REAPER SCANS
Surviving as a Broken Hero
[Author – Farlight]
[Proofreader – Harley]
Chapter 111 - Hunt (2)
The little Relic in hand, I rushed back toward Karfana. Still, I didn’t use the same big leap I’d used on my way to the pillar.
The Second System countdown had stopped as well.
‘Is this thing so important?’ I wondered, glancing down briefly at the dimly glowing Relic while dodging around yet another of the innumerable trees in the forest.
Why would it have been ‘The End’ if I hadn’t found the little Relic? It wasn’t like I’d found any demons around the ancient ruin. All I’d really found was the Relic itself, given to me by the strange man within the flashback sequence, and a hint about needing a different source of power.
Again, Eve’s face flashed through my mind.
‘Was it talking about her?’ The old man hadn’t been specific, but I hadn’t seen any other hints of power outside of the two Systems.
I remembered how terrified Alikr had been at the sight of her. The elf could’ve killed us all, but he’d been so shocked by her appearance that he’d taken off in full retreat.
I’d seen her powers for myself. While they were certainly impressive, they hadn’t looked like anything to get particularly worked up about. There were System users who could control fire, after all.
Even though I couldn’t do it to the same degree, I also had limited control over fire with «Heat Manipulation».
Clearly, Alikr was afraid of more than just fire.
‘Maybe the key is finding out what he was so shaken by. Does Eve herself even fully know?’
Sprinting through the undergrowth again and past groups of clueless goblins, I had plenty of time to ponder the meaning of what I’d seen.
Eventually, though, as the sun reached its peak in the sky and started its slow descent over the horizon, I reached Karfana.
Countless demon corpses littered the earth around the walls, and Awakeners went around here and there among the bodies, searching for anything valuable.
Among them, Koise and Bernard stood near the city gates, talking loudly.
“I’ll admit, you only won because of your stupidly big sword. Just swinging it around without even looking earned you kills after you jumped in. Stupid move, by the way.” Chastising Bernard, Koise let a grin creep onto his face.
“You only say it’s stupid because you couldn’t do it yourself. It was crazy of you to think you could even keep up with that peashooter of yours. I was worried there for a bit.” Bernard laughed.
Seeing me approaching the main gates, the two looked over at me.
“Aizen!” Bernard shouted. “Where the hell were you?! You missed out on a ton of free experience! I think everyone here leveled up at least twice, not even counting the System rewards.”
“I was preoccupied with something else. Where’s Eve?” I asked. Clearly, the city had done well enough on its own, which meant I could focus on the Relic first.
“Eve? Last I saw, she mentioned something about making sure the others were okay.”
“The others?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah… Velle and Rhil ran off into the forest before I could stop them,” Koise said, scratching the back of his head. “Knowing Velle, they’ll be fine.”
“You didn’t go after them?” I asked. “You know Rhil can’t use her abilities, right?”
Bernard placed one of his large hands on my shoulder to calm me down. “Look, Aizen, we can’t just go running off after people whenever they take off without warning.”
He gave me a pointed look. “Besides, like Koise said, Velle can take care of herself. Even if something happens, Eve went after them anyway. In the meantime, we have other things to worry about.”
He was right, of course. Perhaps I was only worried because the Second System’s flashback had hinted at Eve being the solution. Or at least, it’d hinted at her abilities being the solution.
The city had held up well under the demon wave, but there was still the matter of the city lord to handle as well as preparing for a trip back to Londo before it was too late. We couldn’t just sit and wait for things to get worse.
At that rate, it’d be too late by the time we acted. Whatever Eve had seen at the Lion Guild, we had to get back to the city and make sure the demons weren’t working with the lord.
On top of all of that, there was the inkling of concern at the back of my mind over why the System had started a monster wave the moment the Second System initiated a quest to find the flashback sequence.
‘I already saw that the Second System itself has a form of intelligence. Or at least, it has a goal, even if that goal is just to combat the System.’
What harm could the System really bring, though? Would it just decide to shut down the moment the demons attacked in earnest, like it did with the strange demon fog?
Left with these questions, I listened to Bernard and Koise argue over which of their demon kills had been the most impressive for a moment.
“If they’re off doing something, let’s at least be productive,” I suggested.
“What do you mean? We just saved the city from a demon horde,” Koise shot back.
“I mean we should deal with the matter of the city lord. It’s not like we need them for that.”
“Right now?” Bernard asked. “You can’t let people celebrate their victory for a bit?”
“These things can’t wait.”
The two looked at each other for a moment, wanting to argue but not finding a good enough reason to delay it.
Finally, Koise shrugged. “Alright. I supposed I should go with you since she’s a member of the Lion Guild, after all.”
He might not have been in the guild anymore, but his words would still carry some weight.
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Author – Farlight]
[Proofreader – Harley]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
Meanwhile a ways away from Karfana…
‘At least they’re going slow,’ Eve thought. She still hadn’t fully recovered from the trip to Londo, and moving so much just aggravated the healing injuries.
After spotting Velle and Rhil’s flashy ice wall as they left Karfana, she’d decided to follow them. There was only one place they could be going, after all—to wherever that other elf, Alikr, was.
‘That was his name, right? Alikr? The emperor said he was an exile, but there must be more to it…’
It was strange that the emperor even knew of the other elf. As the ruler of their race, not even he had a perfect memory. It was rare for one of their kind to be exiled rather than outright executed or imprisoned for their deeds.
‘Just how far are these two going to go, though?’ All she could do was follow behind them, using the lingering trail of their heat to stay a distance away so as not to reveal herself.
It wasn’t necessarily that she didn’t want them to know she was following them so much as she found remaining hidden until the last possible moment tended to be more advantageous than not.
‘It worked back when Koise and Aizen faced off against him, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work again.’
Especially when confronting a fellow elf, showing up from the shadows carried shock value.
‘I wonder if he’ll just try to run again… he was clearly powerful, and now he’s being backed into a corner. What’s the saying humans like to use…? An animal is most dangerous when it’s cornered?’
She would’ve normally had a hard time keeping up, but Rhil, being no better than a normal human with the restrictive collar on, couldn’t go as fast as an Awakener could.
Thanks to that, even at the hurried pace it was somewhat leisurely, and Eve took in the sights of the forest around her—birds pecking on the trees, small rodents running through the underbrush, the occasional sign of a successful hunt.
While they struggled to fight off the ever-encroaching demon threat, the ecosystem of the forest continued unbothered, not knowing that the corruption could eventually spread to take the world, as large as it was.
‘We have to move more quickly.’ The demon attack on Karfana was just a stall for time if ever there was one. What was their true goal? ‘At this rate, the emperor is just going to declare humanity a lost cause.’
She still hadn’t told the others. It would be a betrayal to her emperor to do so, and she wasn’t that far gone. She only lived thanks to him, after all.
The heat waves picked up in intensity, signifying the two ahead of her had stopped, and she heard voices through the trees.
Creeping closer, she peered around a large tree trunk and saw the two had caught up with Alikr. She’d missed the fight—lingering particles of frost hung in the air, and Alikr himself was impaled through his abdomen with an icicle.
“Haa…” the elf let out a pained breath. “You tracked me all the way here? How persistent.” He sat against a boulder, hunched over his injury, blood trailing on the stone where he’d slid from a standing position.
“Unlock this damn thing, and maybe I’ll let you die quickly,” Rhil said, approaching and tugging at her collar.
Velle placed a hand on Rhil’s shoulder and held her back. “He’s still dangerous.”
Sighing in response, Rhil at least didn’t continue her approach. “I hope it hurts, you bastard,” she spat at Alikr.
Eve waited. If things worked out, she wouldn’t even have to make herself known. Besides, fire and ice didn’t tend to work well together.
“Is this it, then? You tracked me down just to unlock that collar? Oh, you made for quite the spectacle in the arena, dear ‘Skybreaker’.”
Rhil clenched her fists in response. “Velle, just kill him. I’m sure he has the key somewhere on his body. Make it painful.”
“No need to worry about that.” Alikr let out a wheezing chuckle. “There’s plenty of pain to go around.” A purple crystal flashed in his hands for a moment, and he swallowed it before anyone could react.
‘Shit,’ Eve thought.
A moment later, more icicles pierced Alikr’s body.
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
