Chapter 6: Otherworldly

{ Both players can walk. Please proceed through the portal that will form in five seconds}

This abrupt message catches Joseph and Aziue off-guard as a bright blue portal materializes in the middle of the room, illuminating their bodies blue. Joseph stares at the portal before standing up from the Wendigo's corpse and walking towards the portal.

While Joseph's footsteps echo out, he glances back at Aziue who is following him, and speaks. 

" There's no telling what otherworldly things are behind this portal so prepare yourself. "

As soon as Joseph finishes his sentence, he swiftly walks into the portal. Space warps around his body as three white flashes flicker in and out until Joseph's body is transported into a dense forest Joseph looks around staring through the trees as Aziue's body appears standing directly behind him. 

Joseph glances back at Aziue before his eyes widen. A concerned look covers Aziue's face as she looks around the forest panicking. Her lips quivered until she spoke to Joseph in a frightened voice.

" W-Why are we here? This forest is from my world. It's the place where the gods lay dormant. We need to leave as quickly as possible. "

Joseph looks at scared Aziue confused until abruptly he lunges at Aziue and pushes her. Aziue's body flies back as she stares at Joseph with dilated eyes before a dagger flies past Aziue's face slicing through the bridge of her nose. The dagger pierces into a nearby tree while Aziue falls back first on the ground. 

Aziue looks to her right before seeing a woman with tan skin and long purple hair. She's wearing a suit similar to the one Joseph is wearing. Joseph and Aziue stare at the woman until she suddenly speaks. 

" What do you think you're doing here? "

Aziue stared at the woman confused until a random message started to ring through her head.

{ Welcome to the Conji's Realm. The test for this phase is to intervene in an upcoming attack on a village. This village is twenty miles north of your current location. Other contestants will soon arrive in this realm, so congratulations you're the first one to arrive in Conji's realm. } 

Aziue glanced over at Joseph who also looked over towards Aziue. He had also heard the message. The woman in front of her wasn't a contestant in the Assassin Straight game, instead just a local of the area. Aziue stared at the woman until Joseph suddenly raised his hand in the air and spoke to the woman in a polite tone of voice. 

" We were ordered here to help prevent an attack on a village just north of here. I believe the village is around twenty miles away."

As soon as the woman heard this, her demeanor quickly changed to happy as she ecstatically spoke to Joseph with a grin on her face. 

" Thank the Lords, it seems our request for aid has finally reached the great deities, but is the aid, only you two? " 

Joseph smirked before shaking his head and answering the question. 

" No, more will be arriving soon, but I can't tell you if they will be friendly. " 

The woman looked at Joseph confused before she nodded her head and walked past him retrieving her dagger from the tree and sliding into a sheath. She waved her hand gesturing for Aziue and Joseph to follow her as she spoke.

" Please let me guide you to the village. "

Joseph followed the woman as Aziue walked behind him with hundreds of thoughts running through her mind... 

Who are these people in this forest? They weren't present in my world at all unless this is from the far past. After all these trees don't have any robotics engraved into them, they are completely organic. My world was polluted by smog forcing us to make artificial trees to keep us alive.

But Joseph was quick on his feet. I'm guessing he brought up the village, due to the system mentioning it. Looks like this system will only bring up important details to help complete our tests but that begs the question. How many tests do we need to complete to finish Assassin Straight?

I guess it will be mentioned to us later by the system. For now, all I can do is focus on the task in front of me. We are meant to protect a village but from what exactly? Is it some type of monster, or something else? I look behind the woman before speaking and asking a question. 

" What are we exactly protecting this village from? "

As soon as I said this, Joseph snapped his head back at me with a bewildered look on his face as sweat poured down his face. He glanced at the woman in front of him before speaking to her. 

" I-I'm sorry, the message that told us to protect this village was foggy and hard to read. " 

I look at Joseph confused until he starts to make hand signs, trying to speak to me through sign language. I stare at his hands confused until he bites his thumb drawing blood. Joseph begins to write a message on his left palm as the woman speaks to me and Joseph.

"It's fine, some type of monster showed up and began to bombard are tiny helpless town. "

As soon as the woman finishes speaking, she looks back forward and keeps on walking until she abruptly starts sniffing in the air with drool running out of her mouth. I stare at the drool dripping down her face perplexed as Joseph holds out his hand revealing the message written on his palm. 

[ She is a monster, look at her lower jaw ]

I glance at her jaw only to see tiny green scales reflecting in the sunlight. How did I not see them when I was face first with her? And how did Joseph see them before I did? Is his sight really that good? I glance away from the scales and watch Joseph rub his hand on his black pants cleaning his palm of the message. 

I assume that Joseph plans on following her to the village, and we are headed north but exactly why would this monster lead us to the village unless she truly thinks we were sent here by a deity and is afraid of offending those gods? Hmm, I guess we'll just wait and see how things happen.

Several minutes pass as we walk behind the monster quietly. Joseph and I periodically glance at each other before looking back forward. If the system was telling the truth, it'd take five to seven hours to reach the village. By then, more players would have shown up. And the monster knows this. I'm sure these thoughts are running through its brain. 

And to help support this idea, its footsteps have gradually become faster over time. It's running out of patience, but their increase in speed could be them trying to tire us out before attacking. Either they are running out of patience or their plan is working. I glance at the back of Joseph's head before he suddenly motions with his thumb for me to move to the right. 

I pivot my lead foot and start to head towards the right while Joseph increases his speed and walks next to the woman. The woman looks over at Joseph confused as he politely grins before his right hand flickers and he grabs onto the dagger. Before the woman could react, Joseph flings the dagger towards me before slamming a powerful kick into the woman's nose. 

The woman's legs wobble as her knees lock and she tumbles towards the ground. The woman is about to collapse onto the floor before suddenly her body morphs, and her head bends backward before she falls onto her hands in a C-like position. Her bones begin to loudly crack while I snag the dagger out of the air. 

Joseph dashes back from the morphing woman before he snaps his head towards me and yells out. 

"It's a skinwalker, a demonic entity that morphs into animals and people. Infuse your lightning into the dagger. We only have one chance at this. "...

"It's a skinwalker, a demonic entity that morphs into animals and people. Infuse your lightning into the dagger. We only have one chance at this. "

I nod my head at Joseph as the dagger begins to glow a bright blue before I fling the dagger at the Skinwalker whose body has morphed into a tall gray monster with several spikes protruding out of its body. The monster snapped his head towards the dagger as it flew over its head grazing its scalp. 

The monster grinned at me before its eyes widened noticing a shadow casting over its body. Before the monster could turn around the dagger was forced into the monster's neck making it roar out in pain as Joseph twisted the dagger. Joseph was standing on the monster's shoulders holding onto the rubber hilt of the dagger. 

Joseph started to repeatedly stab the monster in the neck as sparks flew out wildly until it eventually collapsed onto the ground with black blood pouring out of its wounds. Joseph walked off the monster before in a swift motion he sliced the skinwalker's head cleanly off. 

Joseph looked over at me before smiling and speaking.

" My bad for taking so long. I was trying to figure out if the monster's dagger hilt was made out of rubber or not. I wasn't feeling like getting fried to death. " 

I scoff at him while I pass the monster's corpse, and speak. 

" So we're heading north correct? "

He just nodded his head while we began to walk north...

Six hours quickly pass, as Aziue and Joseph arrive at the edge of the town. The town is made out of a single spikey wooden wall and several log cabins. There were little to no guards in the town. Only a single man wearing chainmail armor stopped Aziue and Joseph right before they entered the town through a large gate. 

The guard looked at the attire of the two before he turned his head confused and asked a question in a raspy voice.

" Where are you two from?"

Aziue glances at Joseph as he quickly answers the guard's question. 

" We're here to help in an upcoming attack. We heard that monsters are soon going to attack a town. "

The guard stares at Joseph, looking him up and down with a serious look on his face before he speaks in a slightly annoyed voice.

" We pleaded to gods for help against this attack and they could only muster up two soldiers. How truly pathetic. "

Joseph's fingers begin to twitch before he coughs and lets out a polite smile before speaking in a nice tone. 

" We are the first ones to arrive. Hundreds of more are soon to appear here in a couple of hours, but can you please lead us to the leader of this town? "

The heavy look on the guard's face shifts as he lets out a grin before answering Joseph's question. 

" There will be more of you that's splendid. Hundreds of monsters will flood these gates in two days, but unfortunately the leader of this town has already fled, abandoning us here. "

Joseph looks at the guard confused as Aziue smacks her lips disgusted by the mayor of this town's actions. Joseph just nods his head at the guard before asking another question. 

"It's unfortunate to hear that, but do you have an Umm, an Inn, or something similar to that? We have walked for hours and are quite tired. "

The guard nodded his head before pointing behind him and speaking.

" The first right leads to an Inn but I thank you for aiding us. And hope you have a wonderful day. "

Joseph and Aziue walk past the guard and enter the town. The town has residents walking through the town with dire looks on their faces. They clearly know about the incoming attack. However, the children inside the town still have bright smiles on their faces while their parents look at them with sad looks. 

Joseph and Aziue walk next to each other until Joseph asks Aziue a question. 

" Hey Aziue, do you think these people are real? "

Aziue looks over at Joseph confused before speaking.

" They are made completely out of organic materials, so I'm about 99% sure they're real and not robots like me. "

Joseph chuckles after hearing Aziue answer to the question, before he speaks again asking the question better. 

" I'm not asking if they're robotic or not. I'm asking if you think the deities watching us put them in this game or were they here before we arrived? "

Aziue began to ponder to herself as she and Joseph turned to the right and walked towards the Inn. Aziue took a few more steps before answering Joseph's question. 

" I think they were put here by the gods. Nothing from my world indicates this event happened, and I never remember learning about this. "

Joseph nodded his head at Aziue's answer before they walked up a set of wooden stairs and entered the Inn through a wooden door. The Inn was dusty and barren with only a receptionist desk and a set of stairs that led up to another story. A blonde woman wearing a white suit could be seen standing at the desk with a bored expression before she was startled by Joseph and Aziue's sudden appearance. 

She looked at Joseph and Aziue before speaking.

" W-Welcome to the Inn. I'm sorry for it being so dusty. We aren't used to many visitors. "

Joseph just smirked at the woman's comment before he leaned on the dusty desk and locked eyes with the woman before speaking. 

"It's fine, but what are you doing in such a dirty place?"

The woman looked at Joseph confused as she glanced over Joseph's burly shoulders and stared at Aziue before Joseph spoke again. 

"You're far too pretty to be in this dusty place. Your beauty illuminates this place like a shiny gem but please tell me why you are here. "

The woman's pale face starts to get flustered as Joseph holds onto her palm as she stares at Aziue who is glaring at Joseph with a disgusted look on her. The woman's voice trembles as she answers Joseph's question.

" W-Well my family is very poor and I work here to get money but you do know the woman behind you is glaring at your back? "

Joseph glanced back at Aziue before he looked back at the blonde woman and spoke.

" We aren't together so it doesn't matter what she says, but it wouldn't matter regardless. You are far more prettier. "

Joseph lets go of the woman's palm as steam blows out the woman's ears before Joseph asks the woman a question.

" Sorry for getting sidetracked, but do you have any open rooms? "

The woman gingerly nods her head with a flushed face as she points to the staircase and speaks. 

" There aren't any residents inside the Inn so feel free to pick any of the rooms. Usually I force you to pay but I think I'll let you get a room for free. "

Joseph grins at the woman as he slowly approaches the staircase. Aziue watches him walk up the stairs while waving obviously to mock her. Aziue lets out a loud sigh as the blonde-haired woman regains her composure and speaks to Aziue.

" It'll cost, 20 coins for a room. "...

After arguing with the woman, Aziue was forced to hand over the dagger she collected from the skinwalker as payment. Aziue walked up the dusty stairs with an annoyed look on her face as she entered a long hallway with three windows. 

Joseph could be seen leaning on a wooden wall with his arms crossed. Joseph looked over at Aziue before grinning as Aziue approached him annoyed. 

"You're pretty good at manipulating. I'll give you that Joseph. "

Aziue said while Joseph covered his mouth grinning through his fingers. Joseph let out a few chuckles before speaking to Aziue. 

" Don't act like we're good people Aziue. We're assassins, after all, but hurry and pick a room. I'm guessing that the test will begin as soon as the other players arrive in this town. "...