Chapter 12: First Step

After a while of resting, Jane and the crew finally stood up and started to run again using haste magic.

After hours of running, they finally arrived at the front of Hak Village. The village is covered in fog with dark and gloomy energy. The children stared inside the village from the entrance and grabbed Jane's coat. She then heard Spencer's shocked voice.

"Such evil energy... What is this?"

"It is the power of the bad guy that resides here."

"Are you sure this is just a mere 'power'?"

"What?"

Spencer didn't answer and Jane just frowned. Jane just ignored it and entered the village with the children behind her. They walked in a straight line while looking around.

The people in the village are all in front of their houses and stores while staring at them. Jane didn't care because she already expected this and starts to look around.

She then saw a building with a sign that says [Jail]. She walked toward it and saw a man wearing a guard uniform holding a spear getting in their way.

"Stop right there, state your business."

Jane looked behind the guard and saw several guards coming in their way. Jane frowned.

'They had no plans to let us talk at all.'

She just sighed and whispered to Nash, who is invisible while sitting on her shoulder.

"Tie them all up."

•Got it.

Suddenly, strings of blue mana appeared on Jane's shoulder and start to wrap around the guards. The guards looked shocked and are about to scream but Spencer gagged their mouths with magic.

Nash tied the guards in one place. Jane nodded and then starts to walk into the building. But she then stopped when she heard a woman's scream from behind her. She turned around and saw the woman wearing an apron shouting while pointing at her.

"Aahhh! Intruders! Intruders!"

The whole people in the village picked up their weapons and started to run towards Jane and her crew. She urgently shouted.

"Shield!"

A transparent shield suddenly formed in front of the building. She saw the children creating the shield with their mana and shouted.

"Big Sis hurry! Save her!"

Jane nodded and ran inside the building. She went underground where the prisoners are locked in and ran to the hall full of cells at both sides.

She looked side to side to search for the girl she'll be rescuing but she only saw empty cells. She continued to run until she reached the last cell. She then saw a thin, weak-looking woman laying on the ground.

"Nash, open it."

Screech, Bang!

The cell doors suddenly broke and fell, making a loud noise and waking the woman upon the ground. The woman then weakly turned her head to Jane.

The girl has golden hair and golden eyes making her look like a holy person if it wasn't for her current condition. Jane supported her and analyzed her body condition. Jane frowned.

Her body is full of fresh cuts like she has been whipped for hours and her body is so thin that she could see the woman's bones, she is also wearing ragged clothes that it couldn't even be called clothes anymore.

Jane clicked her tongue and took out a potion in her pocket and gave it to the woman. The woman held the potion while blankly looking at it.

"Drink it, it's a potion."

The woman slowly drank the bottle with shaking hands. She then closed her eyes and her injuries started to heal. Jane nodded and took out a piece of bread that she's been keeping for a while in her pocket and gave it to the woman. The woman's eyes were shaking while looking at Jane. Jane just pushed the bread to the woman's hands.

"Eat it, you're so thin."

The woman then ate the bread at lightning speed. Jane was shocked at first but slowly understood that she must be really hungry. She took out more bread from her pocket and kept passing it to the woman who is eating bread after bread at a frightening speed.

They then slowly walked out of the building but had to stop when a scrawny-looking man stood in their way. Jane could feel the woman's body shaking in anger and finally knows who was the man in front of them.

'He's the evil dude that manipulated the people in the village into executing the woman loved by god. I don't know what beef he has with this woman but he clearly is a bad guy. And it is also mentioned in the novel that he already made a deal with a devil so he is a really bad and insane dude. But, he appeared too early, this is not part of my plan. Damn it.'

Jane looked at the man in front of him and flinched when she noticed the man running at her with great speed. Before the man could even reach Jane, she threw the woman loved by god beside her aside, and then the man finally caught Jane's neck.

"A-ack!"

Jane held the hand that is holding her neck and glared at the man who is smiling creepily at her.

•Jane!

She heard Nash's angry voice in her head and saw hundreds of mana arrows aiming at the man, making the walls inside the building destroyed. The man looked surprised but it is just for a moment and then he started to laugh like a maniac.

"Hahaha! I never expected an interesting visitor to come into my village. Fine, I'll play with you."

The man tightly held my neck and started to fly up into the air, the roof of the building are smashed open as the man and me in his hands collided with the ceiling. After a few seconds, the man holding my neck is now floating on top of the building.

The mana arrows attacked the man and the man barely managed to evade all of it. He then clicked his tongue when he has been hit by a mana arrow on the cheeks.

"Damn it! It hurts!"

'Of course, it'll hurt you dumbass.'

Jane started to kick the man holding her neck with all her might but he just blocked every kick she made.

Jane is now running out of air and her face is now turning purple. She then heard Nash's shout.

"Jane!"

The kids and Spencer on the ground heard Nash's shout and looked up. They then saw the purple-faced Jane while struggling to breathe.

"Big Sis!"

"Big sis Jane!"

The children got distracted and the shield disappeared. The angry villagers took this chance and dashed towards the children. The kids realized the situation and created another shield while looking at Jane with worried eyes.

Spencer casts flight magic on himself and floated towards the man and Jane's direction. He then shot fireballs towards the man. Jane noticed that there are Nash's mana spears mixed with the fireballs.

She then saw the man currently distracted by Nash and Spencer's attack and took out her sword from her pocket.

Shiiiick! Splurt!

"Shit! Aaaah!"

The man screamed when a sword was suddenly stabbed in his stomach. He has no choice but to let go of her neck and grabbed his wounded stomach. Jane removed the sword from the man's stomach and started to fall in the air.

•I'll save you!

Jane felt something soft on her back like she's laying on clouds. Her body started to fall slowly and fell beside the kids. The kids looked at Jane's blue face and their gazes suddenly turned cold. They then looked at the scrawny man floating in the air fighting their brother Spencer and Nash.

Jane saw their cold gazes and suddenly felt nervous. If they fight the scrawny dude up there, the shield that's been protecting them from the angry mob of villagers might be breached if they lose focus and ended up being ambushed, so she tried to say something to make the kids focus back on the shield.

"Kids I'm fine. Focus back on the shield, if you all lose focus again you might get hurt."

Jane thought that there is only one thing that could make the children go back to concentrating.

It's the fear of getting hurt.

If she told them that they'll get hurt they'll go back on concentrating on the shield. Jane smiled with satisfaction for thinking about that herself.

'Well, that's how school bullies do it though. They tell the other kids to bring them money or they'll be beaten up, and with the fear of getting hurt, the weak children just obliged. Works every time.'

However, the children thought about her words and smile differently. They all gritted their teeth while strengthening the shield over and over again. Lily, Jessa, Josh, and Michael strengthened the shield while giving cold glances at the scrawny dude floating up in the air.

'Big sis, even though she is having a hard time. She is still smiling.'

'How dare that beanpole to harm our Big sister?!'

'Big sister is so thoughtful, she still thinks of us even though she is clearly suffering. That guy, whoever that guy is, you'll never gonna get away from this!'

'Who is that guy?! I'll hunt him down later with my mana bow and arrow!'

Jane saw the children focusing back on the shield and nodded. She then looked up in the sky and saw the guy who choked her evading Nash and Spencer's attack like some slimy bug.

'Bastard, I'll choke you a hundred times in return for choking me. Damn, I almost died.'

Jane then slowly stood up while making her sword as support. The children noticed her standing up and nervously shouted.

"Big sis you should still rest!"

"Your face is still blue..!"

"Please sit down!"

"Don't stand up! You're hurt!"

Jane looked at them for a second before turning her gaze inside the building. The children also looked in that direction and saw Jane walking past them and entering the ruined building.

She then returned with a thin blonde girl on her back and walked to them. The children then noticed Jane's intentions. Lily gasps and said her thoughts out loud while looking at Jane carrying an unconscious girl on her back.

"Even though she is hurt, she still has the time to save others."

The children who heard Lily's mumblings beside them clenched their fists while suddenly having a look of determination in their eyes.

Jane didn't notice it and laid the unconscious woman beside the children. She then stood up again and looked at the children who are also looking back at her.

"Protect this woman okay? If she ever woke up, feed her these."

Jane took pieces of bread out from her pocket and placed them beside the unconscious lady. The children nodded their heads with determined expressions. Jane smiled in satisfaction and turned around. She then called out to someone.

"Nash, flight."

•Are you sure? I can handle this alone! So just rest there.

Jane shakes her head and spoke.

"That dude has a weird spot as his weakness. Only I know of it."

•You can just tell me!

"No, it's dangerous."

Nash is silent for a moment before finally answering.

•Fine, but if you get hurt again I'll obliterate this whole village. Promise me.

Jane gulped in nervousness.

'I can't promise I won't get hurt. But I won't die, that's should be fine right? And besides, only I could do it.'

"Yes, I promise"

Nash didn't say anything and just cast flight magic on her. She then jumped into the air and flew up at an incredible speed. She tightened the grip on her sword and flew towards the bastard who choked her. The scrawny dude noticed her and is about to block her but then Spencer attacked his side so he needs to focus on his attack more. Jane smiled from seeing the man being distracted and then shouted.

"You'll regret ignoring me, you bastard!"

Jane flew past the scrawny dude like a meteorite but managed to cut his arm as she flew past him. Jane looked down on the scrawny dude and saw his cut arm flying in the air.

"Ahhhhhhh! My arm! My arm! How dare you!"

Jane flew back towards him and grabbed his neck. The man struggled while glaring at her. Jane looked at him back with cold eyes and talked in a cold voice.

"It's payback, bitch."

She then placed the tip of her sword toward the place where his kidney is supposed to be. The man looked surprised and started to struggle. Jane's grip won't hold for long so she immediately stabbed her sword to the place where his weakness is described to be.

"No! Stop! Aaaah!!!"

Dark smoke suddenly started to flow out from where she stabbed her sword and started to cover both her and the now breathless man she's holding in the neck. She then saw Spencer and the kids shouting at her. She also heard Nash's voice.

•Jane what is going on? What is happening?! Don't worry I'll take you out of here!

She then felt a small grip pulling her clothes out from the smoke but it's already too late because the smoke already grabbed her ankles.

Jane touched the invisible small paws that are holding her coat. She removed her black coat and pushed it to where she believes Nash is supposed to be.

•Jane...?

"It's dangerous, get out."

Before the smoke completely closed around her, she pushed the invisible Nash and her coat out from the range of the smoke as hard as she could. After that, her surroundings became completely black.

In the novel, once Noah pierced through the weakness of the scrawny guy, smoke suddenly surrounded people and disables all magic.

Since Noah is a swordmaster and not a mage, he uses his aura and pierced through the smoke. And after a few seconds, the smoke will explode. It is possible to escape with aura just like how Noah did it. But... Jane is not a swordmaster.

'Damn it, this is the difference between a side character and the main character.'

She then proceeded to the second plan, find a blind spot and create a shield. She held on the metal shield she also bought from the weapon's store and crouched at the back of the now-dead scrawny dude.

She saw light covering the body of the scrawny man and immediately placed the shield in front of her.

The light then started to surrounded her and her vision turned white. She tightly closed her eyes and prepared herself.

'Here it comes!'

BAAAANG!

Jane heard a deafening sound in front of her. It's the scrawny man's body exploding. She tightly shut her eyes and covered her ears but it wasn't enough. Her body also shakes left and right even though she has a shield around her because of the explosion. She is about to lose consciousness when she heard an unfamiliar voice in her head.

•Aaah! How dare you do this to me! You'll never get away from this! Aaaah-!'

The voice is then cut off and she completely loses consciousness.

--------------

Nash stared at the orb made from black smoke which contained Jane and the body of the scrawny dude. He held the black coat that is in his paws and looked at the orb slowly turning white. He then felt someone grabbed him and saw Spencer running away from the orb with him in his arms.

"W-wait! Jane is still in there!"

"If we stay there we'll die! I got a feeling that it might explode!"

"What?!"

Spencer gritted his teeth and lands on the ground. He then ran towards his siblings and passed Nash to Lily who was blankly staring at the black orb.

The villagers who are supposed to attack them suddenly fell one by one so the siblings deactivated their shields. What they saw as soon as they turned around is Jane pushing the invisible Nash from the smoke and is currently locked inside the orb that is slowly turning white.

Lily held the frozen Nash in her hands and saw his brother Spencer forming a large shield to cover them and the unconscious villagers. Jessa walked towards Spencer and tugged his shirt. She then asked a question in a confused voice.

"Why are you forming a shield? Shouldn't you save sister Jane from that thing?"

Spencer frowned while looking distressed.

"...It's too late, that orb will explode."

The children froze and their bodies began to shake. Josh stepped forward while looking like he was about to cry.

"T-that's a lie, right? There's no way that will explode right?"

"Y-yeah, big sis is fine... I bet she is waiting for us to save her."

Michael stepped up and tried to convince himself. Jessa's whole body started to shake.

"Y-yeah... We'll save her, right? Brother?"

Lily didn't say anything and just hugged Nash, who is holding Jane's coat, in her arms. Spencer made a pained expression and choose to ignore the children's words. The children's eyes started to tear up at their brother's action.

BAAAAANG!!!

They then heard a loud explosion and covered their ears. A white light started to envelop the whole area and Spencer strengthened his shield even more.

After a few seconds, they regained their visions and looked up in the air. They then saw the heavily injured Jane falling in the air. The children ran towards Jane and tried to catch her but Nash immediately flies to Jane and caught her falling body with mana. Jane's body slowly started to fall and gently landed on the ground. The children can now clearly saw her condition and gasped.

"Ah!"

"Sister!"

"Uwaaaaahh!"

"Sister no!"

Nash blankly stared at Jane's tattered body with burn marks and clenched the black coat that Jane passed onto him. Then someone suddenly snatched the coat from him and saw Spencer rummaging the black coat's pockets.

He then took out three bottles of potions from the pocket and slowly poured two bottles of potion into her body while one inside her mouth.

The children looked at Jane's body with a hopeful expression. Her body slowly started to heal but still won't wake up. The children tried to shake her body to wake her up but Spencer stopped them.

"Stop, she needs rest. Don't wake her up. She is not fully healed yet."

As soon as he said that, mana started to gently surround Jane's body. It's Nash's magic. The mana started to lift her body. Spencer stood up and saw the villagers slowly waking up. They all gasped when they saw the condition of their village but became more shocked at the sight of Jane's unconscious body. Spencer walked towards one of them and asked.

"Please give our companion a bed."

The villager nodded up and down many times before leading them in front of the inn that is was not completely damaged by the explosion.

Spencer and the children silently entered the building and laid Jane down on the bed inside a room. They then all surrounded the bed with Jane in it and stared at her unconscious face with gloomy expressions. Nash removed his invisibility and sit right next to Jane while looking at her.

Hick!

They then all turned their heads to Lily who was crying. Then as if the floodgates have been released, the Sujin children all started to cry one by one.

Spencer just stared at them for a moment before guiding them out from the room. Spencer looked at Nash and asked.

"Do you want to come?"

"To where?"

"We'll help with the restoration of the village and explain the situation to the villagers."

Nash just shakes his head and then curled up into a ball beside Jane.

"No, I'll stay here."

Spencer nodded and closed the door. Minutes have passed and Nash mumbled to himself.

"If you don't wake up soon, I'll really blow up this whole village. So wake up soon, stupid Jane."