The metal of a sword gleamed in the moonlight, as it sliced through the cold night air and took a vertical course down the chest of a Blacksmith, whom let out a blood curdling scream as his life slowly ebbed away. The wielder gave a deft flick of her sword, removing trickles of blood of its victim that managed to hang onto its sharp edge, and placed it back into the scabbard hanging around her waist. Her finger slowly traced her right cheek, where a few of drops of blood landed on when she brought her sword through the person now laying stone-cold on the floor, and licked it clean, seeming disinterested.
"You have done well, my pet. Not even a single injury on you this time," a low voice came from the shadows.
The girl flipped her hair, which gave a pale blue shimmer under the light of the moon and was caressed by the gentle breeze. She slowly turned around and faced the source of the voice, a thin smile adorning her small lips.
"You are far too kind with your words, master," she gave a deep bow, then promptly straightened up. "Pardon me for my insolence, but may I know when will your plan be executed, master?"
"Not so soon, my dear, not so soon. You will have to learn to be more patient and wait while the plan slowly unravels on its own," the voice said again, this time turning steelier than it was.
"My deepest apologies," the girl immediately kneeled on one knee, and bowed her head low.
"You only have one role to play; that is to get stronger than you are right now. It will determine the outcome of my plan. I would not tolerate any other questions regarding the plan from this second onwards," the owner of the voice finished, and then vanished into the acidic darkness.
"Yes… master…"
* * * * *
Christine slumped onto the ground, breathing ragged and heavy after she had just successfully defeated another Argiope. It took her a lot of effort just to kill a single worm, but she took it all in stride as a part of her training. It was, of course, another order from Shurank, all because she was late for her training session the other time, after being injured rather seriously when she went on a personal mission to the Payon Caves to help out in eradicating the Soldier Skeleton and Archer Skeleton invasion.
Shurank had reprimanded her over being reckless, not thinking about her own safety, and various other things… which all amounted to a lecture that lasted for more than three hours. Christine was pretty much prepared to make a run for it back then, if he didn't stop nagging at her soon. Then the icing on top of the cake came. He had sentenced her to a few months of training by killing Argiopes in the Mjolnir Mountains. That actually explains why she was currently hiding around in the thick foliage, trying to avoid the worms and spiders as she tried to rest and replenish her energy.
Just as Christine started to settle down in her resting spot, and almost drifted off to sleep, a scythe suddenly appeared in front of her, missing her face by barely an inch. The adrenaline immediately started to pump in her veins, and she was suddenly wide-awake thanks to the sudden attack. She quickly rolled out of the way when another scythe nearly sliced her down the middle, and when she turned around, Christine noticed that a Mantis was the culprit who was trying to tear her apart.
Sighing exhaustedly, Christine forced her muscles to move, and unsheathed her sword to prepare for the incoming attack. It wasn't very hard for her to defeat one of these Mantises, but she would really prefer it if she could just go to sleep right now. Trying to avoid the Venom Dust attack from those Argiopes earlier on really drained most of the energy out of Christine, to the extent that she could barely hold her sword without having her arms tremble like crazy right now.
Christine winced when the Mantis suddenly launched its attack on her, leaving a rather deep cut on her forearm, but didn't allow the pain to throw her off. She immediately swung her sword at the monster and cut off one of its arm, before bringing her sword down its middle, effectively slicing it in half and killing it. After keeping her sword back into the scabbard hanging on her waist, Christine walked forward in order to pick up the Rough Elunium that the monster had left behind, pocketing it happily.
Nonetheless, due to her dulled senses as a result from her exhaustion, Christine had failed to realize that another monster was approaching her from behind. She was knocked unconscious the moment a morning star hit her square in the back.
A Mage and an Acolyte was hunting around the Mjolnir Mountains in hopes that they could manage to nick a pair of boots from the Argiope, when they heard the sound of a fight progressing ahead of them. Feeling rather curious, they walked in the direction of the sound, only to find a Swordswoman stumbling onto the ground after she was hit in the back by a Petite. The pair exchanged a silent nod with one another, and the Mage muttered the incantation for a spell before he rained ice bolts down on the dragon, effectively turning its attention away from the unconscious girl to him.
Seeing that the dragon was slowly approaching him, the Mage started yet another incantation, while the Acolyte immediately rushed to the Swordswoman's side and pulled her under some thick trees to hide her from sight. When she was fairly certain that nothing could be able to sense the girl, the Acolyte went back to her friend, and casted some supportive spells so that his spells would take a shorter time to work. All in all, it took the Mage three sets of ice bolts to completely defeat the dragon, and the pair returned to the spot where the Acolyte had temporarily sheltered the unconscious Swordswoman.
"Hey, are you okay?" the Acolyte shook the girl lightly by her shoulders, but could get no response. She then attempted to Heal the latter, but it still wouldn't work. "Nicholas, I think it might take some time for her to regain her consciousness," she looked up at her companion with a worried expression, and he put on a contemplative look, trying to decide on the most appropriate course of action.
Moments later, he let out a sigh. "I guess there's no other choice. We should bring her back to our room in Prontera," he said, and the Acolyte nodded in agreement. She then picked out a blue gemstone from the small pouch that was hanging by her side and clasped it in her hand, chanting the spell with full concentration.
A glowing portal emerged in front of them when she was done, and Nicholas went to scoop the girl in his arms, before stepping into the swirling vortex. Once she was certain that the pair had gotten through safely, the Acolyte followed behind them, effectively sealing the portal to prevent anything else from going in.
* * * * *
Christine opened her eyes slowly and groaned when she could feel the throbbing pain that flared on her back. She could also feel the sting on her right arm, though she remembered that the wound was left behind by that damned Mantis which attacked her out of nowhere. When she was certain that she could sit up properly, Christine observed the surroundings around her, and realized that she was no longer in the mountains. In fact, she was currently in an inn, although she had no inkling how she had ended up there.
Just as she was about to get off the bed and explore outside the room, a pair walked in through the doors, and the Acolyte immediately helped her back onto the bed.
"You really shouldn't be walking around in that condition, dear," she said nicely. Christine looked up at her, and realized that the girl was only several years older than she was, with the most beautiful sapphire-coloured eyes and blue shoulder-length hair. However, she was sure that she might've shot the Acolyte a questioning look, because a sudden look of realization flashed across the latter's face.
"Ah, I'm Chloe, by the way. Nicholas and I found you unconscious in the Mjolnir Mountains while we were passing by earlier," she explained, and Christine found herself nodding hesitantly at her self-introduction.
The Mage walked towards the bed and held out his hand in front of her, and Christine realized that he was also about the same age as Chloe, if not older, and he had the most dazzling hazel eyes ever. She blushed a little and muttered a soft 'thanks' to them as she took his hand in hers, unsure of what to say apart from expressing her gratitude.
"I'm… I'm Christine, Christine Fletcher. Nice to meet you…" she trailed off and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. "I guess it was pretty embarrassing for you to find me sprawled on the floor, huh…?"
To her surprise, Chloe chuckled at her words. "Nah, there's nothing to be ashamed of, Christine. We both have had our fair share of experiences in getting knocked out by the monsters as well, if that's what you'd like to know."
"You know, it's pretty dangerous for you to be training at the Mjolnir Mountains alone. And from the looks of it, you're pretty young as well," Nicholas supplemented.
"Well… my trainer actually senten- I mean, asked me to carry out my training there. He said that learning how to fight against Argiopes would do me a lot of good," Christine admitted, though she mentally reprimanded herself for nearly saying that Shurank had actually sentenced her to train there. It wasn't very far away from the truth, though; but she really didn't need some other people to judge Shurank negatively right now.
"Hmm… but still…" Nicholas started again, only to be hit on the arm by Chloe, who now had her hands on her waist, shooting her friend a disapproving look.
"Nic, having a trainer that practically left you to learn the spells on your own doesn't mean that the other trainers would be the same, you know."
At this point, Christine started to chuckle, though she immediately held it in when the pair of friends in front of her both shot her a questioning look. "Sorry," she muttered, her tongue sticking out slightly at the fact that she was caught red-handed.
"Ah, no, no. It's okay. We get reactions like that out of most of the people who see us bickering like this," Chloe laughed, trying her best to assure Christine that they really didn't get offended by her actions.
"Anyway, would you like to carry out your training with us instead? I mean, I think that it would at least be safer for you that way," Nicholas suggested, causing the two girls to look at him with a surprised expression.
"Really? I can?" Christine exclaimed happily, momentarily forgetting all the pain that she was experiencing at the moment. At least they didn't quite bother her like how those slash wounds she received from the darned Soldier Skeletons did.
"Sure, if you don't begrudge our company, that is," Chloe replied with a broad smile on her face.
"If it's all settled, then let's go!" Nicholas announced, as he picked his Arc Wand off the top of the table and headed out. Chloe, on the other hand, stayed behind to help Christine up, casting Heal on her so that the wounds on her hand could close up, and to lessen the pain that she was feeling. Christine thanked her gratefully once again, and followed her lead out of the room.
"Chloe, can I ask you something?" Christine suddenly asked when she saw that the distance between them and Nicholas was far enough, to the extent that he couldn't quite hear what they were talking about.
"Hmm? Sure," the older of the two answered.
"Are you and Nic together, together?"
Chloe started to nod when she heard Christine's question, only to freeze in her tracks when she finally processed what the younger girl's words actually meant. "No! There's nothing of that sort happening between us! Really!" she attempted to explain, panicked at the thought that Christine actually thinks that she and Nicholas were a couple.
"Hmm… okay then…" Christine smiled knowingly when she noticed the blush on Chloe's face.
"Hey you little brat! Don't you dare say things like these in front of him, alright?" Chloe hissed again, trying hard to chase after the younger girl who was currently laughing away in front of her.
