I Only Want To Kill-Chapter 153: The Horde

Blaze mumbles to himself, "But I am here physically. Does that mean..."

"I don’t know." John shakes his head and douses a flask of alcohol down his throat. He wipes the corner of his mouth clean after, "Maybe you will age. Maybe you will not. Or maybe you will die here. There is only one way to find the answer."

Blaze sternly says, "We need to get that key quickly."

John nods, "But not now. The sunlight is going to disappear soon. You’re going to need to stay around this camp."

"Why is that?" Lucia asks.

John smirks, instead of answering her, he turns to Blaze. "Have you ever wondered why the village is able to survive for so long?"

"It is... weird. Guns and pitchforks should not work that well against the Wretched. And none of them have any power," Blaze says.

"You are about to know soon." John looks up at the sky and carefully examines it. "Time’s up! Go into one of the tents! I’ll see you two tomorrow!"

John lays his back down right where he is. His entire body turns into stone. Moss runs up his hardened body and covers him whole. He looks like an ancient statue that stayed here for so long that he has been forgotten.

"What’s happening?!" Lucia reaches her hand out to touch John. He’s cold and rough, exactly like stones.

The sky changes, and clouds bolt away. A night sky full of stars drops upon Blaze and Lucia. On the ground, surrounding the camp, a circle of incomprehensible runes appears. It has a faint purple glow and creates a special kind of air around the camp.

Lucia jerks up, standing tall and drawing out her pistol. "Time manipulation? Planetary kinetic? What is this?"

Blaze stands up, looking around. He can feel that something is coming. A lot of something.

"It is a trait of this world. This place only has the early morning and the night. Nothing in between." Blaze says. He squints his eyes and looks around the camp.

There is a second magic circle surrounding each of the tents. These circles have a faint green glow that is slowly changing to yellow.

"Those ritual circles," Blaze points toward the tent. "It’s charging up something."

"Do you know these spells, wizard?"

Blaze shakes his head, "Not my specialty."

He only knows Necromancy, Mythomancy and some basic knowledge, nothing more.

Outside the large purple circle that runs around the camp, Wretched Souls burst out from underground. They have all kinds of appearance, humanoid, beast-like, plant-like, and even some grotesque chimera monsters.

Lucia’s expression turns serious. Her eyes fill with the will of battle. Her left hand glows again, and the rapier appears.

"It seems like we’re dying here, wizard."

The Wretched Souls slam on the purple barrier. There are too many. Each slam shakes the entire ground inside the campsite. Lucia stumbles a bit but is able to maintain her balance, while Blaze stays absolutely still thanks to his Tattered Cloak.

"Not necessarily." Blaze runs to one of the tents, examining its magic circle. "I may not know what it does, but all circles have the same runic components. I may learn what it does. Buy me some time."

"You distrust John?" Lucia raises a part of her eyebrows.

"No. But there is a rule in this world, Commander. Never trust anything wholeheartedly."

A smirk appears on Lucia’s face. "Wise words, wizard. Wise words. Do your thing, I will buy you time."

Blaze materializes Irony, the silver revolver, and throws it to Lucia.

"Use this gun! It uses your will as bullets!"

"No need to say more." Lucia holds the gun tightly. She is too familiar with Weapon of Faith. It is the main type of weapon that the Holy Church produces.

And then the purple barrier shatters. The Wretched Souls come flooding in, charging toward. Lucia raises Irony and starts blasting. Her aim is admirable, each bullet goes directly to the center of each Wretched Soul’s skull.

Now Blaze is sure she isn’t Alyson. Alyson has really bad aim, even worse than his. But this redhead knows her way with a gun.

"Azak... Energy-gathering runes... Olis... Conversion formula..." Blaze focuses on analyzing the runes, separating them into individual letters that he can recognize, and then deduces their uses.

A Wretched Soul in a rhino form charges forward. Lucia empties the cylinders, firing all six bullets at its head. The attempt is futile as the rhino effortlessly swirls its head, using its horn to deflect all the bullets.

The rhino is getting dangerously close. Lucia jumps to the side, diverting its attention. The rhino turns sharply, following Lucia. It runs straight at her, aiming its sharp horn at her center mass. Lucia jumps to the side. Her jump isn’t high enough, and she is going to be rammed by the rhino soon.

But then, she smacks the rapier down on its horn, using the rapier as a lever to push her higher and to the side. She gets out of the rhino’s way just in time. The Wretched Rhino slams itself onto the purple barrier behind and becomes dazed due to the strike.

A group of spectral flies over. They are decomposing corpses that are wearing bride dresses. Their skins have been peeling off a large part, revealing skinny bones underneath. Lucia wills the bullets to life and fires Irony again.

The Wretched Brides are quick, they all roll out of the way and then approach Lucia closer. Their skinny hands stretch, and a thin green thread connects between their palms. The threads catch on to Lucia’s waist and lift her up.

The Commander of the 15th Battalion spins with her rapier, cutting all the threads while simultaneously shooting the Wretched Brides. The bullets aren’t enough to kill them for good, but they cause a lot of damage.

The brides scream in pain and retreat, flying far away from Lucia.

"Are you done, wizard? I’m dying here." A huge drop of sweat rolls on Lucia’s face.

"Almost! Hang in there! The circle is still charging!"

"Argh!"

Lucia’s eyes glow blue, and the faint energy on her left palm reaches out, enveloping the rapier.

"God damn this world! Even a simple enhancement is so tiring!" Lucia breathes heavily but hangs on to complete the transformation.

Her rapier eats into the energy, and suddenly, it grows into a giant silver blade.

The Wretched Souls have gotten pretty close. They are only a few dozen meters away from Lucia and Blaze.

Lucia takes a deep, long breath, straining the muscle in her left arm.

And then she swings the giant blade with all her might. A shockwave made out of blue energy shoots out from the blade, creating an energy fang. The fang sends all the nearest Wretched Souls flying, extending the distance between them and the pair.

A successful and devastating strike. But Lucia drops on her knees. Sweat covers her face.

The giant blade disappears instantly. Even its original rapier form cannot be maintained. Lucia holds herself up with two hands, trying not to fall face first to the ground.

The Wretched Souls keep on coming. The strike only slows them down, not stopping them.

There are so many. The Wretched Souls gather like a mini army, marching with great bloodlust and intensity.

Lucia always thinks that this is the way she is going to die. In battle, facing the upcoming troops. But she doesn’t think it will be an unfamiliar army. She wants to die while killing the enemies of the church. Her eyes grow heavy, and her arms grow weak. She is going to faint any second now.

Blaze grabs her from behind, his hand around her waist. He lifts her up like a baby.

"Eek!" Lucia lets out a girly shriek.

"You did a good job, Alyson. It is a pocket dimension circle. It should keep us safe."

Blaze hurriedly carries Lucia into the tent and closes it. The fully charged magic circle turns brighter. A sphere of yellow light covers the tent.

The tent disappears and can no longer be seen. The Wretched Souls run past their location, visibly confused about where the pair is.

John the Soldier is being stomped on by all the Wretched Souls, but he is fine. His stone body stays intact after the horde. When everything calms down, he opens his left eyelid, sneakily looking around.

No Wretched Souls, and a tent is missing.

"Have a fun night, lovebirds!" John mumbles. Even for a soul as old as he is now, he can still see the invisible strand of fate.

These two, their fates are so intertwined that they overcome the limits of space and time. John is curious what their story is. But it seems like even they haven’t realized it yet. Only the future holds the answer.

Inside the tent, Lucia lies on top of Blaze. Her sweat makes the scent of her body extremely... recognizable. It is a mix of rose, steel, and soft, gentle strawberry. Very similar to Alyson. But Alyson does not have any steel on her.

"..."

The awkward silence continues. They are both conscious but also too embarrassed to say anything. The tent is also too narrow to even lie side by side.

"You called me Alyson..."