Mashiro Hiro - Act 2.02: Arrival at Farlands! Not Quite As Expected!

Hiro's party stared in shock as the hills of Farlands greeted them with a decoration of blood and bodies of both soldiers and Glitches riddled randomly across the grassy hills. The smell of rust and blood poisoned the party's nostrils and heightened their other senses. "Looks like we arrived here just in time for a battle," Luge turned around to face his comrades, "You know what that means..."

"No bread..."

"You guys..." Luge did an internal facepalm, "That means we got to help them... though you're technically not wrong..."

The party rushed up the hill and saw the soldiers getting mowed down by quadrupedal Glitches of all shapes and sizes; their white overalls stained with blood, mostly on their teeth. "Okay... here's the plan! Hiro, you go there and use an AOE spell. Maiko and me will lure them into one spot for you to cast that AOE spell! Got it?"

"Yes... but..." Hiro started reluctantly.

"What?"

"I... don't have enough mana for that now."

"..." Luge placed his palm over his face, "You have the Orb of Benevolence, which is an infinite source of mana. You should have enough mana now."

"Yeah... The thing is..."

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"YOU LEFT THE ORB AT GERECHTIGKEIT!? ARE YOU AN IDIOT!?"

"I am sorry..."

"No amount of 'sorry's will get you out of this. You're the Hero. HE.RO," Luge sighed in disappointment, "Looks like we'll have to change our plans. Basically, we rush in there and do a all-you-can-kill massacre. Understood? Good."

Luge stood up and unsheathed his rapier which blade blinked in the sunlight. "Are you going to do a 'FOR GAIA!' or something?"

"NO! That's weird! Let's just get on to it."

The party rushed into the heat of battle as the soldiers were being picked off one by one. "GAH!" a footman fell to the ground and closed his eyes as he awaited his impending doom... which never came.

He opened his eyes to see a beautiful red-haired woman punching the shit out of every Glitch she spotted. "Don't just sit there! Fucking help me!" the woman scolded him.

Hiro was in another place with a sword he picked up from a dead soldier (he's saving his mana) and slashing the Glitches with all his strength. "Thank you, mom... for bringing me to kendo lessons," Hiro thanked the air as he slashed more of the Glitches.

A Glitch attempted to pounce on him when it was stopped midair by a needle-blade so narrow and bright that it was nearly invisible. "You owe me!" Luge shouted at Hiro as he dealt with eight glitches surrounding him in one split second.

"Seriously, why do they need to summon me if their prince was already this strong?" Hiro contemplated as he slashed another Glitch apart.

Suddenly... "AAAAAH!" a bloodcurdling scream sounded through the air... and it was a...

"...A kid," Hiro immediately turned to Luge, "OI, Luge! Take my share for a while!"

"Huh, why!? Hey! Don't leave me-" Luge was cut short as his sword stopped a Glitch from biting his head off.

"That bastard... He definitely owes me for this..." Luge kicked the Glitch into the air and did a spin-kick, sending some surrounding Glitches in his range flying, before jabbing his rapier just in. time to skewer the airborne Glitch.

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Hiro searched the ruins of the village that was unfortunately too close to the battle. Suddenly, he heard the scream again. "Left!" Hiro dashed to his left as he continued searching.

"Where are you...?" Hiro finally spotted a little girl screaming for help as she ran straight for him with a Glitch chasing her.

The Glitch pounced on her and prepared to bite her. The girl screamed, but she felt no pain. Warm drops fell on her cheeks and she opened her curious eyes. A man with hazel-colored hair gritted his teeth in pain as the Glitch's teeth began piercing through his left armguard. "That. Fucking. HURTS!" Hiro grabbed the Glitch's head with his right hand and began increasing his grip; the Glitch's legs tried to escape.

Hiro shouted in pain as his right hand crushed the Glitch's head; the legs stopped moving and drops of blood dripped in front of them. "Ow..." Hiro's hands throbbed as Hiro managed to force the jaw open, revealing shallow bite marks which he began healing.

"Big Brother..." the little girl's eyes stared at him with worry.

Seeing those guilty eyes, Hiro smiled, ignoring the pain. "It's okay. I just need to heal this up for a while and I'll be okay so don't look at me with that face," Hiro assured the girl.

The girl nodded and smiled. However... that expression quickly changed into an expression of fear; the girl began sweating and she was wide-eyed. "Huh, what's wrong-" Hiro finally noticed the ominous glare behind him.

However, before Hiro could look, he felt his cheeks get smashed by something and smashing into a still-standing part of a cottage. The little girl stood in shock as a tall shadow with sinister-looking eyes finally focused on her. The shadow's right fist began pulling back and the girl was too scared to run... or scream. Suddenly, the shadow flew to the opposite side of where Hiro was thrown to. "That hurt... you bastard..." Hiro panted, only to suddenly stopped his flow of breath when he saw what he just punched.

A tall man with muscles showing faint signs of white veins creeping all over the man's body like parasitic vines. The man's eyes were faded yet Hiro felt a threatening glare of death from those very eyes. "So this is a humanoid Glitch..." Hiro began to flow mana throughout his body, "This will be interesting..."

The wind carrying the scent of blood breezed through the ruins. "Girl... Big Brother wants you to run... as far as you can... as fast as you can. Got it?"

The little girl nodded and Hiro signaled her to leave. Now. "Can you talk?"

The humanoid Glitch suddenly charged at Hiro and he barely managed to dodge it and counterattack. The two stood on opposite sides of where they had been. "Looks like you can't..." Hiro's body suddenly burst with fire, "Sorry... but I guess I have to kill you..."

The Glitch cracked its knuckles and prepared to charge. Tension built up in Hiro's muscles and breath. "Let's see how good these things are..."

======= TO BE CONTINUED =======