Arc | Chapter. 16: Monster (Patreon)

Chapter. 16: Monster

Alric resented everything, for the past months now his net-worth had been on decline, and finally after having enough, he had decided to embark on a gathering journey, the infamous dirt of the Black Forest. Most adventurers are unable to procure it in a safe manner, due to the gathering locations being deep into the death zone.

But the caravan had done it, and they would have succeeded had they not gotten unlucky with a pack of Nightmare Wolves. Much to their luck, an Adventurer had saved them, however, they were forced to dispose of the dirt that they had worked so hard to obtain. And that only represented one thing for Alric.

Poverty.

He didn’t have many resources left, not enough to recover at least, and even though he was aware of it, he was pointing all his anger and resentment towards a single person. The adventurer that had saved them; Arc.

She was weird, aloof and uncaring. Not only that but she was strong. And that, even if it was an irrational feeling, made Alric resent her more. He didn’t understand what she had done with the Hobgoblins, but at this point, he didn’t care. He just knew, his heart knew, his whole being knew that he resented her.

Whether it was as a scapegoat or her personality, whether he was using excuses to unload his resentment, or legitimate reasons, didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that after this, he was going to be broke, and his future⁠— his life was over.

Which is why, he laughed.

He laughed as the assassins he hired exploded the doors of the warehouse. He had even seen Ronan the traitor leave, but Alric didn’t even care about that, he didn’t even truly register it in his mind. Right now, there was only catharsis.

“It is time for your death, Arc!”

They were two B Tier assassins, right from the Black Market! Given the job was on the same day, and easy to execute, the fee had been just barely affordable for him. And now, all there was left was for Alric to enjoy the show.

He watched as the pair of killers dashed into the warehouse, one with a pair of twinblades a [Shadow Assassin] and the other holding nothing but daggers, a [Knife Dancer]. The two masters went in, as the glass filled cloud of dust immediately cleared with a gust of cold wind.

In the middle, stood the familiar white haired woman with a terrible frown, she spat to the side a bunch of metal pieces and a chunk of something as she coldly watched the assassins rush at her.

Alric just grinned. “You will regret everything!”

The [Knife Dancer] threw a volley of daggers at her, and when they reached her they⁠— exploded, flying across the room with the sounds of chattering glass and a shrill noise.

And then, the [Shadow Assassin] pounced, in an instant they appeared with a flash of black right behind Arc and swung both of the swords upon her neck. They collided and exploded into thousands of fragments like glass, and at that moment Alric finally paused, his eyes widening.

It⁠— what was that⁠—

“You know, normally it’s pretty hard to make me angry, last time it happened I hadn’t slept for a week and a Monolith Wolf destroyed my house, but now I’m pretty fucking upset.” She shook her head as the ground began to freeze. “Of course, it's unreasonable to be livid over this, but I will make you all pay.”

The temperature began to drop following her chilly words, the two assassins stepped back for a moment shaking their heads.

The [Knife Dancer] shielded his eyes. “This is not what I signed up for!”

The [Shadow Assassin] appeared right next to Alric, whispering to herself.

“Too… dangerous…” She turned to Alric. “The mission is canceled⁠—”

And at that moment, a gust of wind blasted through the room, and Alric paused. The [Shadow Assassin] had been frozen in an instant, and Alric raised his hand to touch his face, only to feel the skin on his cheek completely frozen. His heart rushed⁠—

“What is this!?” The [Knife Dancer] shouted their feet bound in ice, all while Arc turned towards him.

Alric’s heart rushed as he slowly backed off from the white haired woman that was slowly striding up to him. Each of her steps shifted the icy mist and cracked the frozen ground. He met her gaze only to see two light blue eyes that were staring right into his soul. His heart felt cold, yet it was also working overtime.

His body stiffened as he fell on his butt, and Alric realized what he was feeling. It was such a strong and chilling emotion, one that he had never truly felt before, but now he knew it.

Primal fear.

But also, regret. He shivered in his spot, pleading.

“I-I’m sorry, Adventurer Arc for⁠—”

“Shut up,” the white haired woman hissed as she reached him.

Alric trembled, but before he could do anything she grabbed him by the scruff, effortlessly dragging him up to face her as she spoke.

“Why did you do it?”

“W-Why?” Alric panicked. “I wanted revenge, I wanted to-to blame you over my losses! The dirt of the Black Forest was my last chance to not be poverty stricken, b-but you made us leave it behind!”

He stuttered, his emotions a mix of panic and a hopefulness of being justified. But she just met his gaze as her face lost almost all emotion.

“So, you just want more dirt from the Black Forest, huh?” She tilted her head as if musing. “That way you’ll have more money and never get in my way again.”

“R-Right, y-yes th-that is it!” Alric stuttered.

“Oh, how simple. There is no way you can pay for all the food, right?” She asked with a cold unfeeling smile.

Alric shivered as he looked at the hall, he hadn’t noticed it, but now he could see it. There were hundreds of pieces of meat, fruits, and other delicacies, all lightly frozen and laid to waste by the attack that had occurred. He turned back to her.

“I-I’m afraid not.”

“Well after you get some money from selling the dirt of the Black Forest you can repay me,” she said calmly. “And I know where you can just find some.”

Alric felt his heart skip numerous beats as hopefulness welled within his being.

C-Could it be that I’m being let go?!

Arc smiled at him, as Alric spoke up.

“Where would that be⁠—”

The world blurred around him as a tremendous amount of nausea hit him. Alric was let go, as he plopped onto the ground as the world spun around him. The sounds of insects resounded in his ears, as he finally saw the moon and the sky overhead.

And it clicked.

“W-Where am I…?”

Next to him, Arc spoke. “Look at your feet.” Alric followed only to see patches of grass and black dirt. “It’s the dirt of the Black Forest, it’s what you wanted, no?”

Alric blinked, grasping the black grains of earth. “Y-Yes.”

Is t-this real…? His eyes wandered to the surroundings seeing the towering dark trees. W-We are in the Black Forest…

He turned to Arc as she smiled at him. And at that moment, the feeling of relief he felt turned into panic. That⁠— that smile wasn’t right. None of her expressions had ever been right. Her eyes remained empty and uncaring.

She was⁠— she still wanted to kill him!

Alric scrambled to extend her hand towards her⁠—

And she vanished.

Alric froze⁠—

He had just been abandoned in the Black Forest.

* * * * *

Rayder didn’t understand, he was panicking⁠— he was a B Tier assassin, one of the few in the Black Market and he was panicking! The ice at his feet wouldn’t break no matter what he did, and the woman⁠⁠— the woman that had caused all of this was⁠—

And he blinked, she was nowhere to be seen, nor their contractor. However, Ilma was… she was frozen, and probably dead…

Rayder wasn’t too acquainted with her, but he liked her. He had seen her face just once, and he had been smitten⁠, but now it didn’t matter. He gritted his teeth and turned to the ice at his feet, its coldness was almost nonexistent, but it wouldn’t bulge.

He slammed a dagger into it and⁠— the tip snapped.

Rayder clicked his tongue. Would he have to request help? To use the emergency orb in order to have his ass saved? He didn’t want that, not yet⁠, though he still felt the blue orb in his pocket.

Shaking his head he turned to look elsewhere only to see a girl hiding behind some curtains looking at him, she was trembling. From a first glance he could tell she was a noble, whether it was her delicate features or golden locks of hair, however…

Where had she come from⁠—

And he remembered just when the explosion happened. The girl had been tagging along with their target. She was the target’s companion. This was an opportunity for him, an opportunity to get out of here. Rayder took a deep breath and regarded her.

“Noble lady, please help me!”

She shrunk back as he continued, putting more of his feelings.

“Y-Your companion is clearly dangerous, we both should run!”

Yet she didn’t reply as he felt a mix of anger and frustration. Rayder took a breath.

“She is a monster that easily disposed of two B Tier assassin’s, not only that but she clearly lost control!” He gestured towards the frozen surroundings. “For your own good you should at least run, she is a monster!”

“A-Arc isn’t a monster…” she replied with a feeble voice. “D-Don’t talk about her that way!”

Rayder paused, the girl was shivering and yet she slowly stepped past the tarp to glare at him. Slowly walking towards him with an increasingly confident stride.

“She is kind and understanding, she has just had a harsh life,” she said slightly trembling.

And that’s when Rayder saw her leg bleeding, an object embedded into it, but the girl still walked with an almost perfect gait. And finally she paused before him.

“You wouldn’t understand just even a bit of what she went through, so don’t call her a monster!”

Rayder blinked, shocked that a defenseless girl would stand up to defend someone, let alone walk in front of him. However, her words rang differently. Not understanding what she went through? Had his life been any less hard than that of that monster?!

And out of all people that could tell him that, it was a noble girl that didn’t understand what hardship even meant?!

He had lost his family at six, at nine he became a mercenary, at ten he lost a leg and didn’t get it back until thirteen where he was finally able to pay a high level priest. And during those three years, he still had to carry out missions, struggle for his life every single day, some days he thought he would die from hunger, and yet⁠:

He didn’t understand?!

Gritting his teeth, he instantly raised his hand to strangle the blonde girl and⁠—

A chilly touch stopped him, a pale hand grabbed his wrist as a gust of cold wind swept through the warehouse. Rayder blinked only to see the monster⁠— a white haired girl, one that was… beautiful, yet her gaze was completely dead, one of a killer.

Rayder shivered before he could react, she clutched⁠—

His wrist snapped, instantly mangled as a scream left him.

His mind entered entered disarray as his other hand went into his pocket and gripped the orb with all his strength⁠— the item cracked, sending a signal to the Black Market, then Reyder felt it, the ice around his legs suddenly vanished, and he knew he had a chance⁠—

Gritting his teeth he headbutted the white-haired woman and⁠ a head splitting pain spread through his head. And before he could react, he was punched in the stomach, his organs rearranging as he was launched back, nearly throwing up.

The world around Rayder spun as he tried to stand.

It didn’t make sense⁠— why⁠—

And he was kicked on the chin, sending him rolling through the ground as pain burst around all his body. The white haired woman wasn’t even using skills, she was beating him up, it was humiliating. He was a B Tier assassin, he was the one that should be in that position!

He gritted his teeth as the woman went for another attack, but this time he swiftly dodged as he dug into his coat. He could barely use his other hand but it didn’t matter, he was going to use everything.

B Tier individuals were far and few, the fact that there were two of them in Blackcrest aside from the leader was nothing but a coincidence. They were strong and worthy of respect, and by extension he too was worthy of respect. Even if his opponent was A Tier she was still looking down on him.

He was worth more respect than that!

Rayder urged his mana, generally skills were only learnt through level ups, but on rare occasions they could be learned or even created. And he had his own skill, one that could even threaten A Tier’s and now…

It was time to make his opponent regret it⁠—

Rayder managed to dodge once more as he screamed.

“I’ll make you regret beating me up⁠— [Death Maelstrom]!”

At that moment hundreds of knives flew at her with scintillating flashes of light. Rayder smiled, it was a technique that would terrify any A Tier, every single knife was charged with his mana, able to slice through anything, and now it was her turn.

“[Glaciation].”

And she flicked her finger⁠— all of the knives were instantly blasted into the walls of the warehouse and Rayder was impaled against the wall as his eyes budged in confusion.

How is this possible⁠—

“You know, I was thinking of letting you live, but…” The woman shook her head. “You really just have a death wish, and so I shall grant it. Ceylon look away.”

Rayder watched the noble follow as instructed, and the white girl conjured an ice spear. He felt insulted.

Did she think that was enough to kill him⁠—

And she threw it⁠— the wall of the warehouse exploded, killing Rayder instantly..

* * * * *

A small sigh left me. I was angry, not unreasonably so, but I was still at the very least upset. I didn’t care if the merchant I left in the Black Forest lived or died, and now everything was solved for the most part.

I turned to Ceylon as pieces of wall fell behind me. I saw her turn back to me with a weird expression, but at that moment, I finally saw it. The blood on her leg, the metal object embedded in it, and I paused.

“Wait you're injured, but… how?” I stared in disbelief.

Had I really failed at my duty that badly?

Ceylon shook her head. “It’s fine, don’t worry A⁠—”

And at that moment, I felt danger in our direction as I immediately extended my hand towards Ceylon and gripped. I caught an elongated black stake as my companion’s eyes grew wide and she let out a delayed yelp. I turned in the direction of where it had come from only to see five hooded figures.

Lots of things passed through my mind, disappointment, anger, sadness, however there were two thoughts in my mind.

To protect Ceylon.

And,

To kill these people as fast as possible.