V1 - C18 | Fireworks

VOLUME 1

- CHAPTER 18 -

FIREWORKS

­

Standing over a branch of a tall tree, there’s a short girl with porcelain skin, a doll-like face, and scarlet eyes glancing at the north mountain above. A brightness compared to a red sun hovers at a distance just above its snowbed.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “The flare is almost half done already, I wonder if we are going to do this in time,” – she whispers in deep thought.

Her silver hair and white cloak with corner red lines contrast against the green of the leaves and the night-blue of the moon, whatever, only a few would be able to see her.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “Look at that… It’s too cute to watch.”

Her soft and annoying voice makes all nearby birds take flight in a scare. As she tilts her head to look slightly downwards, a smirk forms on her face.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “This almost makes me feel sad, what a waste… they are so strong too.”

In her fisheye sight, a slim wolf-girl carries a basket while two young children lead the way, all with innocent smiles.

Lelitt blinks her red shining eyes and her vision trembles.

Blood begins to crawl inside her eyeballs, forming symbols and letters over the wolfkins’ heads.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ |-{( Delajeci Paruci ,`Level 76´, )}-|

|-{( Waji Tame ,`Level 49´, )}-|

­ ­ ­ ­|-{( Neceha Bawahen ,`Level 42´, )}-|

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “It is such a waste to have all of them die. I’m almost crying because of it.” – She opens a big creepy grin.

Her vision flickers, and every time it does her focus switches to another wolfkin or a group of them, some were out of direct vision but their energy silhouettes shine through the house’s walls without a problem.

All their nametags and levels appear in flashes with many strange symbols below them.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “Three, four, seven, eleven, fifteen, twenty-one, thirty, forty-two, fifty-six, seventy, eighty-four, ninety-eight,… a hundred and thirty-seven… Huh? That’s one less. Mmmmm… Ah, right! That old lady would die today, I almost forgot.” – But she frowns. – “Wait…”

Her vision flickers one more time, showing a cloaked young man laying over an unfinished stone wall with a ragged hood hiding his eyes.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “Who is he?” – her voice cracks with subtle anger. – “And where is that strong hero who was staying here before?”

|-{( -?-UNKNOWN-?- ,`Level 70+´, )}-|

-( History Information Unavailable )-

His nametag flickers and burns her vision, but instead of turning it off, she smirks excitedly as blood oozes from her eyes.

Lelitt:­ ­ ­ ­ “I can’t go away for one day without something weird happening. Who would have thought… another Hero came to play.”

­

- - - - - - - - - - -

­

I wake up in a jumpscare, explosions and screams echo in the distance.

The night dyes everything in dark blue, its full moon brightly shining on the top of the sky, just behind the red sparkles of the fireworks.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Shit, I almost fell.”

I sit dizzy with my legs crossed.

*Bang!*

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ *Pow!*

*Bang,* *Bang,* *Pow!*

I look at the center of the village, where the happy yells come from, some houses blocking my vision of most of the crowd, but by the amount of noise, I would bet that everyone was there, or at least a majority of them.

From my view, I can see one young wolfkin raising his hand and pressing something until it pops, then a quick flash of light travels to the sky and explodes high into the clouds.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “What’s that? Those are the fireworks? They look like cloth sacks.”

Then, I see the Paruci “fish wolf-girl” smiling and squeezing her cloth pouch, a firework trail rises and explodes high, illuminating the sky with a cyan flower of light.

“Hahaha! You saw that!? Mine went higher!”

“Eh? No, mine did way better than that.”

“Whah? You’re blind! Yours was like this, and mine like all over there!!”

[…]

She is actually arguing with a kid to see which firework went higher… What the hell.

­

Even if it was a special event in which anyone could participate, I preferred to be but a spectator.

There were fireworks of all types and shapes, some bigger, others smaller, some exploded in a single flash while others painted the sky with different simple patterns. There were red, blue, orange, yellow, and any kind of color you could imagine. Some even exploded multiple times or had magic to swift their colors.

The wolfkins gasped at each of them and screamed bets on which would come next.

That lasted for twenty minutes straight, until they went out of stock.

I could hear Paruci howling in sadness when the Elder said the commemoration was over.

From beginning to end, I didn’t move from my spot. I don’t like fireworks so I didn’t bother trying to launch one.

It’s not that I hate it, I simply don’t see anything special about it. Maybe it’s because I always saw or heard them when I was in my room, so it’s not something extraordinary for me.

It might be a big event here, but back in my world if a famous soccer team wins a game, or if someone rich was having an anniversary, or at any big date really, I could always hear its explosions and see them from my window if I wanted to.

Though I never really bothered to see those back then either. Actually, scratch the part that I don’t hate them, to be honest, I do hate them now that I’m remembering them better. They are way too loud and unnecessary. Once I had to mute my microphone and I ended up dying because of it, and on another time, those damn things were so damn loud that I couldn’t hear another player near me mid-PvP.

Well… but now that I’m in this world and I don’t have my computer to be focused on, why not take my time to watch them? Besides, these fireworks are way quieter and prettier than the ones I’m familiar with.

But in the end, my sentiments are unchanged, I simply don’t understand what is so fun about it.

Seriously? Big flashy booms in the night sky? I don’t know why someone would want it.

Heh, it’s not like I ever was a normal member of society either, so who am I to judge?

­

But after all the commotion, I couldn’t go back to sleep.

Laying down to risk falling was out of the question, but I also was too lazy to go back to my room in the inn, so I remained seated there with my legs crossed.

First I looked around, seeing the wolfkins return to their houses and turn their lights off one by one until nothing else happened.

After a few minutes of pure boredom, I opened my inventory and started to randomly scroll my items.

At first, I was supposedly rechecking what I had, but I quickly lost focus and opened the grimoire of all items my character knew of to see if anything could be useful in the situation I find myself in, but after not finding any problem-solving miracle, I began playing with the enormous list scroll, seeing how far I could make it go down or up with a single swipe, the faster I went the farthest it would go.

In less than five minutes I was like a madman swiping my finger in the air. I mumbled to myself competitive strategies on how to make it go further and further, like swiping it in a perfect vertical strike, seating in a better position, and shooting it as fast as I could by moving my finger, wrist, elbow, and shoulder downwards all at the same time.

When I finally reached the bottom of the grimoire list in one go, I pridefully smiled at my victory, but then my happiness quickly faded away.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Look who was talking about seeing no fun in fireworks… a guy who uses his paranormal panel of an inventory to play made-up games. I really must be abnormal after all…”

I change tabs to go back to the items I have.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ I should take this seriously, I’m not playing games anymore. I need to plan how to survive in this world.

I have a few potions, bread, throwing knives, and the majority of the loot I have is from that mage boy I killed in the dungeon. All his equipment and items are here, but most of them are useless, it’s like the guy didn’t even consider that losing his whole loot was a possibility. I know that shamans sometimes need items to use skills, but what is this? He had an item for any random thing that might happen in SFO? Talk about waste being overcareful…

Maybe I can sell them, but… I don’t need the money either.

[21.922.119 Gold] appears on the bottom of the panel.

I have enough to buy a whole castle if I wanted to, shame that there are no castles to be bought here in the middle of nowhere.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “A mage’s rope, his staff, gloves...”

They are all of the highest crafting quality possible, it’s worth at least one hundred thousand gold. It is a very common build, so it wouldn’t be hard to sell, but would an NPC buy it? Probably not.

I could try changing to a mage role, but… my Arcane class doesn’t have any good skills upgraded, I spent it all on my Scout and Trickster abilities, so no dice.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Maybe if I level up…”

Mages are safer to play than Scouts, so maybe I should go for that.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Tsk.”

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Why am I even thinking about that? I’m not going to fight monsters, I’ll leave tomorrow, go to a safe big city and stay there until I’m rescued, so why…

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ (“Maybe I can stay a little longer, who knows…”)

I close my inventory with a deep sigh.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “What am I even thinking about? Fucking hell.”

Far in the corner of my eyes, a strange silhouette moves.

It instantly breaks my line of thought and I turn to the sleeping village.

I stand up, my hands moving to lay over the handle of my daggers.

My eyes thoroughly search within the strong shadows the descending moonlight casts over the many houses.

I can’t find where it is, or where I did see it in the first place, but something moved for sure.

I glance around, there’s no wolfkin in sight.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Is someone awake at this hour?

Then again, the shadow jumps, and now I see where it is, dashing over the rooftops.

The shadow crawls like a blur of a beast, going out of my sight to climb the small bell tower over the church-like building just six houses away from where I am.

I step back and fall to the unfinished second floor, going to safely peek through the window frame.

I only have sight of its tip from here, for a second I regret not just turning invisible while I was over the wall to have a better view, but…

The shadow pokes its head from over the tower’s roof.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “What the…”

It’s a wolf?

Not a wolfkin, but a literal wolf.

The head of an eyeless black-furred wolf is staring somewhere sideways from my perspective.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ He’s looking at the forest? What is in it?

But there’s nothing unusual in sight, the tree leaves at the hilltop far away dance gently with the wind.

I look up again at the beast, but now its whole body was exposed, standing straight over its two legs as one hand grabbed onto the roof’s lightning pole. The wolf-head man sniffs the air as his dark cloak swipes in the wind.

I activate my Vision, something I should have done right in the beginning, the grey ping is quickly launched from me, painting the blue scenario into a colorless grey, some blobs of faded orange appear below inside the houses, and then that creature’s nametag pops up.

[Guni Dijegu (Level 100)]

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “One hundred?”

What is that? Some kind of kobold?

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Why there’s a monster that high-level here?

No… this village is far east, monsters that strong is probably normal, but what is it doing…?

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Wait…”

Only one thing clicked in my mind. His cloak is like mine. He’s alone, he’s powerful, he’s moving when nobody is here to notice, and he’s looking around swiftly to gather information.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ He’s a scout.

That’s the only logical reason for that thing being here.

The wolf-kobold descends and disappears behind the tower, only his faded blob of orange energy piercing through the walls.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ But what is he scouting for? Is he planning to attack the village? Alone? No, there are probably more of them, a whole army could be waiting for his report.

The Shaman dying from predicting a terrible future, Nate being over-worried about an invasion, and the fact that the Shadow Army is neighbors to them.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ Should I warn the wolfkins? Ring the bell and wake everyone? An invasion is coming.

His orange silhouette runs towards the exit of the village.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ No, not yet, the invasion might not come today.

I stride to the open part of the wall at my left and face the roof of the house in front of me. Then, in an instant, the world warps and I teleport over it.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ What I need to do is to take him out before he joins back to his army.

I turn my speed boots on and I turn invisible.

My pace not only fastens but my body’s weight also becomes lighter, making my steps on the roof tiles softer and my jumps from one house to the next easier.

The kobold jumps the thick unfinished wall protecting the village and continues dashing on the dirt street between the straw huts and makeshift stone fences.

I reach the ground just a couple of seconds behind him.

My speed boots effect ends, but I keep on running.

The kobold’s pace is slower as it swiftly moves in stealthy bursts, trying to be in a shadow every time it moves. I, on the other hand, run in a beeline at full speed. The distance between us quickly drops from ten meters to nine, then eight, seven, six…

I draw my two daggers, my eyes focused on the kobold’s back as it halts and shifts its ears back.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ That’s it!

My invisibility fades away as I throw my dagger sideways, sliding its ribbon between my fingers with heating friction, when I sense its distance is enough to hit him, I grip it to a halt and pull it backward.

The red symbols over its black cloth shine brighter as it straightens behind me, hovering above the ground and stabilizing itself mid-air to point its blade towards the same direction as its cloth is being held in my fingers, to the sky. In a tug, the blade cuts the air violently in an arc over my head.

The kobold turns with a wide eye to my blade, barely managing to evade it by jumping to the side, making my dagger hit the dirt floor.

He draws his sword.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Die.”

I feel all my senses pull me back as my second weapon shoots forward.

The kobold’s sword blocks it as quickly as my bullet-fast dagger, an afterimage of his movement appears as a blue ghost who is still moving to defend against my attack.

I pull back both my daggers, but as my main dagger flies sideways I command it to attack, the red symbols in its ribbon light up at lightning speed and the dagger suddenly shoots in a V-line.

The kobold’s chest is pierced right through, only stopping when its ribbon’s limit was reached tight.

He goes a step back before striking his sword against my dagger’s ribbon and cutting it.

My dagger falls at his back, but before it hits the ground, the loose ribbon I’m holding moves like a living snake to grab into its other half and merges with it, weaving the cut in a single second as if it never was separated to begin with, taking not only the kobold by surprise but me as well.

I didn’t know my dagger could do that.

Without thinking deeper about it, I pull it back into my hand.

The Kobold’s chest wound closes with a spreading frost, of the freezing blades magic wrapping both my daggers, the same skill I used to kill those two back in the dungeon. My enemy is now slowed.

He lifts his blade and stares at me sharply with only one of his eyes, his left eye being covered by a black eye patch, making it look like he doesn’t have a second eye by the darkness of the night as its cloth has the same color as his fur.

­

I knew a single hit wouldn’t take him out, but I’m ready to finish him off.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Don’t try to escape.”

I smirk at him.

­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ “Or you’ll be making things way too easier for me to kill you.”

­

­

­

­

­