19 Chapter 19 : How does he do that?

Faith thought to herself, "No mana, so it's a skill. Looks defensive but it may enhance, three should be enough. I'll move after he does."

The man sighed as Faith showed no intention of backing down, he took a step forward causing Faith's eyes to widen. Her body vanished leaving behind a faint trace of flame in the air, the man stared blankly at the spot where Faith once stood. That was the last thing he saw before his world went black, his body slumped into Faith's open arms.

She settled him down gently a steady hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat moving away once she confirmed. The few onlookers who saw were stupefied, not able to grasp what took place before their eyes. Kenny moved between Faith and the crowd, his hands covering his cheeks dramatically shouting, "OOOOHHHH NOOOOO!!! He must have used a skill he wasn't ready for to show off his might, to a young girl no less, the hubris!" Turning up his nose after doing so, "Fortunately our lady here caught him before he hurt himself further, would someone help this man? We have to be on our way."

Striding past the now unconscious man Kenny nodded to the few who rushed over, Faith and the rest followed behind walking out of the gates. Once past Kenny flexed his fingers and a faint trace of green wind drifted out, it flew back towards the gate enveloping the man as he was dragged away by the villagers. He awoke with a start, a mixture of embarrassment and anger filled his face.

He looked about, angrily searching for the kids who were now long gone, Jayson walking next to Annie leaned close dropping his voice to a whisper, "How did he do that? I was sure we'd have to deal with everyone at the gate, but he got us away with hardly an explanation."

Annie had a complex look on her face as she responded, " I honestly have no idea, that's how he was when approached me. Next thing I know, I'm on a rooftop meeting the player I couldn't beat. I can only say he's got a way with people."

Annie thought for a moment, looking toward Faith's back, "I wonder, how many strikes did you see?"

"I only saw two, yourself?"

"Same here. After I saw her first step, two fists, that weird light of his broke. Then he was asleep, I really don't know who's scarier between the two."

Jayson didn't respond as he looked to Kenny and Faith, before long they had traveled deep into the forest surrounding the village. Sounds of fighting echoing throughout, as people could be seen fighting monsters of various sizes.

Faith's eyes lit up as they came across a young lady fighting what seemed to be a scaly purple crocodile, it's spiked tail thumped rhythmically on the ground. As it opened it's mouth that was riddled with dagger like teeth, a green fog rolled out that stuck to everything it came in contact with.

Before long the fog had spread and covered her completely, however she didn't show any signs of panic not even when the monster coughed up a tiny spark. That spark ignited the green fog and everything that it touched, turning the green and vibrant forest into a small sea of flames.

Faith, Kenny, Annie, and Jayson watched silently from a short distance away, Kenny's eyes sparkled at the sight, "What is that creature?"

The system responded, " Monster identified : Lesser Dragon

Amidst the flames a blue light shined faintly, standing there unfazed encased in what seemed to be a sapphire. The young lady eyes held a gentle look as though she felt bad for the creature, waving her right hand lazily through the air the space above the Lesser Dragon distorted.

From the distortions came shards of glimmering ice, they seemed ordinary at first sight but they radiated an aura of peacefulness. All of life's creations could find tranquility within , no suffering only stillness before the end. The Lesser Dragon seemed to pay very little if not any attention to them, as though they weren't there.

It's yellow eyes maintained a burning gaze towards the young lady, with a frightening roar that shook the trees and earth surrounding them. It started forward putting on a burst of speed that hardly matched its size, it trampled over anything in its path during its charge.

The floating ice shards sprang to life after the Lesser Dragon moved, like shooting stars they flew across the sky doggedly chasing the Lesser Dragon. As the first shard found its home in the tip of the Lesser Dragon's tail, the monster visibly slowed down as a strange sense of calm washed over it.

It felt nothing amiss as the Lesser Dragon slowed to a stop in front of the young lady, the angry glare it once had was replaced with a look of tranquility. The young lady lowered herself before the creature gingerly petting its head as it breathed its last, as if she confirmed it had died the young lady stood and made her way deeper into the forest.

A tear rolling down her cheek as she left, leaving the still hidden group confused about her actions. Jayson was the first to break the silence, "She kills but doesn't take anything to prove it? That's weird, she's weird."

Faith calmly retorted, " Fix your hair, then judge."

Kenny and Annie giggled silently, Jayson said nothing as his face was bright red.

Feeling something soft against her leg, Faith looked down to see Alan panting silently at her side. He looked up his mouth opening releasing a loud yawn directly in her face, a vein in Faith's forehead throbbed as an iron grip found its home on top of Alan's head.

Alan grunted under the pressure, " If she is just going to leave it, this is a great time to gather resources. Who knows what you could make out of that fresh corpse over there?"

Kenny required no further convincing as he almost pounced on the corpse of the Lesser Dragon, the moment his fingertips touched the body it vanished replaced with the systems voice, "Materials gathered, new items available in the Crafting List."

Kenny's eyes sparkled upon receiving this news, his vision dimmed as Kenny opened the Crafting List in the Menu. Just below the Frost Tipped Spear were several new items, Flame Lance, Inferno Glaive, and Ember Burst Gauntlets. However there was a difference between them, the newer items had white lettering, while the older was grey.

When Kenny focused on the Frost Tipped Spear it wouldn't confirm his thought, pausing for a moment, he refocused on the Inferno Glaive and the menu disappeared. In the next moment a long beam of purple light manifested over Kenny's head, all things bathed in that light felt urge to submit to its will and obey without question.

The light broke away after a moment revealing a long pole arm, a sharp blade that resembled the Lesser Dragons tooth was at the tip surrounded by a box like compartment, the body seemed to be comprised of it's tendons, the end had a glowing yellow sphere a singular black dot in the middle that spun slowly.

As Kenny held it and inspected it further he noticed two odd things about it, the first being that there was a trigger on the body of the glaive. The second, a massive flying beetle humming quietly next to the tip of the glaive. It opened and closed its pincer like jaws excitedly, while Kenny was enthralled with the oddity that was this new weapon Faith was growing impatient.

Soon an iron grip found the top of Kenny's head, as he was lifted off the ground Faith's voice drifted by his ear, "We're going, no more wasting time." Calm and gentle was her voice but carried with it a sense of calamity. As she dragged Kenny away, he looked like a kid who's been lectured.

Annie and Jayson followed quietly holding their laughter.

After a short while of walking they came across a horrific smell one that made their stomachs churn, the air was filled with the acrid scent of burnt blood, mold, and garbage. It hung thickly in the air like a mist making it harder for them to see the path ahead, Jayson felt something soft against his foot and paused looking down to see what he stepped on.

Jayson's eyes widened in shock as there was a severed hand beneath his foot, upon closer inspection there was a light trail of blood that went of the path and lead into the brush beside him. Jayson stared in the direction of the trail for a moment, before following it off the path into the brush. Annie who was walking next to Jayson noticed his strange behavior and signaled the others to stop, noticing the hand along with the trail they followed behind Jayson catching up with him quickly.

Jayson was standing there in the middle of a small clover patch, stiff as a board his face dark. As Faith and the others followed his gaze they all nearly emptied their stomachs, before them were various body parts of both Adventurers and Monster alike mixed in a bloody pile.

This pile however was about the size of a small hill, the ground beneath it was a myriad of colors as both human and monster blood ran down. Faith shivered as a powerful murderous energy appeared abruptly from atop the pile, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. It was dense and heavy like it had been accumulated through years of bloodshed, that alone made it hard for them to breathe.

From the top of the pile came a sinister cackle, " What luck! More pieces for my collection! What shall I take? What shall I take? "