Chapter 86

I stared at the girl who just knocked me over, blushing like a bright tomato. I study her mannerisms, expression, and body language because I don’t know who she is or why she is in the middle of nowhere.

With pinkish blonde hair and amber eyes, her clothing was that of an adventurer, featuring some rather expensive pieces of jewelry and high-end equipment. She looked like… how do I put this? She gave off the impression of a small animal, like a squirrel or chipmunk, more cute than pretty.

Huh… why is she staring at me like that? Those eyes… they’re the same kind I always see at balls and parties, from all those young male aristocrats my age.

Don’t tell me… She—oh, you have got to be kidding me.

Getting up and dusting the dirt off my new cloak, I offer a hand to help her up, wondering maybe, just maybe, she is suffering from a concussion after she collided with me instead of whatever this is.

Quickly, she turned her head away in embarrassment and took my hand to help her get up.

Oh, great, looking at her and feeling the palms of her hand, not only does she have a crush on me, but I think she's also a noble.

What have I gotten myself into? Today is ruined. I just want to spend some time fighting some monsters, but I can’t because of her.

Mentally sighing to myself inside, I spoke first.

“Hello, I’m Blake. What is your name?”

Blake is the name I just came up with on the spot because I can’t have her know my first alias, Nyx, or my real name in this world, Rita.

Would my eye color, which is blue right now, do, since right now, I am controlling the mana in my mana channels?

Shyly responding, she said, stuttering between her words. “I—I’m Aria Cindral. I do—do apologize for colliding into you, please—please forgive me.”

The wording in her voice and how she said it felt like she was a noble of low birth, which, honestly, was better than what I initially thought, but it doesn’t really explain all the accessories and gear she was wearing, like that amulet of protection, an expensive artifact capable of shielding its wearer from harm up to a certain limit.

“No, it’s fine, but what were you running away from?”

Surprised by my question, like she finally realized something after staring at my eyes.

“We were attacked!”

“We?” Who’s we?

“My party, monsters attacked us. Edwin, Serell, Eric, Isaac, and me. We ran, but somewhere along the way, I got separated.”

“Monsters? What kind?”

“Wolves, I think; they were massive and had white fur.”

She seemed panicked when she said that, and I’m guessing she was referring to a direwolf.

“I'm really sorry, but I have to go.”

As she ran off after saying that, I couldn’t help but think that she was brave for sure, but also dumb. Going back for her party like that was only going to land her in massive danger.

I was just about to stop her and offer her help when I heard a group of muffled footsteps that weren’t human through the forest coming in our direction. And a second later, three direwolves burst into view, sprinting after her at blinding speed—with one already lunging for her with its massive mouth to take her away.

Reflexively. I grabbed her arm as time slowed down around me. I pulled her away just before she was about to be bitten by the direwolf lunging at her.

Seeing them, I can’t help but inadvertently smile slightly, which goes unbeknownst to me as Aria is in my arms.

Using the magic I’d been training on for a month or so, I focused on using just one of my mana natures. First, I enhanced my body, followed by my sword.

Then, drawing my sword out, revealing its sharp edges turning black, a technique I’d learned to reduce the consumption of my mana, I slashed at the direwolf’s face. Granted, black lightning started to come out of my sword, which means I need more practice because I found it hard to do since I have never really done anything similar to this in my past life.

Causing a large gash across its face, resulting in one of its eyes being taken out, it growled in pain as it turned around to face us, followed by the other two surrounding us.

We stared at each other, waiting for each other to make the first move since I had just shown them that I could actually harm them and was a threat.

Glancing at Aria for the briefest of moments with her in my arms, I control my sense of time to see… Her staring at me with starry eyes, face redder than before, blood trickling from her nose, and a weird smile with drool coming out like she was enjoying all this.

At first, I thought she had been hurt, but soon realized it was just bleeding coming from her nose, which I then realized she was just having one of those anime moments where they are having a nosebleed from… getting aroused by the opposite gender. Honestly, how can a normal person get excited from this situation, other than me? Granted, it was a different type of excitement, the one where you're in a fight-to-the-death kind.

She is, in all opinions and maybe in fact, weird.

Quickly, I ask, “Are you all right?” Her face gets even redder, and more blood comes out of her nose. Then, a bit dramatically, moving the back of her hand to her forehead, she fainted almost exactly how maidens would faint in plays or storybooks.

What the heck is she? You know your life is in danger, but you do that?

Quickly laying her on the ground so I could focus on fighting the direwolves to protect her, I guess this is maybe a blessing in disguise, because I get to let loose and have some fun.

Letting out a small giggle, my smile grew slightly bigger. This is a nice challenge after everything, and I’ve been waiting to fight something to get rid of the stress and boredom I’ve been accumulating.

With that in mind, I slowed down my sense of time again, took out two engraved knives with limiters on them with my left hand while holding my sword with my right, and threw them at the other two direwolves, aiming at their eyes.

Flowing my mana through them, the tips of the knives turned black, which should pierce through their fur much better than the first time I fought them.

Throwing them, I then immediately move to the direwolf with one usable eye to take out the weakest one first.

It was like a blur, with my body enhanced by my mana nature. My sword, also enhanced with my mana nature, had its edges turn black again.

What should I aim for first? A thrust to its eye, followed by frying its brain, seems like the most effective and fastest method, but that is no fun because I’ve already done it with the first direwolf I’ve killed. So… let's try something new.

Why not use a method to preserve its hide for clothing? I really like its fur and want to make more clothes out of it.

Hearing my engraved knives hit the other two direwolves and sparks of electricity coming out, taking out their eyes, they recoil in pain as the direwolf I was facing and I charge at each other.

It went in for a bite with its mouth, but I moved out of the way by jumping to the side. Then, flowing a lot of mana into my legs to a point where it felt like boiling water was being splashed on them, I used my right leg and kicked at its face with my boot at the very last millisecond before it made contact.

It was knocked to the ground, and I didn’t waste the opportunity. I channeled my mana to the edge of my blade, making it turn black again. I sliced off one of its front legs, throwing it off balance before it could recover and get up.

Now, its underbelly was exposed to an attack, so without hesitation, I drove my sword into its chest, jamming it into its heart, and surged my mana through it with black electricity.

Feeling the drain on my mana reserves, I stop when I use up a fifth of my total mana, leaving roughly 60% remaining. Overall, it’s a massive improvement, but I still need a ton of work and practice.

Smelling burnt flesh off the direwolf I’d just killed, I moved to the other two, who were fortunately focused on me instead of Aria.

The direwolf I’d just killed had gone down pretty easily, more like a warm-up. So why not try taking these two out with a single strike each?

Slowly circling me as I stood still, I waited for their first move. And after a bit, they both move at the same time.

In a surprising act of coordination, one lunged at me with its fangs bared, sprinting as fast as it could for a bite, while the other leapt into the air, aiming to pin me down should I dodge the first attack.

Seeing that was going to happen, I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle at how intelligent they are as I decided to dodge the first one’s bite, followed by jumping out of the second one’s attempt to pin me to the ground.

Barely dodging the second one, I began rolling on the ground as the second wolf snapped its jaws at me, and I then burst into full-blown laughter as I repeatedly barely dodged each of its bites.

After a few attempted bites, I grab some dirt in my hand as I roll on the ground and throw it at the second direwolf, causing it to stop and recoil a bit with dirt in its eyes.

Moving back several steps, it tries to use its paws to rub off the dirt from its eyes, which would have made a good opening to kill it in one clean attack, but the first direwolf stepped in and charged in, attempting to run me over, so I had to take several steps back as I got up.

Now both of them are in front of me, and Aria is behind me, not too far, which makes me laugh some more at the predicament.

I can’t really let them go past me, not even a bit, or else they might harm Aria, even if their attacks were aimed toward me instead of her.

Considering that, I decided to charge straight at them. I aimed for the second direwolf on the left, while the first one on the right lunged to intercept me. It tried to charge into me and run me over again, but I shifted my momentum, sprinting directly toward it instead.

Sword in hand, a second before it was about to hit me with its massive body, I focused my mana toward my legs, feeling the sensation of my legs painfully burning again. This time, I jumped, and I spun my body mid-air so I could land on its back, facing its head instead of its tail.

Readying my sword, its edges turn black again, but it also sparks with a bit of black electricity, unfortunately wasting more mana than necessary because I’m not used to doing it standing on a monster before.

Not wanting to waste any more mana and time to give it the opportunity to shake me off, I’d stab through the back of its neck to the other side, which felt way smoother compared to when I first fought one of these things, since my weapons at that time did barely any damage to it.

Flowing my magic through my sword, letting out black electricity from the sword, like with the first direwolf of the group I’d kill, this time through its spine.

Jumping off it, I landed and took a deep breath to catch my breath because I had around 30 percent of my mana left, which included the mana in my mana channels.

Then, letting it out, I laugh. “Ahahaha, yes!!! This is what I needed. After this, why don’t I try hunting the rest of your pack?”

Growling in response, though I doubt it could understand me, I close the distance between us.

I swung my sword in a feint, causing it to pull back from its attempt to use its mouth to bite me, which I followed with another feint just for the fun of it and to make it much more interesting for me.

With much precision, I swung my sword at its head, millimeters away from its eyes. It instinctively blinked and moved its head back, which I capitalized on.

Before it could open its eyes, I took that opening, which was less than a second, to jab my sword under its jaws, ramming it in there, close to what I think is the base of its skull, and sending out black electricity into it.

It jerked erratically as electricity flowed through its body and brain, as I tried my best to hold on to my sword with its obviously massive body.

However, once it finally stopped moving, I pulled out my sword and chuckled.

Well, that was fun. I wonder if the rest will show up later in the day, but for now, I should take care of Aria.

Going to her, with a smile unknowingly on my face, still excited from fighting the three direwolves, I stood next to her and knelt to get a closer look at her.

It looked like her nosebleed had finally stopped, though the blood had left a noticeable mess on her clothes.

I wonder if I should give her a low-grade health potion just in case, but from her steady breathing, I don't think I need to—

Cutting my thoughts off, I heard loud footsteps coming toward us. Hearing them for a bit, it was a person, and they seemed desperate.

Turning in that direction, which was in front of me, I saw a person. He had red hair with adventuring gear on him, with, strangely, a very ornately decorated sword by his side.

Is he one of Aria's companions? But as he looked at me, then at Aria, his face turned pale, drained of blood, and when he looked back at me, it was then filled with an indescribable rage.

“You!!! What did you do to her!!!”

Hearing what he said and thinking about it for a split second, I soon realized that the situation I was in was not a good look for a stranger passing by, especially if one of them was one of their party members.

Next to a girl that was covered in blood, with a bloody sword in hand, doesn’t seem good if you ignore the three dire wolves' corpses on the ground, which I guess he didn’t notice, seeing Aria covered with blood.

So, trying to tell him that this was all a misunderstanding to explain myself, I, however, sense mana flowing through his body, and his hair glows a blazing red, with flames bursting out of his sword.

In an almost pyrotechnic arc, the sword swung toward me, the flames extending as if they were part of the blade itself.

On reflex, I jump back away, out of the range of the flames.

“Hey, I—”

“Shut up!!! Get away from her!!!”

I tried again, trying to explain myself, but he was having none of it.

Huh… I can’t reason with him; this is… going to be a real… fun time. Still high off my fight with the three direwolves, I let out a chuckle because this person was a mage, a mage that I could fight, a mage proficient with a sword.

My smile grew, and I couldn’t help myself, and I had to fight him. What an interesting sword. I have never seen anything like it, but I have in video games in my past life, which made it all the more interesting.

With my mana reserves being around 10 percent, I guess it’s time to use the mana storage device that Mila and I had been working on.

Making my hair glow black in response, he was surprised to see that but pressed forward with his next attack.

The flames that extended out of his sword retreated back, and then he lunged forward with a downward swing.

I countered, using my mana nature to enhance my body, with an upward swing that repelled his downward swing.

I guess he wasn’t expecting that since I noticed he nearly let go of his sword as I did that, especially with that shocked look on his face despite my slender frame.

However, showing much determination, he angrily gritted his teeth and recovered quickly by taking a few steps back and swinging again, this time horizontally, which I allowed because it wouldn’t be fun if I ended it quickly with that easy opening I created.

With a thrust of his sword, fire wreathes it again, causing it to shoot out. I, of course, stepped out of the way and kicked him on the side, which hurled him off balance and sent him back, rolling on the ground several times before he stopped and got up after gasping for air.

“You bastard. I’ll make you pay!!!”

“Keh-heh-heh…! Ahahaha!

Taking a step back, thinking that I was some crazed monster, I then said after laughing, “What of it? Pay me for what?”

Goading him to fight harder because I really can’t let this opportunity slide by even more than before. He is a magic user with a magic sword, and he is good with a sword. He is quite an interesting opponent, and I want to have as much fun as possible since he is so interesting.

Closing the distance between us, he sprinted, and we exchanged some quick strikes. I block, counter, or dodge each of his swings and thrusts, while he could barely do the same.

His swordsmanship made him much more talented than most of the people I’ve fought against, but it was not enough because with each swing and thrust I made, he was making more mistakes, to the point that now he was just reacting, overwhelmed by my swordsmanship that he couldn’t focus on thinking two or three steps ahead.

Eventually, I forced him to use his magic sword again, this time at a much closer range, where it was dangerous for both of us to be near.

I was not about to let that happen, and I guess it was about the perfect time to use my mana storage device.

Using my other mana nature, I sent it first to my mana storage device, letting my black electricity flow through the engraved monster core on my choker, which replenishes around 60 percent of my mana pool. I then used the mana from the mana storage device on my sword.

Instead of turning the edges black, black electricity sparks around it and a bit throughout my body.

Our swords clashed once again, but this time, my sword electrocuted him while absorbing his mana that was in his sword, followed by the mana in his body.

He spasmed under the shock, yet he gritted his teeth, holding onto his sword with remarkable willpower instead of letting go immediately.

Feeling my mana pool get replenished by the mana I was taking from him, he looked like he was about to pass out from mana depletion.

I was about to end it by punching him in the face to knock him out, but, feeling the presence of mana of another amassing away in a distance, I immediately retreated back, and it was a good thing that I did because I turned my head in the direction of where it was and looked, my eyes with his. I saw another guy, with grayish hair, make his hair glow blue and a blue-colored wind form around him into what seemed to be swords.

He fired them one by one, in rapid succession, in a straight line aimed to keep me away from what I presume was his party member.

“Damn, I miss. Isaac. You idiot, why did you run off like that?”

Running up to what I presume was Isaac, he then said.

“Sorry, Serell, haa… haa… I’d sense Aiar mana and… and found—”

“She’s fine; what are you talking about? But anyways, who is he? Why are you fighting him?”

Hearing relief filled his expression, and they both looked at me with a stiff expression.

“Umm… I think we should—”

“Keh-heh-heh… Aha… AHAHAHAHA!”

Feeling a stinging sensation on my cheek with something warm coming out, I couldn’t help but laugh. He actually hurt me; he actually made me bleed.

This new guy—all that I could think of was that this made things much more interesting. He was a mage who could use his nature mana.

I couldn’t help but think how cool it looked as the swords he created were pulled off the ground and floated to his side.

If they worked together, it would definitely be much more fun than the three direwolves I’d fought.

“Hey, Isaac, why is he laughing?”

Fear and caution showed on his face like I was a crazed lunatic, though I didn’t notice or care because I just wanted to fight them.

“I don’t know, Serel. Ugh… What should we do?”

“How should I know? Maybe apologize?”

“Yeah… right. Hey, ummmm… I—”

Before he could finish, I struck.

We’d fought, a two-on-one, which I had a really fun time with. They try their best to fight back, injuring me several times, which made me all the more excited as they desperately try to reason with me to stop, but I just tune them out, focusing on how fun the fight was for me.

After I hit Isaac with the flat of my sword, while also sending in my black electricity to shock and absorb the last bit of mana he had left, something even more exciting came by; another of their party members showed up.

A blonde-haired boy with blue eyes, around our age, showed up. This blonde-haired boy with blue eyes, whom Serel called Edwen, looked uncannily similar to someone I knew and coincidentally had the same name and was just as interesting as the other two. Compared to those two, he was a mage who could use his nature mana while also using a sword to fight.

He was not as skilled as Isaac, but in combination with his magic and his mana nature, which was a golden lightning that seemed familiar somehow, he more than made up for filling Isaac's spot after I knocked him out.

The fight continued, and I eventually took out Serel with a rapid combo: hand-to-hand strikes to his body, several punches to the gut, a palm strike to the chest, and a roundhouse kick to the head. With each strike, I channeled black lightning, absorbing his mana on the spot. I had improvised this technique after discovering I could steal mana from Isaac, and seeing that Serel’s mana reserve was double the size of my own, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

However, it wasn’t finished just yet because another person showed up, which made me all the more excited, but for a different reason. He had silver hair and blue eyes and an even more familiar face, one that was so familiar that I had the strong urge to punch him as hard as I could in the face for some reason.

Our eyes locked with each other, and strangely, he had a look of disbelief, like he had recognized me, till Edwen screamed out for help as I kicked him back, sending him flying into the air.

“Heh heheheheheh… Ahahahahahaha.”

Blinking as I laugh, the new guy now had a look like I wasn’t or couldn’t be that person in his mind, which was a good thing because all his hesitation was gone.

The new guy, who coincidentally has the same name as someone I know, Eric, has silvery hair turned white with white lightning crackling from his body.

So, he can also use his mana nature. What an odd yet fun party Aria has. We fought, and I found it more fun to see how he fought and how both of them fought together.

Edwen focused on melee combat, while Eric concentrated on magic, supporting Edwen and occasionally stepping in to fight up close.

However, eventually Edwen was the next to fall. Doing a low sweep, I knocked Edwin to the ground while absorbing Eric's magic by positioning my sword just before he was going to fire his magic.

Stomping Edwen’s head into the ground, I used it as a springboard to launch myself toward Eric. He struggled fighting me but was holding up on his own; however, in the end, I gave him a good right hook, square at his face, with all my strength put into it.

Seeing him be sent flying a few meters back, I was expecting another to show up to continue the fun, but unfortunately, no one else came.

“Hah… hah… hah…” Placing my hand by the trunk of a tree, I continue to smile, not as big as before. “That was really fun; I should really do that some more, maybe with all of them fighting at once next time.”

My heart is racing, and my mana pool is low, around 20 percent after absorbing all their mana. I steady my breathing to calm myself down.

After a minute or two, the smile on my face was gone, and I was back to my expressionless self.

Looking at my body, I saw cuts and scratches scattered across my body. Damn, I was really going to have to get this fixed. It was going to be a pain to fix, especially since I didn’t want to trouble Clare. Maybe I should just pay Hazel to handle it.

With that thought, I pulled out a low-grade health potion, grimaced, and drank the bitter liquid, then poured the remainder over my open wounds.

Anyways, I should go back and have Emma send out people to collect the direwolves I’d kill to turn them into fur and sell off the rest for extra money.

But first, I should gather up Aria’s party members, who are scattered around on the ground, knocked out.

So, going to the closest one, I looked at Eric and realized something. Huh… he looks like my brother… he… looks… like… my… brother… not familiar… but exactly like him…

No… it can’t be.

Turning my head robotically, very stiffly, I looked at the blonde one, named Eric, and he looked like my ex-fiance, the third prince of the kingdom.

Following that, I looked at the long, grey-haired one, who was really good at magic, and finally the red-haired one, the one really good with a sword.

It took me a while, but could they be Serell, son of the archmage Cyrath, and Isaac, son of the knight commander Orwin?

Huh… Aria, Isaac, Serell, Edwen, and Eric…Oh **** ***** *****.

It’s them! But how?!!!!

Didn’t Clare tell me that my brother and his companions, whom he brought along, were far off in a neighboring county looking for me? Why the heck are they here?

Shoot, shoot, shoot, I've got to get out of here; I've got to get out of here.

I’d just beaten up a member of royalty, the son of an archmage and knight commander, and, less importantly, my own brother.

I really messed up this time.

Backing away slowly like this had nothing to do with me; I immediately made a run for it, straight to the adventurer guild to warn everyone.