***
"Marcussssssss!"
"Tomaasssss!"
"Pun pun puuuuuun."
Marcus, Tomas, the two cloaked hatted men, and Mr. Bagpipe at the back, all three of them were left standing with their jaws on the ground and their eyes wide open.
They peeked through the many holes that had formed in the once-tall warehouse.
Chasing after the adventurers they were sent to meet, they had followed them to this spot.
And before they knew it, those adventurers had started battling against a bat turned mist turned woman in what could only be called a battle between the upper ranks. A sea of blood attacks then began followed by inhumane dodging by the pretty adventurer and even more inhumane counters by the rough adventurer. Then, as if it was an illusion, that group of four just disappeared.
It was tough to hear their words over the sounds of the battle, but they were almost sure it all happened over chocolate.
Marcus and Tomas had only seen such fights when a file of ten would be sent out to battle behemoths.
"Do you think that woman was as strong as a behemoth?" Marcus asked Tomas, his back against the wall and his hand against his chest.
"Haha… haha…" Tomas laughed.
Right then, a loud bang erupted from the distance followed by the tooting of a bagpipe.
The bagpipe stopped, but the banging continued. Tomas, Marcus and Mr. Bagpipe summoned all their courage and slowly, very slowly, peeked over the broken walls and inside the warehouse.
The blonde woman was still there.
She smacked her head on the ground over and over, it was only the ground that was being hurt though. The woman's entire body clenched tight and loosened up over and over. She tried to move but held herself back at the same time.
Slowly, very slowly, she crawled over to the ground.
The ground where a drop of the beautiful adventurer's blood had fallen.
Her tongue came stretching out as she neared the drop, before smacking her head on the ground again.
The three could only stare as the woman crawled back. Then, in the blink of an eye, she turned into a bat again and flew off.
"Pupupupu pu puuuun!"
"Shut up for a second, Mr. Bagpipe."
"Puuun."
With the bagpipe blowing away their tension in its harmony, the three jumped through the holes in the walls and rushed inside the warehouse. What was previously dark enough to be invisible was now lit up bright by the night moon.
They tiptoed past the lines of debris and stopped in front of the most suspicious thing in the place. The spot that took them off guard.
"This chocolate…"
"Do you think it's something special? It looks normal to me."
"Puuun puun."
"H-hey Marcus! T-there's corpses here!"
Shocker as it was, the three only noticed the shocking bit shockingly late. All their eyes turned sharp as they rushed over to the bodies and started inspecting their cases. It
Marcus placed a hand on their neck to search for a pulse, it was unfortunate, though as only one of them was intact enough for hope. One had its stomach gouged and bit through, and the other had a hole through its head.
Mr. Bagpipe and Tomas, on the other hand, looked through their stuff for any clues on what may have happened.
"This…" Tomas raised an emblem from from the bags behind the corpses.
"These are our seniors?" Marcus answered. Undoubtedly, this item was only bestowed upon members of General Volfram's own knight brigade, much like themselves.
"H-hey, Tomas, search for a communication orb."
Tomas nodded at his partners words and flipped through the luggage of the two people that had passed away.
Soon, he found a small glass orb with a magic stone next to it. The stone engraved with the skill necessary to operate the device, it was a high-end tool that could only be found with the top of the top brass, the creme de la creme.
The two activated the device right away and stepped slightly away from the screen.
It rang just twice, and deep in the middle of the night, General Volfram's graying locks of hair and sharp features filled their sight.
"Did it go—Hm?"
Volfram's voice, slightly buzzed by the device, urged them to remove their hats.
"Marcus and Tomas? What, do you want another bail? What is happening there?"
"Sir," Marcus spoke. "We have an emergency situation. We had located the previous adventurers and followed them to this place along with their clients. It seemed a battle with a strange creature took place here. The other regiment you had sent to this place has fallen, as we observed the battle, we believe it must have happened before the arrival."
Volfram's eyes widened.
"Impossible… That means the trade-off failed. We were lucky you got to me before that woman, we were saved from a great loss." Volfram nodded. "The battle, what kind of strange creature is this?"
"Sir, we're unaware, but by situation..."
Tomas continued Marcus' words.
"It seemed to be a battle for chocolate."
"Excuse me?"
"Do not worry, sir." Marcus said. "The item you were looking for is already in our hands."
"What?! It is? Show me right now."
Marcus nodded and Tomas raised the chocolate bar.
"Here it is—"
"Stop. I have time not for such filthy jokes, especially when your comrades have died."
"No, sir but—"
"Shut it!" Volfram screamed. "I don't even have any other choice... You two. This is an urgent situation, you are to take over your predecessor's duties. No wait, you three? Who is that man!?"
"Puuun!"
"This is Mr. Bagpipe, sir."
"He's very loyal. He won't let you down."
"What? This is a highly confidential—"
"PUUUUN"
Volfram's brows clenched and then loosened.
"You three are to take over the duties. The thing I sent you to find, that is what you're to get."
"Sir!" The three nodded in acknowledgment
"The person you're making a deal with… is the archmage hero, Erika Arkwin. No matter what it takes, make sure she has a great loss in this deal. It is all for the great gods..."
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