Chapter 62: The Different Side of the Coin

"Fenrir, what have you done?"

Blood splattered everywhere and tainted the forest. Those spillages of crimson fluids belonged to the creatures living in the woodland. And the one who massacred the living daylights out of these animals was Fenrir herself.

She confidently stood at the high ground, in the middle of a corpse of an unknown creature. Blood continued dripping from the tip of Fenrir's blade, with a vast hole carved on the monster.

Below her feet was a corpse full of various species of monsters she killed. The stains covering her sword were the blood that came from those creatures.

As soon as Fenrir noticed my figure, her eyes slid to the side with a grin, welcoming my presence.

"Hello, Arthur. You should have come with me to level up!" Fenrir exclaimed.

No words escaped from my mouth as if the horrors in front of me made me mute. With all the ounce of strength left inside of me, I stepped one foot forward and looked Fenrir in the eye.

"What happened?" I asked, with my hands extended to each side. "What's all this? Why did you massacre these…. creatures?"

It took Fenrir a few more seconds to give her reply. However, when she opened her mouth, Fenrir lost her strength and fell from the throne.

I used my reserved power and dashed straight towards the unconscious wolf girl. Fenrir looked so innocent when she was still asleep, but got wild every time she wielded her nails. I wanted someone to remind me to never get on Fenrir's nasty side, or else I would meet the same fate as these creatures.

However, that joke had gone too far, since the trouble awaiting us was just around the corner. If Fenrir had this strength all along, she could annihilate an entire town… or even kill Merleen and me if she had the chance. With the help of the system, her five senses heightened to the extreme, granting her immense power compared to before.

"Was this my fault?" I asked myself while staring at Fenrir.

I knew nothing about her past life. When we conversed about the puppies and her clan, Fenrir became defensive and ran away. Although I respected her past, I wanted to know more about her. Since she planned to be at our party for a while, strengthening our bonds would play a vital role soon in our futuristic battles.

But for now, I might bury those thoughts for later. Considering Fenrir's emotions, giving her time was the best course of action….

Heh... I never thought that I would even use those words right now. I truly wonder what reaction would my past self do when he could hear this event. That Arthur would have pressed Fenrir for answers, thinking that this was still a game.

I carried Fenrir towards our temporary base while Merleen set up a campfire in the middle. With her fresh abilities, Merleen conjured a barrier that reflects light to creatures passing by our campsite. That illumination was enough to fend off those monsters.

But I doubt that would kick most of the predatorial ones near our vicinity.

As soon as we finished, I offered Merleen to rest first while I watched Fenrir. However, that girl persisted and forced me to lie on the bed.

"You've been awake for a day, Arthur! Have you ever felt tired at all?! Are you trying to get on my nerves, Arthur?! You go to sleep, and I will take charge! No buts!" It was what the girl chided me for the entire night.

With a defeated sigh, I tucked in for tonight and lay on my make-shift bed.

The banana leaves of some sort became my personal blanket. It was the only comfortable sheet that I found and compared to the materials in this woodland. Since we had yet to find another town, Merleen, Fenrir, and I needed to use this for now.

Fenrir slept beside me. She still had her eyes closed, but her mouth opened while snoring a tune. The image of her from before got washed away to elsewhere. It then got replaced by an adorable face in front of me…

Well, not as adorable as Merleen. That mage girl still sat on her throne, way above the clouds.

My mind drifted off as I continued thinking about the unimaginable. It flowed down to the endless abyss, consuming my soul and me. After a few minutes, I peeled my eyes open and greeted the exhausted back of Merleen.

"No violent dream or god that wants to mock me?" I whispered.

It was a sarcastic phrase, since that event happened all the time.

"I'm awake," I announced, and sat from my bed of leaves.

"O-Oh, did I wake you up, Arthur? I-I didn't mean to," Merleen cried, as she crawled in front of me.

"Nope. I just got up. Since I finally got my beauty sleep, it's now your turn to rest. And I won't take a no for an answer," I said, returning the favour I received from Merleen a while ago.

That magician girl giggled at my remark before hitting the sack. Merleen and I switched places as she went to my sleeping area. She was now the person beside Fenrir, who was still inside her dream until now.

"Are we going to wake her up?" Merleen asked.

The world surrounding us moved slower than usual. But this was a normal occurrence in this world. If I remembered it correctly, Magique had more hours than the mere twenty-four.

"No. We just let Fenrir sleep for the time being. It's also a window for us to sleep too," I answered Merleen.

With a nod, Merleen went back to her bed and hugged the nearby leaf. After a few seconds, two girls snoring inside a barrier of light greeted my eyes.

The girl on the left with wolf's ears snored like an old man. It also almost sounded like a car without gasoline, trying to push itself to the farthest limits.

The girl on the right with an intense arcane aura snored like a bird. She almost reminded me of a princess that lured animals with her voice…. But Merleen's voice had a different tune. She combined all those one hundred species into one sound… and it was a horrible mix.

I had nothing to do but stare at the dark skies, thinking about our future. Now that I thought about it, I had no chance of self-reflecting on everything I did in this world. I did not even know the purpose of my reincarnation…

All I knew was….

"I need to get that Excalibur before anyone else does," I mumbled, while fiddling my hands.

The only lead that I had was the last checkpoint before the game tossed me here. There was a description about the endgame of this place, where the holy grail would appear around next year. I did not know the identification of that holy grail.

But I knew about the Excalibur, the strongest sword that would locate that holy item. And now that it was in the hands of a demon, nobody knew how to stop that grim future.

"Arthur?"

An angelic voice called my attention. That sound came from behind me. And only two people were sleeping at my rear: Merleen and Fenrir.

"So, you're awake now. You should get some sleep, Fenrir," I answered, without looking back.

If I remembered it correctly, this event was the first time for me to hear Fenrir called my name.

"Did you do something dirty to my body? If you do, I will kill you," Fenrir growled.

Even doing nothing at all, I felt like my life was in some sort of danger. It was a good thing that I was still awake right now. Or else Fenrir could have killed me while I was asleep.

On second thought, I wished to take back what I mentioned earlier. Fenrir did not change even after experiencing such a horrible thing.

"Do you not remember what happened before, Fenrir?"

"No."

"You killed a monster horde all by yourself… that's what you did."

"Isn't that good? It's all thanks to that system you gave! I received power beyond my imaginations!....," Fenrir claimed, but stopped midway from her sentence. "And yes, I remember. I killed those monsters for fun. I wanted blood… I wanted to extract my rage towards those monsters! Since they were the ones who started it, I wanted to return the favour."

"Started it?" I asked, striking the nail in our conversation. "What did the monster do to you?"

"I am no fool, Arthur. And I won't tell you the story of my life. You're my guide, and I am your guard. You lead me towards the demon lord's kingdom, and I will fight by your side. Once we got what we wanted, we went our separate ways," Fenrir exclaimed, as she returned to her fetal position.

Although Fenrir's words felt like a dagger, I knew we were on the right track. And that was the only thing I wanted to know about her….

If she became an enemy to me, things could get ugly soon. Since Fenrir had this tendency to murder creatures, I could only guess she could also come to Merleen and me….