Login Beyond the Centuries S1volume 1 Chapter 7

[ 7 ] master unknown to its blade

Translator : Blackhole32

"What are these miners finding?"

Gewalin asked Janeyuu who's sitting nearby. Both of them listened to the noises made by pickaxes for hours without any interruptions from enemies.

"I don't know either. I have no knowledge about minerals" answered Janeyuu.

"Eh? But you know the He- Oops!?" Gewalin didn't finished her talk because she was muted by Janeyuu's hand.

"Shh! … Don't let the cat out of the bag" Janeyuu used two fingers and pretend to slice her throat.

Gewalin remove Janeyuu's hand and asked. "It's to that extent?"

Janeyuu glanced at the miners not far away and nodded.

"Why? Are you interested?"

"Just want to know, nothing in particular" Answered Gewalin.

"If you want to know, you could find a book. The bookshops in the city might have some books about regular minerals on sells. But I've never bought it; too expensive"

"Umm, I got it … By the way, do we have to sit like this the whole day?" Gewalin's getting bored after she had sat and do nothing for many hours.

"Until the carts are full. When the carts are full, we guard the miners back to the city and we will receive the reward" Janeyuu pointed at a minecart.

From the outside, the cart has nothing in it; That's because the miners uses the cart's inventory to contain the minerals instead of really put them in the empty s.p.a.ce of the cart.

"I think I'll to help, so the work would finish faster" After she told that, Gewalin got up and walked toward the miners that are drenched in their own sweats from work.

The way Gewalin mine the ores is just directly punching the rocks with her mechanical arm. After she used this arm to smashed a bunch of skeletons, she's confident in its durability; and it's working like a charm.

The rocky wall was blew into pieces; The miners changed their priority from mining the wall to smash the small pieces of rock and sort out the minerals instead. With her stamina recovery that is higher than its usage, Gewalin was able to fill all the minecarts very quickly.

Travelling back is nice and smooth, not even an interruption from the monsters. The agent who has the duty to pay the reward was dumbfounded with the speed of work that was faster than any round; He even called back to the office in the mine to confirm the status before he could pay the reward to both of them.

Gewalin looked at two coins engraved with number five hundred while in her thought. If simply compare to an ordinary food, a thousand coins is not worth much. If she want to really get rich, she has to find a better work. Quests like this is more suitable for those who has low combat skills.

"Do you want a better paid work?" Janeyuu asked when she saw Gewalin's lost in thought while staring at the coins.

"I was thinking about those who came into this game. If it not someone who desired a peaceful life, no one would want to accept a work like this everyday for just a little reward. A thousand coins is enough for just some daily basis; it would take a lot of saving up to be able to buy something decent"

Janeyuu followed the thought and agreed.

"You're right. For example: those miners are even paid less than us, but they didn't have enough courage to face the monsters so they're ended up in a work like this; or they wouldn't be able to live"

Gewalin put the money into her inventory and talked with Janeyuu.

"I thought I'd play this game just to find something different to eat and not get bored to death. Speaking of which, I'd actually ended up like those miners though"

"And now?"

"I was thinking about this for a while. If it was the game ages ago then there would be some stories or events to indirectly command our actions right? But now I think that I don't actually have any clear goal, like doing or not doing something didn't have any clear consequences like that"

Janeyuu shook her head in confusion "I think your words is a bit hard to understand, it's even sounds old. Can you make it easier?"

Gewalin tried to arrange her mind.

"For example: If it was a game we played as a hero who has a mission to defeat a demon king who wished to destroy the world, but we have to gain experiences to be stronger and find some companions to fight alongside, we will have a clear direction where to go and what to do. But when playing this game that we have our freedom to do whatever we like not only limit to masacre those monsters to gain experiences, I feel somewhat hollowed, don't know what to do next"

Janeyuu listened and tried to compute.

"You want to beat a demon king? I didn't play much games, but I knew that the kind of games you said is already out-dated for a long times; There's only games with high complexity nowadays … So you're bored but don't know what to do, huh?"

This time, Gewalin has to compute her own thought.

"You could say that. If I have to either choose to only sit still in a mine and mine it myself, I'd rather choose mine it"

"Umm… Then let's go defeat a demon king" Janeyuu smiled.

"Huh? This game has a demon king? I've been in the city for a long times and I've never heard someone talking about it?" Gewalin widen her eyes in surprise.

"There is, why was it isn't? This game has a race calling themselves demons located in the furthest to the south from human territory, further from Tahlaai Din town over twenty kilometers. Ah! Actually, its official name was Tahlaai Pattabhi town but people likes to call it Tahlaai Din town more"

(TL: Another town name, this is also one of the reason why I did not translate it. The meaning of this town name was "Earth crumbling town" which the word "Tahlaai" could be translated to Destroy, demolition, crumble or something about destroying and both "Din" and "Pattabhi" (Pat-ta-pee for better p.r.o.nounciation) are mean Earth or Ground in thai, which Din is more commonly used than the latter.)

"Are those demons plan to destroy the world?"

"No, Humans are the one who invaded the demon's territory. Game Masters expand the human's territory further to the south and hit the demon's territory. But when they fight, they are completely wreck. So they build a hundred meters tall wall on the border" Janeyuu explained the event that was occurring in the beginning of the game. (TL:Gotta resist…)

"And what are those demons do? Counterattack?" Gewalin asked with full of curiosity.

"Nope, Those demons aren't invade back but they're forming groups to fight the human challengers that are gradually appear instead. They even made a town there at the border to prepare for them. I've heard that some of us even make a business with the demons too"

"There's something like this too?" But when she think back about human's history, this case isn't new for her.

"Actually, human's territory is surrounded by the Grand Wall but I like to call it a freakin' gigantic wall. On the furthest south is demon's territory, the furthest north is long-ear's territory, furthest west is dwarf’s territory and furthest east is ogre's territory. These four races are constantly fighting each other but when humans made their own territory in the middle like a yolk, the war is diminished. I don't know why, too"

"Did us humans wage wars against other races other than demons?"

"I think we'll lose whichever we fight. Demons have many strange powers, Ogres are insanely strong, long-ears are so great with magics and the dwarves; we did not actually met a real one but only their mechanical bots around the border are already enough to make us flee s.h.i.+tless"

Gewalin learned the overview of the situation of human in this game and could made up something.

"I think I know how humans are not yet destroyed"

Janeyuu made a disbelief face "You gotta be kidding"

Gewalin revealed her fangs "It's easy, using a little brain and you'd get the answer! According to the geography, whoever claim the human's territory in the middle will have their borders next to the other three race. It won't be strange if that race was later attacked by three sides"

Janeyuu followed her thought and agreed "You're right. How would I know? I'm apt to used strength more than brain! Well? Are you going to beat the demon king?"

"… Do you think we should make us more fame?" Gewalin got some ideas.

"Make a fame, by beating the demon king?"

Gewalin heard that and narrowed her eyes.

"Aren't you're the one who really want to defeat the demon king, huh?"

"Hey! You got it wrong! I just want to fight them at least once! Demon king, Long-ear Elf queen, Ogre lord and dwarven king, all of them!"

"Ooh… So you want to be the strongest?"

"Heh heh. I didn't mean to beat them, I just want to feel how great it is to be beaten by the strongest of each races! And I will record how long I've survived before I died!" Janeyuu clenched her hands, heavy breathing.

Gewalin laughed and wrap her arm around the other party's neck "You're so ambitious yet so humble huh? So your goal is to fight the strongest of each races and stay alive the longest you could?"

"d.a.m.n right!" Janeyuu answered with full of confident.

"Okay, count me in. What should we start then?"

Janeyuu shook her face with her greatest poker face.

"Dunno"

"What? You have that ambition but you don't know where to start!?"

Janeyuu boringly answered "I said I'm not apt to use brain"

"… Then we should first find some decent equipments, but we have to buy those equipments; they're even expensive, it might take a life to work in the mine to be able to buy them. Do you know any decent jobs?"

Janeyuu lost in thought for a moment "If we need money, There's actually many ways to find them. First method is to get a harder quest which is also better paid, but we have to be around level 60 up to be able to accept them, it must be a level from high level appraisal too; We don't even have the money to pay for fee, there's even a quest failure insurance too"

"And that… that expensive thing, can we sell it?" Asked Gewalin.

Janeyuu hold her bag with serious face.

"What are you talking about? This thing is an important marriage portion from my beloved girlfriend! How could we sell that!"

Gewalin got bored as the other party is still joking around.

"Okay okay, the other way?"

"The other method is to hunt the wilds outside the border. Many things that could find from outside human territory are able to sell in good price; but the monsters there are also strong. If we got a quest from hunter a.s.sociation, we could have an intel how hard it is and what we could encounter there. But if we go by ourselves then we have to take a gamble; we won't even know that the thing we are finding is worth the effort or not"

"Umu… Is there anything else?"

"Other than that is to get our hands on some dirty jobs like robbing or a.s.sa.s.sination. But these quests require some connections from the inside circle before you could get one; Even if you really want to do it, you can't just waltz in and do it"

"Then let's hunt the wilds" Gewalin summarized and decided quickly.

"For real?"

"Do we have choice other than hunting the wilds? According to what you told"

"Hunt the wilds that's it. The nearest border from Gawglai city is further to the north three hundred kilometers, the land of long-ears that most people likes to call them elves"

Gewalin reminded about her axe.

"I think I'll have to find a new weapon, and some potions too. Do we have enough money for that?"

"Hmm… I think we could find some cheap potions. Let's have a look at the weapon shop first, maybe we could find something good mixed in; I used to buy a thing that was ordered by someone but that someone didn't like it in low price there too!"

Casually walking for a half hour and both of them are arrived at an old regular weapon shop of the city. This shop had made a countless amount of weapons for beginners since in the beginning of the game. It was located in the suburbs as the sound of metal being smitten and the smokes from the furnace will disturb the neighbors so there's not many houses around here other than many warehouses that was located nearby.

The front was decorated by a giant two meters long s.h.i.+ning sword statue pinned down to the ground as a symbol of the shop. Half of the shop is made from cherished stones coated by cements. The other half is the open s.p.a.ce but also covered by a wooden roof. The stone furnace has a chimney through the roof. Next to the furnace are many tools for smiting such as trough, anvil and more.

"By the way, the blacksmith here is a bit strange"

Janeyuu said while she's looking for the owner who's nowhere to be found. Because there's not a lot of beginners ordering new weapons the blacksmith has not much works to do. Other than the weapons that has to be made for sale in the shop then there's nothing else to do, the blacksmith missing from the shop is quite normal now.

"What you want?"

Both were called by a harsh middle-aged man voice from the road they just pa.s.sed.

Gewalin turned around and found a man quite shorter than her but his body are filled with muscles like those bodybuilders. He's intensely staring at her mechanical arm with popped eyes.

"Owner, We want a weapon. Do you have something decent? Something good and cheap?"

Janeyuu walked out to talk with the blacksmith who's still staring at Gewalin's mechanical arm like he's trying to see everything though. Suddenly, he grabbed Gewalin's mechanical arm to have a closer look, making her flinched.

"This. Dwarf's work. Where. You found?" His voice is harsh and too speaking in somewhat separated words, made Gewalin frown from such a strange speaking style of him.

"The one gave me said it like that" Gewalin answered and tried to pull her arm back but his strength is too great, she felt like her arm was welded to an iron pole, impossible to move.

Janeyuu patted Gewalin's shoulder "Don't worry. Chief blacksmith is just like this; He can't communicate well, knows no courtesy, but he's a real man who will never take an advantage to anyone. I myself can approve of that"

Having heard that, Gewalin stopped resisting and let him examine her mechanical arm at will. He flipped her arms for a while and said.

"This. Not activated. You. Don't know. How to use?"

He dragged her into the an anvil. Gewalin can't resist his monstrous strength at all. Janeyuu followed from afar with a smile on her face, looks like she has no intention to help her friend from this brute blacksmith at all.

"Is this arm special, chief?" Janeyuu asked the chief blacksmith of the city.

"Don't know. Want to know"

He answered while trying to find his tools in a big tool box, his right hand is still tightly hold Gewalin's arm still.

"Open? Open what? Do you mean to open and look inside?" Gewalin got a little more fear.

The chief turned his face to her with a hexagonal wrench in his left hand.

"Activate. Not. Open it" (TL: The word "Activate" and "Open" here in the original is used by the same word, which is 'เปิด'. So while the blacksmith was talking about activating the device, our MC here got confused in panic and thought he was talking about open her arm up)

After that, he slammed down Gewalin's arm to the anvil and used the wrench in his hand to place on a part that looks like a bolt head, then he rotated it.

He has to used all his strength till his veins are bulging for a sound of grating metal to appear. It appeared that the thing that looks like a big bolt head on the arm is a switch to turn on or off of the mechanical arm. He saw this kind of switch before when he gone searching for minerals at the border near the dwarf's territory, It was the same thing that could be seen on any robot; The only difference is that the switch on the robots is as big a drain hose, while the switch on the mechanical arm is about a ten Baht coin. (TL:Ten Baht coin is about 26mm)

"Click!" The sound of latch was heard and followed by a creaking sound of moving metal gears from the inside. All her mechanical fingers are uncontrollably stretched out. The final joint of the fingers are splitted and revealed s.h.i.+ning metal studs inside. they were stretched a little before they began to rapidly spin for ten second and stopped, then spun backward for another ten seconds, followed by the next joints doing the same until it reached the wrists, and every joints are now returned to its initial state.

Gewalin thought that was all, but she was surprised yet once again as the mechanical arm was covered by glowing lines all over it, then it began to absorb the glowing light that was covering her body. The pulses on the glowing line showing how quickly the energy is moving through. It took about ten minutes for the whole process to be ended. Her body that used to glew now turned back to normal. It was her mechanical arm that has glowing blue and orange lines scattering around like neon lights instead.

"Glowing lines. Similar. Bots. Dwarf. This. Dwarves made" The chief blacksmith said after he thoroughly examined. He glanced at Gewalin for a split second before he tied Gewalin's mechanical arm to the anvil with big chains. Gewalin who didn't have any strength to resist can only shake a bit.

"Wait wait, chief! Isn't this a bit too much?"

Janeyuu began to resent that the other party is doing things out of what she's thinking.

With an incredible speed, the bulky blacksmith dashed and crushed Janeyuu to a stone pillar before she could even unsheathe her sword, He quickly used iron chains to tied her with the pillar while she's still numb from the impact.

Gewalin saw the scene and tried to her strength to lift the anvil up in hope for helping her friend from shock and restlessness, but she could only move the anvil from the base a little. It was the blacksmith who was astonished by Gewalin's strength because the anvil he used to create so many weapons has the weight more than a tonne, not something to be moved easily.

"Healthy. Don't move. Don't want. Force" He said to Gewalin before he vanished into the shop.

Gewalin saw Janeyuu began to have her senses back and ask.

"Yuu! Are you okay?"

Janeyuu shook her head for recalling most of her conscious and tried to untie herself from the iron chain, but with both her hands and arms being tightly tied to her body, She could do nothing but slightly wriggling.

"Other than being tied to the pillar, I'm good. You?"

"I'm okay. Didn't you said that the blacksmith is a good guy?"

Janeyuu looked at her pounded armor from the impact. The other parts are scratched deeper to the metal, Showing how strong that blacksmith is.

"Chief never has a problem with anyone before. I don't know why he was acting like this" She said with full of confusion.

The blacksmith came out of the shop with two things in his hands. There's a silver-grey mineral on his right hand and a big fiery red chameleon with black smokes coming out of its body every times. He placed the mineral on the mechanical arm's hand and placed the chameleon on the arm part.

"Don't move. Arm fire resist. Done fast"

Right after that, he fed a small grape-like fruit into that smoking chameleon. It swallowed the fruit quickly and opened its mouth, breathing fire to the mineral.

At first, the fire is still reddish yellow like you could find from a normal flame, then the force is increased. The flame changed into blue and became transparent in the end. The mineral that was being burn is changing its color little to little from s.h.i.+ning silver to glowing.

Gewalin could felt the increasing temperature and her sweat began to falls. She was wondering how high degree the fire that the chameleon breathing is. The heat radiated in the air is more than she could endure, her sleeve that was next to the mechanical arm had ignited and burned.

The blacksmith saw that so he put out the fire by splas.h.i.+ng the water to it. A portion of water that was splashed to the area that the temperature is higher than a thousand degree celsius is instantly vaporized. It was her luck out of that area, the temperature around is lower so her real arm is still not totally burnt.

The blacksmith took out a bottle which contains some transparent liquid in it and coated it on Gewalin's arm that was next to her mechanical arm before he went back to paid attention to the mineral that was now glowing red in Gewalin's hand.

Gewalin felt that the temperature was lowered right after he coated the liquid which she did not has knowledge of. She was really surprised that the blacksmith could stand right next to that extent of fire without his hair burnt even a single bread.

A part of the anvil and the iron chain are melted for quite a time now. The mineral that was glowing in yellow suddenly has a crack and broken into pieces and fallen down, revealed a dark blue mineral inside.

The blacksmith showed his most excited face before he clicked his tongue to sent a signal for the chameleon to stop. It decrease its fire and the flame is gone. He carefully used iron tongs to hold the mineral.

Gewalin watched the blacksmith and the chameleon vanished into the shop with utmost confusion. But now, she can pull her mechanical arm out from the anvil because the parts of the iron chain are melted. She unsheathed Janeyuu's sword and slash the chain to release her friend from the stone pillar.

Both of them looking at each other with confusions for a while before the door was open with the blacksmith coming out in his travelling outfit. He handed Janeyuu a good quality armor and a new sword.

"Armor. Sword. Good. Use it. Thanks"

He handed Gewalin a leather book. "Forge swords. Forge armors. Long written. Use it. Thanks" After that, he pushed their backs out to the street in front of his shop.

"Close. Close. Close" He said and pulled the two meters sword that everyone thought it was a statue out of the ground to his shoulder and walked away.

Gewalin and Janeyuu's jaws are dropped.

"That thing is a weapon!?" Exclaimed Janeyuu.

"Now I feel really strange. Angry, Confused, Numb and Happy? He's the weirdest person I've ever met" Gewalin said while reading the book's contents "His writing style is the same as his speaking style … It's so difficult to read it"

"But this thing is really good. It's millions worth!" Janeyuu examined the armor the blacksmith gave.

"But I didn't get any weapon…"

Janeyuu glanced at Gewalin "I think you could just use that arm of yours as your weapon. It's very durable isn't it? There's no need to have anything else"

Gewalin lift her mechanical arm and noticed something "Ah, my body isn't glowing anymore and this arm glew instead. I was so shock I didn't notice"

Janeyuu saw the changes "Yeah… Aw… my personal flashlight"

Gewalin knocked Janeyuu's head "I will need new clothes, now they're really messed up"

Both of them headed to the clothes store then continue to drug store and returned to their home to rest for tomorrow's travel.

The travel went smoothly. Both of them casually walk along the stone paved road toward the north. First day of their travel wasn't interrupted by any monsters. The two made a camp under a tree not far away from the road after they had walked for the entire day.

Next to a small bonfire, Gewalin was focusing on the weapon and armor recipes that were written in the blacksmith's book. Janeyuu was carefully sharpening her sword with her whetstone. She was slowly dragging the stone along the edge of her blade in rhythm. The sound of sharpening blade in steady rhythm could make anyone who's listening felt calm and sleepy. Janeyuu used the bonfire light to reflect and confirmed there isn't any chipped traces left, then she coat it with rustproof oil and sheathed it back to the scabbard.

"Your dried fish are delicious, where do you learn how to make these?" She was talking about the grilled dried fish they ate for dinner.

Gewalin in her new clothes answered the question while she's still focusing on the book pages.

"I used to make them when I was still a child. It's nothing much, just sprinkle it with some salt; just measure the right amount and it's good, it can't be kept for a long time if you only put it just a little but it will be very salty if you put it in too much"

"You mean what they teach us at the school? You studied that kind of thing?"

"… you could say that"

Gewalin actually used to regularly made these dried fish in her childhood. Making them in an online game like this is far easier because there's no fly to lay their eggs in the food.

Janeyuu used a stick to play with bonfire and made the coal split, emitting more fire.

"It's strange that you chose to learn those kind of thing in the school. Normally, people thought it was a waste of their times to learn something old like this … Actually, you can made money out of these dried fish, There's no need to hunt the wilds"

"I thought it was interesting so I study it … Hey Yuu, can you tell me how did you play this game?" Gewalin closed the book and talk with Janeyuu.

"It's not really something decent. I played this game because my friends invite me. They said they want to try an adult game, but after a while, they all departed on their way"

Janeyuu answered with a slightly strange tone. Gewalin who's examining the other party is bound to notice this thing.

"Why did they departed? You started together, why won't you stay together?"

Janeyuu had some awkward motion. "Well … They're not really departed, I was abandoned. I had an urgent matters outside the game; When I rejoined, many months had already pa.s.sed. My friends can't wait for me so they gained experiences and went away"

Gewalin now understand that strange feeling.

"Did you not feeling sad that you were abandoned?"

Janeyuu poke the bonfire with straight face.

"Modern days are just like this, everyone is the same" She stopped and looked at Gewalin, trying to smile while hiding her deep sadness expression "But still… I felt a little hurt inside my heart"

"Then why did you still playing this game? If you experienced something like this, didn't you just quit playing to not meet them once again?"

Janeyuu returned to poke the fire again, but with a careless smile on her face.

"I feel fun when I tried to fight. I feel excited when I beat those monsters up. When I was fighting, my head will only think about how to defeat my opponent, nothing nonsense will came up to my mind. When the fight is finished, I felt really refreshed. So I decided to ignore my old friends and find myself happiness instead"

"Give me your hand" Gewalin stretched her hand to Janeyuu.

Janeyuu was a little hesitate, before she place her hand on the other party's left hand.

"Why?"

"I promise I will not abandon you anywhere" Gewalin said while tightly hold her friend’s hand.

Janeyuu instantly felt something she had never experienced. This is the first time in her life that she could feel the warmth radiated from the other's palm. The expression of the eyes that were straightly staring at her made her feel that her value has some meaning to someone. In the society that no one showed their true heart, this is the most valuable thing that could reach their heart the most.

Without her knowing, a drop of tear was fallen.

"Thanks" Janeyuu used her free left hand to wipe her tear. "But if I have to feel something like this many times, my heart would stop so please don't do it frequently"

Gewalin smiled "Just you believe. I didn't usually say something like this. Let's go to sleep so we can continue our journey tomorrow in the morning"

Too bland, that's what Gewalin used to describe the landscape around them for many days pa.s.ses. Other than the scatterly grew trees, gra.s.sland and some rocks; there's nothing interesting about it. Janeyuu explained that most monsters were hunted by players and then they're gone, making this kind of scenery. As long as they're walking on the road, there's a very rare chance that they could met a strong monster.

After a week had been past, both of them was arrived at the northern border of the human's territory.

"Kaew, I think there's something strange"

After they were travelling together for an entire week, Janeyuu gave Gewalin a nickname because she felt distanced if she call her by real name. Both of them argued for a while until they're satisfied with the name Kaew. (TL: "Kaew" means "Gla.s.s" in Thai, which sounds similar to "Gewalin")

"Why? I haven't been here before, so I don't know what's strange"

Janeyuu pulled Gewalin back "I've been here two or three times. I'm sure that we could see a gigantic hundred meters wall and a small town near the entrance from here, but look"

The two that just pa.s.sed a high slope are looking the scenery in front of them. The only thing they can see are a very tall line of pines growing from the end of the left side to the end of the right side.

"If watching from here, is the wall that you said taller than this pine forest?"

Form her point of view, this pine forest is more than three kilometers away from them. She used some simple calculation in her mind and was very sure that these trees are taller than two hundred meters, but she has to confirm it with Janeyuu first.

"Normally, this pine forest is on the outside of the wall. If we watch it from here, we could clearly see it but, it was like the whole wall was gone. That's why I said it was strange"

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of bell from Gewalin's mechanical arm. Both of them looked at each other. Janeyuu immediately unsheathed her sword. After she was beaten up by the blacksmith, she always train herself to be ready in every situation. That's why she could quickly unsheathed her sword in time.

They were suddenly surrounded by figures in black that appeared out of nowhere. Every single of them are entirely covered by black robe, revealing only their eyes and their long ears. On the corner of the robe they're wearing is decorated by beautiful silver leaf shapes flexes. Every single of them has two knives s.h.i.+ning in different colors.

Without a word, all of them immediately attack Gewalin and Janeyuu. Janeyuu has to accept that their speed is faster than her for many levels, because she's struggling just to follow their movement; Don't think about Gewalin who's only see their shadow.

"Be cautious on those magical knives!" Janeyuu warned Gewalin while charged at the nearest enemy's shadow, which is a wrong decision to fight those who have superior speed.

Right after Janeyuu separated from Gewalin, the black figure moved in the position between them, making them completely circled by two groups. With her high quality armor, she could withstand the attacks from their magical knives. Other than traces of ice or burn from the slash, she could still stand on ground, but she couldn't counter even once because of that speed.

In the contrary, Gewalin was struggling for other reason. She's got a lot of cut from the attack, but it looks like the black figures didn't want to kill her on spot so they only just scrath her with no serious slash. Dim glowing red light from the health potion was continuously glew. Every single wound she received will freeze or burn, or the electrocuted sensation followed by paralysis, which are the effects of those magical knives.

Two black figure that were standing still outside of the fight. One of them detached the bow from the back and shoot at Gewalin, who's turning her back at them. An arrow pierced through the back of her thigh, the arrowhead was came out of her skin from the other side. Other than the pain, she was suffering from the poison that was coated on the arrow and violently stimulating the pain.

If it were ordinary players from this era, very few would endure this extent of pain. But when that player is Gewalin, the person of the past who has higher endurance, she used her mechanical arm to break the arrowhead and pull the arrow out without showing any expression of pain.

This is the first time she felt that she was very close to the death. It was different from the panic when she fought the skeletons in the mine, but it was the strong sense of surviving. She decided to charged to the figure in black that shoot the arrow at her, ignoring the knives that made her more wounded.

The black figure with bow pulled the string with the speed that could not be seen in bare eyes. The arrows were shot continuously; Two, three, four, five arrows. There's not a single one that was missed. Whole Gewalin's body was covered by arrows except for her face that was covered by her mechanical arm.

The other figure that was holding a longsword saw that the situation went to an unexpected direction because the target was still charging at them without lowering her speed. He unsheathed his sword, ready to attack. In the same time, the black figure that was holding the bow had distanced himself for his advantage of bow.

A quick movement in the short time and the ability to quickly move for a long time is a different story. Many black figures with knives can't follow Gewalin and was distanced because the instant move can't match Gewalin's stamina.

Gewalin pretend to follow the black figure that used bow and when the black figure that used sword was blocking her way which is what she wanted, she suddenly charged at that figure by the legs and made them fall and then sitting astride on top of his chest. Gewalin's strength that was on par with a professional sport player helped her easily knock her enemy to the ground.

When encounter a tactic that he's never seen before, he was confused and can't react in time. An iron fist was. .h.i.t him two times and sent him unconscious with blood flowing over his head why he's still numb.

The other black figures that was circling them had stopped their action in shock, given Janeyuu a chance to pick something out of her inventory; It was a pitch-black sphere the size of a tennis ball. She slammed and shattered it to the ground, releasing a pitch-black screen of smelly smoke.

Janeyuu hold her breath while swallowed a pill then dashed to Gewalin. When the black figures saw the smoke, they went out of the smoke with high speed in fear, opening the chance for Janeyuu to reach Gewalin and dragged her into the black smoke. The unconscious black figure on the ground was dragged by his fellow out of the black smoke too.

The black smoke was spreaded for more than a square kilometers. Janeyuu held Gewalin that was covered by many arrows and walked through the smoke to the other side with difficulty. The trails of blood are made along the way.

She carefully placed Gewalin against a stone wall. "How are you, Keaw? Are you still okay?"

Gewalin gritted her teeth and answered "Still alright. My HP is already hit number one, why didn't I die? And what was that black smoke?"

Janeyuu hurriedly cut all the arrowheads and pull the arrows out. "Even though you have 1 HP left but if you can still endure the pain and your body is still in the state that you could move, then you won't die. That black smoke is two hundred thousands coin worth poison gas that I was coincidentally got before. If one didn't eat the antidote beforehand, then whoever breath that gas will die in two hours. Here's the medicine, hurry use it; We have to escape as fast as possible"

Gewalin used the liquid medicine, her wounds were slowly healed.

"You have so many wounds so you have to give the medicine some time to heal you. We don't have any better potion though" Janeyuu hurriedly search the escape items. They have only one hour left before the black smoke disappeared and those black figures would chase them for sure.

"Who are those black figures?" Asked Gewalin.

"I don't know. I'm only confident that they're those long-ears. Theses people don't want to hid their symbolic long ears, you can tell it by a glance.

The sound of footsteps appeared made Janeyuu unsheathed her sword once again. Gewalin straggly stand up, and the source of the sound was appeared from the back of a tree.