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3
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Level 3 Monster Forest
Sbireth City
Alpha Continent's Desert Country of Tarse
Unknown Date
At the centre of a small clearing, smack dab in the middle of this forest where level 300 monsters were commonplace, two people stood facing each other in silence.
On one side, was a girl standing at about 170cm tall, with long black hair which she tied up into a side bun on her head, leaving two shoulder-length locks to frame her face.
She wore a simple white shoulderless one-piece dress with a similar coloured bib, all lined with threads in a shade of gold that matched the colour of her crown-shaped accessory, and, dark grey handguards on her half sleeves that matched the colour of her eyes.
Floating in the air behind her, was a ceremonial one-handed sword that did not look like it was made for battle.
Opposite her was a tall, attractive man with tan skin and a muscular build. He had golden eyes and very long purple hair which he tied up in a ponytail.
He donned a brown shirt atop a pair of similarly coloured jeans and combat boots, with a black jacket loosely draped around his shoulders.
The two of them were silent for a while until the man suddenly spoke out.
"You know this is pointless, right? I've already figured out how your powers work anyway."
He then rose up one hand and flicked a bolt of aura at a speed he was sure the girl should have not been able to react to.
The instant he flicked it, he opened his palm up, just in time for it to return and hit the centre of his palm.
"Hmm? That was a bit stronger than last time, but it doesn't matter. I've gotten all the info I wanted."
He turned around and was about to jump into the air and zoom off, only to have his arm grabbed by the girl who instantly closed the distance between them.
"…What?"
"You didn't expect me to let you go that easily, did you?"
She tightened her grip around his arm, a golden crest manifesting in her dark grey eyes as she continued.
"You've gotten what YOU wanted, but I haven't gotten what I want.
For starters, you're going to tell me where the others you've found are…minus our idiot leader who's interfering in another country's war. I can already predict that he wants to get the 'Vale Blade'.
As for the rest, you're going to give me information about them, Rathal."
As she concluded her statement, one of her circular grey pupils, suddenly changed into a slit, something that made Rathal's eyes widen in slight surprise.
"Oh well…no harm in telling you then."
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2
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Cave of Trials
Dungeon City Vuegan
Alpha Continent's Great Eastern Empire
Unknown Date;
"When I left the 'Tower of Trials' after spending more than half a year inside there, I told myself I would not be entering any 'Trials' soon…"
A young teenage boy's voice rang out as he stepped atop a trap magic circle on the ground, overloading it with magic power and causing it to crumble under the pressure before it could activate.
"…Now, not up to a year later…I'm inside ANOTHER set of 'Trials', ones that could be considered more troublesome than that Dungeon Artemisia created."
The boy adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as he spoke, before taking a seat on a nearby stone and pulling out a juice pack from his inventory and popping it open.
He was a fairly handsome boy in his early teens, one who was a bit tall for his age as he stood at five feet 8 inches.
His clothing consisted of a pair of black jeans and a dark grey long-sleeved t-shirt, both woven from silk and steel threads of a powerful grandmaster-level spider monster.
Atop this was a long black jacket that was below knee level in length, with similar coloured laced combat boots.
On his left wrist, he had a silver mechanical chain wristwatch and a plain bracelet that peeked out from under his right sleeve cuffs.
He had his short black hair swept back and a pair of striking grey eyes, each having an ancient character, inscribed in gold on his pupils.
"Good thing this is the last of trial.
But too bad this dungeon is only the 'Phase 1' of the whole 'Cave of Trials' series."
The boy turned the now empty juice pack to ashes, before pulling out his obsidian black sword from his inventory and taking slow steps forward, towards the large set of double doors in front of him.
Upon entering the doors and watching them close behind him, a message appeared right in front of his eyes.
[The Trial would begin Immediately.]
He sighed in exasperation, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the message floating right in front of his eyes, however, when he saw the 'things' manifesting a few metres behind said message, his dark grey eyes widened in shock.
"No fucking way….!"
His hold on his sword tightened as she stared at the first of the entities that had manifested in front of him, instantly adopting a battle stance and cursing out once more.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me."
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1
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Tombs of the Barbaric Morass
Fiaclus
Beta Continent's Deston Country
Unknown Date;
"You freaking monster!!"
"That's not a nice thing to say to a girl now, is it?"
A beautiful lady in her late teens, wearing a brown oversized hooded jacket and simple pair of glasses replied to the words of the demon, seconds before she sliced his body into two equal halves.
She tossed the standard-issue sword on the floor and walked towards the edge of the cliff she was standing on, turning her gaze downwards at the massive complicated network of ancient tombs that lay in the valley below.
"Seriously, why did the 'ancient' people waste so much just to build a tomb for one dude?"
She spoke as she tied her long blonde hair into a ponytail, before pulling out a different pair of glasses, ones that had half-framed glasses and wearing them over her deep purple eyes.
"Hmm? Did blood get on?"
Asking herself that question, she squatted down and pulled out a rag which she used to wipe off the bloodstains on her thigh-high boots, along with the little bit of dirt that got on her black jeans.
"Now then, these guys have something they're planning with the Barbarians, but I can't seem to figure out what it is.
It's definitely important considering that a good number of the Senior members from the Third Division are here."
She remained squatting, placing her chin on her palm as she stared at the various men and women who were patrolling a 500-metre perimeter around the tomb, before turning her gaze to the side and asking.
"You were there when the Barbarian King Morass died, right? Was he buried with anything important I should know of?"
Standing beside her, was a tall woman with pale white skin, red hair and similarly coloured eyes, dressed in clothing similar to the purple-eyed young lady, but without the hooded jacket.
Another similarity between them, was their long-pointed ears that showed that although humanoid, the two of them were clearly not of the human race.
"Not that I'm aware of. Besides, you should know that I don't know this…you have my memories, after all."
"I don't like looking through them, messes with my sense of identity.
Anyway…guess I'm gonna have to find out the hard way I guess."
The moment the young lady spoke, the ancient letter inscribed in her pupils lit up with a gold light, and a small smile appeared on her face as she jumped down the cliff without hesitation.
As for the red-haired woman left behind, she looked down at the blonde girl who had landed right in the middle of a group of patrols.
In her left eye, an ancient letter inscription that was exactly the same as the ones in the eyes of the blonde-haired young lady, manifested and lit up with a gold light as she sighed to herself and spoke.
"You really are one hell of a successor, Abby."
She then jumped down the cliff to follow her 'successor' in wreaking havoc against the members of a certain organization's 'Third Division'.
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-
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Unknown Location
Unknown Continent
Unknown Planetoid?
Unknown Date;
"Come to think of it, I triggered a delayed dungeon break in the lair of the lizard lord some years back.
I guess it's high time that bore fruit now…good thing he's heading to Lacertilia."
The goddess spoke to herself as she looked at the map displayed on one of the screens floating in front of her.
"Hopefully he's back to normal after the 'Cave of Trials', I don't want to see 'The him that would have been' come to reality."
She opened her palm and generated a three-dimensional projection of a certain planet, spinning it around in her hands for a moment and sighing softly.
"Even if everything fails…a billion sentient beings is far more than enough to repopulate the planet back to normal standards.
I doubt 'she' would like it if things get that bad though."
Leaning back on her chair, she snapped her fingers and dismissed all the floating screens, turning her gaze towards the singular framed picture that rested atop her desk and picking it up.
She wiped the picture frame with her thumb, gazing at the image with nostalgia as she reminisced about the day it was taken.
In the picture, there were five people. Three males, and two females.
From left to right, first was a young adult man who looked to be around twenty, possessing black and red hair with red eyes.
Beside him was a young silver-haired boy, one with a bright smile on his face and heterochromatic black and blue eyes.
The third…was the younger version of the goddess herself, a beautiful smile on her face as she and the silver-haired boy had their arms on each other's shoulders.
Squatting on the ground in between them, was a young grey eyed boy wearing a mask that obscured the lower half of his face, holding a remote that was used to control the camera that took the photo.
Lastly, was a girl with long white hair and bright hazel eyes, having a bright smile on her face while sending a quite 'heated' gaze towards the red-eyed man on the left.
It was unknown how many thousands of years ago this picture was taken, given the fact that the goddess herself appeared to be just a teenager in it.
"It's been a while since all five of us were together."
She spoke about the five people involved in the picture, remembering the day the photo was taken and the circumstances that led to it.
"Haa…All this from a fucking 'misunderstanding'."
The goddess cursed as she slammed the picture back onto the desk, before getting to her feet and muttering to herself.
"I guess It's time for war."
Reincarnated Hero System Volume Three: Wars and Giant Lizards