The Slayer Of Monsters (2)

\\\ Oliver///

“…”

It feels like someone really wants to kill me.

“-Gah!”

My body forced itself awake. I need to quickly get my bearings.

I looked towards where the feeling of bloodlust was coming from. It was Marion- HEY, HOLD ON! WHY DOES SHE HAVE HORNS AND A THIRD EYE!?! WHAT’S HAPPENING!?

I’m suspended in midair, being held by pink chains- Valentine! Ow!

I just remembered he knocked me out… it still hurts where he hit me…

Right! Valentine was hunting us, and right now Marion’s down there fighting him all by herself. Did she use her bloodlust to wake me up?

Only her third eye looked at me just now, and it doesn’t seem like Valentine has noticed I’m awake yet… I don’t know if this was part of Marion’s plan, but I’m gonna try and knock him out with a sneak attack.

Although in case that fails, and let’s be honest it probably will, where are Tyler and Jessica?

I looked around. Right now we’re in a dome created with Valentine’s pink chains. Me, Tyler, and Jessica are all suspended midair by the chains, although their confines are much tighter than mine. Probably because I wasn’t conscious, but it looks like they’re still awake.

I started to quietly slip out of the chains, which was surprisingly easy. I guess he really didn’t think I’d be waking up anytime soon. But then again, after that hit…

As I hung from the chains, I remembered that Valentine had taken my sword. I looked at the ground where he was standing but it wasn’t there. Did one of the others manage to get it away from him?

As I was thinking of this a giant arm then appeared next to Marion. The arm seemed to move in conjunction with her right arm, so it’s probably one of her demon powers.

Yikes.

Glad she couldn’t use that when I fought her. Although it doesn’t look like Valentine’s having much trouble with it… hold on.

After a bit of dodging, Valentine had managed to ensnare the arm, making it so that pulling a single chain would cause a chain reaction- DAMN IT! THAT’S NOT FUNNY!!

Anyway… it bound the arm tightly, restricting it from moving.

Using his free hand, he then pulled out an axe-like blade that was connected to one of his pink chains. Without moving from the spot he was standing, he swung the blade and began to quickly cut up the arm.

This is my chance! Both his arms are being used, so he can’t block my attack so easily.

I swung from the chains a little bit and let go, heading straight towards him. At the same time, the giant arm he was slashing disappeared.

I can’t stop now, this is my only chance to catch him off guard! I thought. Aim for his head, and don’t hold back! I can’t afford to underestimate him!

“Miracle Punch!!”

Before my move made contact, his head turned and he made eye contact with me.

I landed a hit and fell to the ground. The air pressure from Miracle Punch caused a ridiculous amount of dust to fly up- and some of it got in my eyes… Plus it feels like I just punched a metal wall! What’s this guy made out of?

I quickly rose to my feet and wiped the dust from my eyes. Upon opening them again, I saw the chain dome around us disappear, causing Tyler and Jessica to fall.

As the dust began to settle, I saw the silhouette of a figure beginning to stand up. Don’t tell me-

Valentine rose to his feet and wiped dust from his robe before the helmet over his head dissipated into thin air.

“That was a close one,” he said. “You guys actually did surprisingly well.”

“Huh? What are you talking about-?” I started to ask.

“Okay, we’re done here.”

Valentine then moved so quickly it was like he appeared next to me. I should’ve had Accelerate activated…

“Wait, how did you-?”

“You actually get the best score,” he said. “But don’t let that go to your head or anything.”

“What-?”

Then with a swift chop, Valentine knocked me out for the second time that day. Although this time I think it hurt a lot less.

…

\\\ Valentine ///

“That just about does it…” I said to myself. “I’m exhausted…”

I wasted way too much energy with these kids today. But I guess it’s really their fault for getting me so riled up. I’m kinda glad I drew the short straw with this one. Only kinda though…

I was currently in the woods, Preternatural Forest to be exact. It’s been a few hours since I tested Marion Blazebane and her entourage, which surprisingly included that Tyler Ward kid I had encountered a couple days ago.

It’s a strange coincidence but it saved me precious time, so I don’t really care.

After testing the kids, I knocked them all out because I realized there was no way I could get them to calm down. I then took them to the camp I had set up, luckily it wasn’t very far away.

I laid them down in my tent, making sure to put the most space between the different genders, and then went outside to keep watch. Never know what could happen after all…

It’s been a couple hours since then. They still haven’t woken up. Maybe I hit them too hard… It’s getting dark already. Maybe if I go check on them, they’ll wake up. Eh, that’s not how it works…

Even if they did wake up, they’d have to go back to sleep soon anyway. There’s really no point.

Wait- what if they already did wake up, and they’re just lying in wait to ambush me?

That’d be trouble. I might have to go knock them out again if that’s the case…

But that’s just wasting time… I need to explain myself and make sure they don’t try anything stupid after waking up. But would they even give me the chance?

Ugh… let’s just get this over with. I’m tired of staying up so long without getting any sleep… I mean, I could probably go for a few more days, but I really don’t see a point in doing that.

I’ll just explain everything and then go to sleep.

Yeah.

I got up and walked into the tent. They were all still unconscious…

I definitely hit them too hard…

…

\\\ Oliver ///

“Hey, wake up.”

I opened my eyes.

It feels like I’ve been out for a while, although not like I got a full night’s rest. What happened before I went to-

Wait a second.

Suddenly remembering the situation I was in, I quickly sat up. When I did, I saw Valentine sitting in front of me.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake,” he said, looking as uninterested as ever.

I almost tried to attack, but… something seems different. Didn’t he say something weird before knocking me out? Whatever the case, I need to get my bearings before proceeding.

I was inside a large tent, there was a blanket on my legs and a pillow where my head used to be. Around the tent I saw Tyler, Marion, and Jessica in similar “beds” like I was. The girls were farther away from me than Tyler was.

I guess we aren’t in danger…? For now at least.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Well, we aren’t too far from where we were before,” Valentine answered. “Wait, I mean you’re in my tent that I had set up a while ago.”

“Why are we here?”

“Well… I think it’s just bad manners to leave a bunch of people knocked out in the middle of the road…” he said. “Plus I’m pretty sure it’s comfier in here.”

“Okay…” I said. “What do you want?”

“I wanna go to sleep…” Valentine said before breathing a long, heavy sigh. “Oh, but right now I suppose I want your help.”

“What?” I asked, surprised. “What do you want my help for?”

“I need you to convince your friends not to attack me the moment they wake up…” he said. “I figured it’d be best if I went through you…”

So he can already tell that I’m the only sensible one in the group?

“Hold on,” I said. “Why should I help you?”

“It’s in your best interest to cooperate with me,” he said. “And… well I lost the drawing, so I guess it’s in my best interest that this all works out…”

“Wait, what are you talking about?” I asked. “What drawing?”

“Huh? Oh yeah… Me and the others drew straws to see who would have to come down here and test Marion…”

“Wait, test?” I asked. “Come to think of it, you said something odd before knocking me out that last time… I think it was about my score?”

“Yeah,” Valentine said. “Really, I was just supposed to test Marion to see if we should allow her to take the FuzzyCoats exam. I could’ve done that any number of ways but I just decided a head on confrontation would be easiest… then I took it a step further and decided to test the rest of you as well…”

“And?”

“You not only have my permission to take the FuzzyCoats exam, I’m expecting you all to pass.”

Unexpected…

“So, do you have to test everyone before they can take the exam?”

“Huh? No,” he answered. “Why would we do that? The exam is supposed to be the test. Why should we be wasting time deciding who gets to take it or not?”

“But, that’s what you did just now-”

“For the demon princess of Lavaland,” he interrupted. “It takes a really special situation for us to even think about testing someone like this. In fact, I can only think of one other person who’s being tested right now, and it’s extremely rare for us to test two people in the same year…”

“And who’s that?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged. “But apparently the only reason for it is because Envy insisted so, everyone else was completely fine with him.”

“Who?”

“I dunno his name, but he’s some kid about your age…”

A kid around my age? Could it be…? I mean, Tyler ended up being here too, so maybe… It definitely wouldn’t surprise me if Zero was here but… It’s probably just wishful thinking, if it even counts as wishful…

“But anyway, back to the matter at hand,” Valentine said. “I’m not gonna harm you guys in any way anymore, so could you help me?”

“Well… if you just want my help to keep them from immediately attacking you then why don’t you just chain them up so they can’t move?”

“Because if they woke up in chains I doubt they’d even listen to anything I have to say. They don’t seem like the most patient bunch and that’d be a pain to deal with. I just wanna go to sleep as soon as possible…”

I find it kinda ridiculous that this guy just wants to go to sleep so bad…

“Well why don’t you do that stare thing where you raise your eyelids slightly and exert all that pressure?” I asked. “That’d sure shut them up…”

“Using Assertive Glare would probably end up being counterproductive as well,” he said.

“Assertive Glare?”

“It’s the spell I used when I was staring you down,” he explained. “It works by using your will to put pressure on your opponent. It’s really simple but it ends up being pretty useful. You can get out of a lot of unnecessary fights by using that.”

“I wish I could use that…”

“It’s pretty easy to learn, I could teach you if you want.”

“Thanks, but… I’m colorless,” I said, remembering when Lizz had briefly told me about spells. “I can’t learn spells-”

“Sure you can, you just need to learn how to control your mana,” Valentine interrupted. “Which you already can do to some extent at least.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, you know how to use some of the sword arts at least… And those require using mana just like spells do-”

“Wait, really!?”

“Yeah… haven’t you ever felt the flow of mana whenever you used the arts?”

Come to think of it, maybe I have but I just didn’t realize it. Actually, using the arts in general is a strange feeling for me…

“Plus you’ll need to know at least some spells if you wanna be a pro adventurer,” Valentine said. “Nevermind being a Crusader.

“But that’s beside the point.”

I thought a bit.

It doesn’t seem like Valentine’s lying to me. I mean, he wouldn’t even have a reason to. If he was gonna hurt any of us, he would’ve. If he wanted to kill any of us, we’d be dead without a doubt.

“I guess I’ll help you,” I said. “But I do want to learn that spell.”

“Alright thanks,” Valentine said. “And I’ll make a point to teach it to you one of these days.”

“One of these days?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention… I’m going to be escorting you all to Dragons Hollow myself,” he said. “After I get some sleep, that is…”