Chapter 215 - Vol. 4 - 14

Ash transformed her  Lust  into a bow and shot an arrow through one of the creature's heads. The arrow pierced its blue orb and the crystalline sphere shattered as the creature fell, lifeless. 

EXP Gained: 50

EXP: 90/710

Okay, should be easy enough, Ash thought, however, before she even finished speaking those words in her mind, one of the monsters leaped up into the air. It turned sideways and spun so fast that Ash could barely see its movements anymore before it crashed down on top of her. 

Its spinning body slashed her armor but didn't manage to break through it, though its force still knocked Ash to the ground. 

"Agh, fuck," Ash muttered as she tried to nock an arrow from the ground, and was successful, launching one into the creature's thin body. 

Or, rather, she tried to do that, however, the arrow slipped right past the enemy's torso. 

Wait, what?  Ash asked herself.  I swear, I hit my shot. How...? 

Sinneah's fists then were covered in fire and she punched right through that enemy's blue sphere, killing it as well. 

Ash was ready to shoot an arrow at the last one, but instead of attacking, it backed away, retreating past the glowing vegetation behind it. As Ash stood up, she could still hear those clicking sounds all around them. 

"Do not let your guard down..." Gurron said, sounding like he was struggling to even speak at this point. "I sense them all around us." 

Yeah, I think he's right about that... Ash thought as she stood up, stretching.  Well, I came out here to fight, so this works out just fine for me. 

Two more of those creatures appeared before them, suddenly. They fell to the ground, as though they'd been sitting at the top of the nearby trees. 

Level 49

MP: 70/80

Level 50

MP: 70/80

At least their levels seem manageable, Ash thought as she and Sinneah, the same dragon-like woman who she'd been fighting less than an hour ago, stood side by side, ready to defend themselves against the strange creatures who had come and interrupted their talk. 

"Have you seen these things before?" Ash asked as she then proceeded to nock another arrow.

"I have not," Sinneah replied, narrowing her eyes at the two newcomers. "Gurron and I had only just arrived here. We know not what kind of strange creatures live in this land." 

Hm. That's unlucky. It doesn't seem like these things are too strong though, so-

"Look out!" 

Suddenly, Sinneah pushed Ash out of the way of a thin beam that had been launched out from one of those strange blue orbs the creatures had in their heads. Ash fell back, quickly standing up as Sinneah charged forward.

Right. Stay focused. Even if their levels are lower, I still gotta fight before I can relax like that. 

Sinneah ran up to one of them. She tried to punch its gut, but her fist, which Ash saw clearly should have connected, slid right off its body. Then, with its right arm, the creature pierced through her abdomen, its arm coming out the other side of Sinneah's body. 

... Well, that's not good. 

Ash quickly shot two more arrows, using the Dexterity she'd been leveling over the last month to land two quick headshots as Sinneah fell to her knees. 

EXP Gained: 40

EXP: 130/710

EXP Gained: 50

EXP: 180/710

She ran up to Sinneah and quickly cast a healing spell, placing her hands on the woman's body. 

"T-Thank you," Sinneah said, coughing out some blood. 

"Yeah, yeah. Try not to get stabbed again though," Ash said as she heard more of that clicking noise around them. "It sounds like there's more of them nearby." 

Sinneah nodded as Ash looked around while her magic did its work on her. 

So, between that arrow, the one I'd tried to shoot at the one earlier, and that punch Sinneah went for, it's clear there's definitely something weird going on with their bodies. Why can't we hit them? 

She shook her head as more arrived. A total of four this time. 

"I'm well enough," Sinneah stood up, wiping the blood away from her lips. "More enemies." 

"Fucking lovely," Ash muttered.  But, hey,  she thought,  at least they're pretty much bringing me some monsters to farm. I'll take it. 

Sinneah ran forwards again, her fists catching flame once more before she punched through one's head. Another ran up to her and tried to stab through her own head with its right arm, but Sinneah dodged and proceeded to grab this one by its blue orb. Then she raised it up and slammed it down on the dirt, crushing it.

Ash smirked.

... Kinda hardcore, but nice, Ash thought as she loaded two arrows, back to back, and quickly shot the remaining two monsters. 

She ignored the EXP messages that came up promptly afterward because she had a feeling these four wouldn't be the last. 

Sinneah looked back at her. 

Ash waited for her to say something, but the dragon-like woman didn't. She just looked at her with analytical draconic eyes. 

"Yeah?" Ash asked. 

"... Nothing," Sinneah said, turning away. 

...  Okay, sure.  Ash shrugged.

Before too long, more arrived, and it was around this point that Ash began wondering what the hell was going on.  So... Something has to be up, right? How many of these things are there? 

Sinneah didn't appear to be too concerned over these questions Ash was thinking of. Instead, she ran up to the first one she saw and punched through its blue orb in a flash but was then attacked by an enemy to her right. The creature slashed her waist, but Sinneah was quick to return the blow with a kick that saw her foot coming out the other side of its head. 

Ash, all the while, simply stood back and shot as many arrows as she could into whichever creatures she saw appear, but, this time, there were no breaks. Instead, with every creature they'd kill, two more would come running up the mountain, with seemingly no goal but to kill them. 

... Okay,  Ash nodded to herself,  I'm starting to think it might be safer to just run the hell away. 

"Sinneah," she called out, however, the dragon woman didn't hear her. She was too busy fighting the multiple enemies around her. 

Hm... I might want to just run away on my own. She looked back. Gurron, the wounded dragon, was still there, looking upon them. No enemies were coming up from his side of the mountain. 

"ARGH!" Sinneah cried out and Ash turned back towards her. She'd been stabbed again, as one of those monsters pinned her to the ground with its arm still piercing through her abs, but this time, she was about to be swarmed by many others. 

"Half-demon," Gurron then called out to her, "pull her back to me!" 

Instinctively, figuring that the dragon had some sort of an idea, Ash ran forwards, transforming her bow mid-sprint into her gauntlets. When she got to Sinneah, she killed two of these creatures in rapid succession before reverting her Savior's Weapon so that she could place her hands around Sinneah's waist, lifting her up and running back to Gurron. 

"I-I will repay this kindness..." Sinneah told her, but Ash didn't respond as she simply laid the draconic woman down in front of Gurron. 

"Now what!?" Ash asked. 

And, then, just as the monsters ran towards them, almost ten in total, Ash saw Guron make an effort to get on his legs and arms.

Only enough to where he could turn his head towards them. 

And then, he opened his mouth, and flame erupted. 

Though, it was like no flame Ash had ever seen. Instead, it was a bright, rose-colored fire that spewed out from his mouth, covering every enemy that had been running towards them. Ash swore she saw flowers, ethereal and magical, also emerging from the dragon's mouth, and that particular detail reminded Ash of something. 

Keiko...  Ash thought.  One of her sword techniques made flowers come out, just like those. 

As the rose-colored flame seared the bodies of those monsters, each one perished soundlessly, twitching and trembling as they fell to the ground. 

And, as Gurron noticed the result of his efforts, he stopped and fell, making the ground thud as his body hit the dirt. 

Ash looked back at him with wonder. 

"What was that?" Ash asked. "That fire... What the hell?" 

Gurron coughed, taking breaths that sounded more and more languished. 

"Hehe," he chuckled. "This was... my own invention. Created just a short time after..." he trailed off, without finishing what he was saying.

"So... What, you made that ability or spell or whatever?" 

"Precisely. Now, if you could tend to Sinneah, I would appreciate that." 

At that moment, Sinneah coughed up blood, and Ash was reminded that she'd just been stabbed again a few seconds ago.

"You know," Ash told her, "you're good at offense, but your defense needs some work," Ash told her, having to suppress a chuckle.  Yeah, cause I'm one to talk,  she thought.

At that, Sinneah looked at her again, with that same strange gaze from earlier while Ash quickly tried to heal her back up. 

"Gurron, how are you feeling?" Sinneah asked as Ash kept her hands on her. 

"... I will be fine, child. Stay alert. I fear those creatures may yet surround this oasis of ours." 

Hearing that, Ash nodded to herself. 

Good,  she thought..  I need as much easy EXP as I can get.