[???? Realm]
"Hmmm..."
A mysterious man, felt something, and he immediately looked at the ethereal space, curiosity flickering in his eyes, his lips curled up, "Does someone... manage to evoke the Dragon Chanting?"
A wide grin appeared in his aged face,
"Very interesting, hehehe...!"
He chuckled, "Maybe... I'll meet you again, once again..."
*********
Zekenia's Household
Kudos was awake for two long days, fearing that closing his eyes will spell death, he also trained his body to use two basic magic spells which he can use in that fight, he also created a First-class mana core using his empowered mana, to avoid wasting time for the meantime.
[Congratulations! You have managed to create a First Class Mana Core!] [+ 2 EXP]
[You learned Mana Bolt and Wind Slash, Congratulations!] [+ 2 EXP]
As time passed by, and his body gradually healed itself— he was able to move his body with slight discomfort. He also noticed the strength of mana that he can use now compared to before.
Although, it's a temporary boost for now. It will be a great help to help those two, and to save himself from dying in this first quest.
Tingggg! Tingggg! TINGGGG!
[You have managed to evade death, a great achievement!] [+2 Endurance]
[You managed to evoke Dragon Chanting and survive, an incredible achievement for Humanity!] [Opening of the Stat: ???] [+2 ???]
Looking at the achievements that he has, it was a well-payoff of his almost-death sentence.
"Seems like suffering that hell... wasn't a bad choice, I guess..."
He chuckled, still weak from the torture that he just had days ago. Now, he can stand and do things... on his own, albeit weakly, including those that he needs right now, eating and regaining his strength for the meantime.
He ordered in closed doors of his room, fearing that the maids would be scared, if they saw him right now in that situation.
"Please cook some... food for me." He commanded, and the maids immediately followed it and rushed all over the kitchen to cook some food for him.
"System..."
As the maids were cooking for him. He looked at his newly stats for the meantime, to examine the new things that he achieved in his days of suffering.
[Kudos von Zekenia]
[STATS:]
[Level 1: 7/10 EXP]
[Strength: 1]
[Mana: 2]
[Dexterity: 2]
[Endurance: 3]
[Mental Strength: 2]
[???: 2]
"What's this...?"
He noticed those two question marks in his stat. It was completely mysterious, and he never saw this stat when he played the Nevestria.
"Shit, there's a lot of things that were not in my game knowledge... Goddamnit."
Although I managed to enter the gate of the last boss before, the God of Darkness, Arkansas zon Nevestria. I was immediately transfered here.
Despite that and the countless playthroughs of thisbgame, trying various things. I can't predict how things happened. From the sudden emergency quest, and this question marks, as if it's deliberately messing with me.
These things make me even question my own game knowledge— if those are even reliable in this goddamn world.
"Damnn... still, I have to focus on the Emergency Quest at hand..."
He realized the discrepancies of the events happening in this world, but he still has to focus on the Emergency Quest, or else, he will die in this world.
He will think of the unknown afterwards.
He looked at the remaining time of his rescue for the Protagonist and his Heroine.
The maids served him his food, and he ate like an orc, starving in various delicacies while staring at the system panel.
[Emergency Quest: Save the Protagonist and Heroine from Assassination.]
[Time Remaining: 2 days, 4 hours, 10 minutes, 23 seconds.]
"But first, I have to visit that place, and prepare something before I go to those two... "
I have to prepare something, due to my in-game knowledge that I respite before, I know where is the village that they live, though that village will be erased from the map, if they were killed.
I also have to prepare myself in this mission, and buy things that I will need to save those two.
***********
Two days later...
Jacques and Eleana were preparing their clothes and things that they will bring in the Academy including the letter that they have received. It will be an acceptance key that will help them enter the Arkansas Imperial Academy.
"I'm really excited about entering that school, do you think so too? Jacques?" She said cheerfully, looking at his man, Jacques.
However, his man continuously stared at the same place, as if noticed something.
She felt that something was extremely wrong, his man, Jacques, was still intently staring at the same place with a strange expression.
Serious, drenched in sweat, and with a huge amount of killing intent.
"Jacques...?" She said again, scared of why his man was like this, in the middle of the day.
Still looking at the hidden presence that he felt, Jacques' voice resounded in her mind, "Eleana, I'll buy you... some time, please hide in our hideout between the oak trees in our village."
He said, in a grave tone, as if the world was going to kill them, in any second, he gritted his teeth, already planning to fight the assassins.
"Huh? I can't understand, Jacques..." She immediately protested, not knowing what was happening in the first place.
"Please, Eleana..." He begged her, as he unsheathed his sword, hanging on his waist. He used his two hands to hold the sword, a sign that he's trained on it, still looking at an unremarkable place.
"Okay..." She said scared, knowing that Jacques was never like this, he always looked for the best of them. She thought of his man, her beloved, Jacques al Sundawn, and said sincerely, "Please be safe, okay?"
"Got it... I'll be safe, don't worry." Jacques answered quickly, with that typical slight smile that he always wears besides her.
After that answer, Eleana immediately ran to the place that Jacques and her knows, the hideout that they created together. It was a safe haven for the two of them, concealed and difficult to find in the village that they live with.
"Awwww, what a lovely couple...hihihihi!"
A woman's voice resounded in the nothingness, after Eleana ran to the hideout. Immediately, a pair of daggers appeared in her hand, the daggers were dripping with dark liquid of some sort, probably poison, that aims to paralyze him or even kill him using toxins.
And also, with the man, almost an invisible one was hanging on the tree beside the woman, looking intently at Jacques.
If someone will stare at the same place Jacques looked, they won't notice anything. The shadow assassin seems to assimilate himself to become the shadow himself.
He will not notice that man, or the place that he's currently in... if not for his own technique.
"Shit... It's a poison dagger, and this man... a shadow assassin, damn..."
Jacques immediately knows that this will be a hard fight, and he will not be fared in this, the assassins seemed prepared, and was ready to kill him, he will not survive this battle unscathed.
However, he resolved himself. He brandished his sword, and readied it for this life-and-death battle of his life. It's either him or them.
"The Sword of Mind and Body..."
His true technique, and the Main-Character defining technique that automatically defends him if he senses extreme killing intent.
For reference, Kudos will cry if he sees this technique, with snot and tears all over his face.
Due to this technique, he noticed the extreme killing intent aimed at him and Eleana beforehand.
Also, it will be a do or die to him, or them.
That's when the fight started, and immediately, sparks of blades sounded, flickered in the silent village of Jacques and Eleana.
SHINGGGG! SINGGGG! SINGGGGG!
The air crackled, not just with the clash of steel, but with an unseen tension, a dance between life and inevitable death. Jacques, his knuckles white around the hilt of his sword, met the woman's first strike head-on.
Her dagger, a blur of dark metal, aimed for his throat, but his blade, guided by instinct honed by The Sword of Mind and Body, deflected it with a sharp clang.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The force vibrated up his arms, a shocking power behind the seemingly delicate weapon.
He knew then that she wasn't just fast, she was brutally strong. As he pushed her back, a chill ran down his spine.
The 'shadow assassin' wasn't making a sound, wasn't visible, yet Jacques felt him. His enhanced senses screamed danger from every angle, an omnipresent threat.
Suddenly, a searing pain blossomed in his side. A shallow cut, thin as a thread, appeared on his flank. He hadn't seen the attack. The shadow assassin had struck.
Jacques gritted his teeth, ignoring the burning sensation that immediately followed the cut, the proof of the poison. He spun, his sword sweeping in a wide arc, forcing the woman to leap back, giving him a precious moment to assess.
The woman chuckled, a cold, mocking sound. "Oh, he's good, isn't he, brother? It took you a moment to even graze him."
A low, guttural growl answered her from the shadows. The invisible man was close. Too close.
Jacques coughed, his breath catching as the poison began its ominous work. His movements, usually fluid, felt a fraction slower.
His vision flickered at the edges. Damn it, already? He couldn't afford to get hit again. He parried another lightning-fast attack from the woman, their blades singing a deadly duet.
SHINNG! CLACK! SHINGG!
He tried to anticipate the shadow. He moved, not just to block, but to force the invisible attacker out. He lunged forward, feinting a strike at the woman, then abruptly pivoted, unleashing a powerful horizontal slash into the empty space where his instincts screamed the shadow assassin lurked.
His blade met nothing but air.
A fatal mistake.
The woman seized the opening. Her dagger plunged, not at his body this time, but at his sword arm. Jacques roared, twisting just enough to take the blow on his forearm guard, but the impact still sent a huge shock up to his shoulder. He felt a sharp pain, his grip momentarily faltering.
"Clever boy," the woman said seductively, "but not clever enough."
Before he could recover, the shadow moved. A flash of dark metal, unseen until it was upon him, aimed for his unprotected leg. Jacques, already weakening, threw his weight back, stumbling.
The blade grazed his thigh, another burning line appearing on his flesh. Two cuts. Two doses of poison.
He fell to one knee, grasping, his body screaming in protest. The world spun. He could hear Eleana's desperate plea in his mind, "Please be safe, okay?"
He wouldn't break that promise. Not yet.
He pushed himself up, his sword now heavy in his hands. His focus slowly narrowed, the faces of the assassins blurred into a single, hateful target. He had one chance. He had to make them reveal themselves fully. He had to bait them.
With a battle roar that echoed through the quiet village, Jacques jumped, not at either assassin, but directly at the oak tree where Eleana was hiding, feigning a desperate, panicked escape.
The assassins exchanged a look. This was it. The boy was breaking up.
"Now, brother!" the woman shouted, her voice laced with bloodlust.
Both figures lunged forward, no longer caring for stealth. The woman, dagger shining with black poison, went for his back, while the shadow assassin, now visible as a tiny, dark-clad man, moved to cut off his path, a short sword cladded with black sticky substance appearing in his hand.
However, just as they was going to catch their target.
"Gotcha, bitches..."
They heard a strange voice, behind one of the tree that they lunged in. It was ominous.
BOOOOOOOOOM!