"I'm going to go steal some kills."
With those brisk words, I left the rest of them behind, dashing deeper into the forest.
"H-Huh? Didn't you just say all we had to was wait here?" Mei'Er cried, bewildered by my actions. "Hey!"
"Fufu~ I'm coming too~" Nadeshiko giggled and followed behind, completely ignoring my order for them to stay here.
*****
I awaited patiently within some bushes a short distance away from where all the action was happening. Corpses lay littered on the floor, but none of them were anyone I recognized.
"You're going to get revenge on that guy who tried hitting on me~?" She licked her lips and lay down on top of me, mouth mere millimeters away from my ear. "So you do care about me after all… hehe~"
"Oh no, that's not why," I replied calmly. "It's just that he said he would kill me if he came across me, so it wouldn't be right if I didn't do the same in return."
"Mkay then~"
"Actually, why the hell are you here too?" I twisted my head around, meeting her gaze. "Didn't I tell you to just stay back there with the others?"
"Fufu, that's so boring~ I want to be with my Kaze~"
I sighed in exasperation, realizing talking to her logically wasn't going to work. "Fine, fine… just don't interfere."
"Mkay~ but… can I kill the others?" She asked excitedly, eyes lighting up.
… So that's the real reason you came along…
"Uh… just don't accidentally kill Furuwa or Hina-nee if they're there."
Nadeshiko pouted cutely, puffing her cheeks out in dissatisfaction. "Hmph…"
"Alternatively, I can just knock you out right here and now and toss you back."
"Noooo~ I'll listen to you, Kaze~"
She hugged my neck tightly, refusing to get off my body.
"Alright. You ready?"
"I'm always ready~"
I narrowed my eyes as my target's group joined the fight, and used Inspect on them.
Level 29… 28… 28… 29. Sweet.
They were but 'NPCs', natives of this land. They didn't have any respawning ability to protect them. If I killed them here, it was final.
But did I care? No, not really. They asked for it, threatening me.
"3… 2… 1… now!"
'Vanishing Steps.'
I used this art as Nadeshiko jumped off of me and flew into the battlefield. I was made invisible, leaving all the adds to be cleared by Nadeshiko.
Slipping Dokujin out of my boot as I dashed in one swift motion, I stopped right behind the boy who had oh-so-confidently threatened me the day before.
"Hey. Remember me?"
He quickly twisted his head around at the sound of my voice right as my invisibility wore out, and his eyes seized up in fear. But alas, it was too late.
SLASH.
I cut his head clean off, then turned to his three shocked teammates.
"W-Wha… when did he…"
"Alright, listen, you three can go free, since I have nothing against you-"
"Doesn't matter, just kill him for the points! RAGH!"
"… Okay then. Well, you asked for it."
Closing my eyes and holding Dokujin in a reverse grip at chest-level, I used an art that never felt any less satisfying.
'Many Must Fall.'
In an instant, I cut through all three of them, weaving through their bodies and coming out behind them all.
"G-Guh… h-how…"
"Ngh… ugh."
"M-Monster…"
The three slashed bodies fell to the dirt with a thud. I originally didn't want to kill them, but hey, they came at me first. Now, I gained 4 Engrams. How nice.
Though… I doubted they had anything that good.
I turned to Nadeshiko, who had finished massacring her victims as well. I had no doubt other teams were lurking about, but after seeing how ruthlessly and quickly we cleaned up everyone, they were reluctant to jump out. Well… mostly.
"Kaze-kun!"
"Kaze!"
Two familiar voices rang out at the same time, coming from both sides. Before I knew it, Hina-nee had pulled me into a hug, and Furuwa was standing right next to me.
"Oh, thank goodness, you're not hurt…" Hina-nee murmured, inspecting my body all over.
Suddenly, I sensed danger and turned to my right, where a fireball was flying towards us at top speed. Nadeshiko quickly stepped in and began spinning her scythe rapidly, a black and pink energy surrounding it.
The fireball crashed into her weapon, but to my surprise, it bounced right off and was instead deflected back to the caster, who quickly ducked in response. The fireball, however, hit a tree, setting it on fire.
"Ugh… what kind of idiot uses fire magic in a forest?!" Furuwa complained, clenching her fists tightly.
"We're not safe here in the open. Let's go," I said, picking Hina-nee up in a princess carry and dashing away. Nadeshiko and Furuwa followed, with the latter deflecting all the incoming projectiles being shot our way.
*****
Once we returned to our hiding spot, the forest fire was beginning to spread even further. At this rate, it would even reach Zone A, where we were stationed at.
"What's the play here, Kaze?" Monica asked, brows furrowed as she glanced at the rapidly incoming wave of fire. The other teams were trying to put the fire down using Hydromancy hidden arts, but that was only a temporary solution.
Suddenly, however, a large roar silenced everything else, followed by an earth-shaking stomp.
"Ngh-!"
All of us fell to the dirt from the sudden loss of balance and plugged our ears from the thunderous sound, closing our eyes while we were at it too. But when we opened them again… the fire was gone.
And in its place, was a flood, flowing straight towards us.
My eyes widened. "The trees! Hurry!"
I let the girls climb onto my shoulders so they could all jump up onto a tree, while Ming Yi used Koroth.
"Kaze-kun, take my hand!" Hina-nee hurriedly shouted in worry, reaching down so she could try and pull me up.
I quickly jumped, but-
"Ah-!"
The wave of water crashed into me, sending me tumbling downhill amongst the broken logs and debris.
"Kaze!" The girls cried in unison, but there was nothing they could do about it.
"Ugh… Brother Kaze… here…!"
Koroth, who had been washed away with me and was now desperately trying to hold onto a tree trunk, strugglingly reached a hand out for me, but I shook my head.
"You'll just end up falling with me, don't!"
Koroth was hesitant, but quickly placed both hands on the tree trunk once more, holding on for dear life.
I turned my attention back to my front, where the gates to Zone A were. The large doors were shut tight, and the walls were high enough to block the flood. All I had to do, was…
Gritting my teeth and trying my best to keep my eyes open amidst the splashing water, I awaited the perfect moment.
I couldn't use Blink because this flood kept ruining my balance, and I didn't want to waste Transhesive Steps on this. Therefore, only one answer remained.
C'mon… c'mon…
Right before the water — and me, along with it — crashed into the concrete walls of Zone A, I made my move.
'Vanishing Clouds!'
I phased through the solid material right at the perfect moment, sending me tumbling into a front roll, before collapsing onto the granite ground.
"Hah… hah…" I was drenched and exhausted, both physically and mentally, but I had survived.
Elder Zhang… did he spawn such a Beast for the flashpoint event on purpose…? No, it could just be to save the fire, but… what if the person who used fire also did it under his command, so he would have a valid excuse…?
"Ugh…" I shook the water off my face and struggled to my feet, ripping off my armor set. I opened my System and equipped the Corruptor Set instead, after making brand new undergarments with the Crafting system. A fresh set of dry clothes… how nice.
The Deceiver Set I had on just now would clean itself and dry on its own in my inventory overtime, so I didn't need to worry about that.
"Now then…" I turned back to the gates, then narrowed my eyes.
Moving closer, I climbed up using a ladder, and looked out to see what was going on.
The flood had washed me pretty far away, but I could just barely make out the silhouette of a massive turtle of some sort amongst the trees, wrecking the forest and crushing anyone who dared to get close to it.
I then surveyed my own surroundings, and saw that the water had calmed down and was in the process of being soaked into the dirt below. When that would finish, however, was a different story. By the time it finally did, the flashpoint event could very well have already ended.
I didn't want to wait any longer, so I hopped onto the nearest tree and jumped to another from there, like an assassin dashing through a forest.