Chapter 11: Pursuit

     A purple collar took shape out of thin air. It was faintly glowing purple, and small purple electricities emerged from it. Reika saw it and was amazed at the effect of the sub-ability.

     (How cool...)

     Then, after the purple collar materialized completely, it flew right to the dragon's neck. It opened widely, slowly fitting itself onto the neck.

     After a few moments, the collar shut on its own, and the process was complete. Reika noticed that the collar's circumference was bigger compared to the dragon's neck.

    Reika removed the chains that wrapped around the dragon and checked its condition.

    So... How does it feel? 

    The dragon didn't respond to her immediately. It looked around in its body, checking its condition. After a thorough investigation, the dragon looked back at her.

    I... noticed that the weakening process had halted... Although I didn't get any better, the fact that it didn't proceed any further was a miracle!

    Reika sighed in relief.

    (So it can stop the weakening process, huh... My intuition was right all along!)

    The dragon stood up and spread its wide wings. It bowed its head.

    Although bowing in front of an inferior race is a disgrace to ours, showing gratitude towards your benefactor is a must. Thank you, human.

    Reika smiled.

    Don't sweat it! Besides, that's also my apology for killing and weakening your soul to this extent...

    While they were busy in their conversation, Reika felt a slight tremble in her subconscious space. Reika got confused by the space's strange behavior.

     It seems like your body was about to wake up... The dragon said to her.

     Reika looked around.

     What is happening..? What will happen to this strange space afterwards?

     Anything besides your soul will be forcibly taken out, including me. Your soul will gain control over your body once you gain consciousness.

     Reika felt something in her soul. Her soul vibrated softly. In a flash, her entire vision turned dark. 

     Before she knew it, she found herself lying in the forest. She blinked her eyes in order to see clearly.

     She looked around and saw a familiar person talking with several other people, which was also familiar to her.

     "Is she okay?" Silas asked Soru.

     "I don't know. But she seems okay now..."

     Sylva noticed that Reika was looking in their direction. She immediately informed them.

     "Sir Silas, Reika finally woke up!"

     Silas and Soru turned around and saw Reika struggling to stand. Silas immediately rushed to accompany her.

     "Ugh..." 

    "Take it easy, kid. Are you okay now?"

    Reika slowly stood up, with Silas accompanying her. Just as she was about to regain her composure, she heard a loud thud from a distance ahead of them.

    "What is it this time?"

    She immediately activated her ability and searched the area. In her vision, she saw several spiritual bodies running in their direction.

    Damn it... Why do troubles keep coming one after another!? Just give me a break already!

     In the distance, a person panted heavily while running away in the forest. He was wounded heavily, yet he didn't take even the slightest break.

      "Huff! Huff!"

     The person's skin color was dark brown. Its long, brown hair is tied behind its head. It had bulky muscles, indicating that the man had trained his body for years.

     He was accompanied by a woman with a similar skin color to his and a muscular physique. She was also wounded while holding her weapon. They are on the run against the pursuers.

     The woman noticed a streak of light permeating through the deep, dark woods. She immediately turned around to inform the wounded man.

     "Völun, I can see a light in the distance. There must be a clear space ahead!"

     The man named Völun swung his weapon, which is a warhammer, into a tree in order to block the pursuers path and delay them for a short period of time. The tree cracked and immediately crashed to the ground.

     In the distance, Reika, Soru, and others heard a loud thud.

     "What was that!?" Silas exclaimed.

     Soru noticed two figures running in their direction. They were both heavily wounded and were panting heavily.

     Völun and his companion noticed that there were several humans in the clear space in the forest. He became wary of them and immediately halted.

     His companion also noticed them and stopped.

     Humans...? What are they doing here?

     Both of them looked around and noticed that they were already surrounded by their pursuers. Left with no choice, they were forced to gather at the center of the open area.

     Reika, Soru, Silas, and others were also caught up in the battle and slowly walked towards the center. Although they didn't know what was going on, they gathered closer in order to avoid the hostile people that surrounded them.

     "Tell us where that king of yours was hiding!"

     Völun and his companion raised their weapons and pointed at their pursuers.

     "Even if we die here by your hands tonight, none of you shall know the king's whereabouts!" Völun shouted.

     Amongst the crowd of pursuers, one man stood out, tossed his dagger in the air, and caught it. He was smirking while staring at them.

     "Well, well. Even if you won't say anything, I'm sure "that person" would find him sooner or later!"

     Völun twitched his eyes upon hearing one of the pursuer's words.

     "He was a skilled swordsman, you know? With his ability, looking for that king of yours would be easier!"

     Upon hearing the bad news, both of them took a stance in preparation for an upcoming battle.

     "We must deal them with haste in order to assist the king!"

     His companion nodded silently.

     "Aeden, take the front and left side! I'll handle the rest."

     Unable to escape from the heated conflict, Silas, Sylva, and others gathered at the center while being guided by Soru. Reika, who was still weary from her battle with the dragon, followed them and was trying to gain her strength back.

     "Hyaa! HAAAH!"

     "CLANK! Swoosh!"

     A loud clash of weapons and swords can be heard throughout the entire area. The village men crouched on the ground, including Silas and Sylva, in order to avoid the heating battle.

     In the bush, three archers popped out and pointed their arrows at the villagers. Völun's companion, Aeden, noticed the archers and immediately swung her axe towards them.

     "HYAAA!"

     In an instant, all of them got hit by the axe and died immediately. The axe flew back to her, and she grabbed it with her hands. But without her notice, one arrow managed to release from the bow and was rushing towards the target.

     The arrow!

     Aeden swiftly swung her axe again and tried to stop the arrow, but it was already too late due to the difference in speed between the arrow and her axe.

     Damn it!

     The arrow was heading in the direction where Soru was standing. Although he noticed the incoming danger, he didn't move a single inch.

     Aeden noticed the arrow's trajectory and warned Soru to duck.

     "Hey! You-"

     Aeden stopped when she noticed that the arrow just bounced from his body.

     Eh?

     "KUARGGGGH!!"

     All the cloaked men who pursued them groaned in unison. Völun quickly noticed that all of their chests were bleeding heavily, as if they were being attacked by some invisible force.

     Aeden looked around in disbelief as the cloaked men began to drop one after another.

     What is happening...?

     While in the middle of confusion, Aeden noticed that a human boy, which is Soru, was holding the head of a dying cloaked man. The man groaned while blood was coming out of his mouth.

     "Just, what are you people... Koff!!"

     The man passed out and died on the spot. Soru dropped the body on the ground and moved away in order to avoid the blood staining his shoe. The stunned Aeden didn't move, as she couldn't believe the sudden deaths of the cloaked men.

     Völun rushed to the villagers and helped Silas stand up. The rest followed while Sylva helped Reika get up.

     Soru walked towards the confused Aeden. Aeden didn't notice him due to confusion.

     "Why are they pursuing both of you?" 

     Aeden snapped out of it and turned around. She saw Soru standing beside her.

     "They are hired assassins that were sent in order to deal with us."

     Soru looked around in silence. He saw several corpses scattered around the area, covered in blood. All of them suffered the same fate of being pierced by something else, and it was caused by his unknown power.

     In the distance, Reika stepped back slowly with a confused look on her face. 

     Wait, wait, wait, wait!

     Reika looked around. She saw Soru talking to a dark-skinned woman, which is Aeden. She also saw Silas talking to the dark-skinned man named Völun while others were busy inspecting the wounds of the deceased men.

     "Why are all of them talking in Japanese!?"

     Reika heard that the dark-skinned man was talking in Japanese fluently. Although Silas can speak Japanese, the fact that she heard him talking to the man in Japanese made her confused. 

     Not just them... But those villagers could also talk in Japanese! 

     "Heh... Surprised?"

     "Hwuh!?"

     Reika jolted when she heard a strange voice beside her. She immediately noticed a strange, glowing figure floating on her right side.

     "You... Is that you, Veylir?"

     The figure has crimson skin with a slight hint of a woody color. It wasn't translucent at all, yet it was still glowing faintly.

     "But... What happened to your body? And your voice..."

     "Cute, aren't I? I morphed my soul into my younger state so that I could conserve my spiritual energy to the lowest level possible. Along with my voice, I became like this!"

     Reika took a closer inspection with Veylir. She tried to poke its chubby cheeks, but her finger was permeated through its soul body.

     "So, about the situation right now..."

     Veylir suddenly remembered the topic they left before.

     "Ahem! About that... I do have a theory in mind, but it seems that you inherited my ability "Translator" for some reason."

     Reika thought for a second and remembered her third ability, the Subjective Link.

     "I don't know what method you used, but you can only acquire that ability after mastering all languages in this world. And by the looks of it, you're too young to roam around the continent and learn all of it by yourself. So, I assumed that ability came from mine."

     Reika realized that Veylir's theory was right, and the user of Subjective Link can access all the abilities of its subjects.

     Veylir's right. Subjective Link can access the abilities of the subjects I've binded with my ability...

     "That "Translator" ability—how does it work?"

     Veylir closed its eyes for a second. Reika waited while hearing the mutters of the people in the background.

     "Ah!"

     "The word that came out of the mouth of a speaker vibrates through the air, but that word that the speaker used is a language that the user didn't understand or had no knowledge of at all."

     "Thanks to the "Translator", it converts the vibration of the incoming frequency to match the frequency into a language you're most familiar with, and vice versa. With that amazing ability, you don't have to worry when conversing with others whose language is different from yours!"

     Reika looked at them, busy with their own things. A smile appeared on her face.

     With this ability, I don't have to hassle myself by listening to their gibberish language! 

     "How convenient this ability was!"

     While in the middle of their own, separate conversations, they stopped upon hearing a loud explosion in the distance. Aeden suddenly remembered the situation with their king.

     "Oh no... Our king!"

     Aeden looked in Völun's direction. Both of them nodded in silence and quickly rushed towards the source of the explosion. 

     Silas noticed that the direction they're running was the same path they took before while searching for them.

     "That direction... Don't tell me something happened to the village!?"

     All of them quickly rushed back at the village. Upon their arrival, they could see that the wooden walls that surround the village were destroyed. Several houses fell in shambles, and trees were uprooted from the ground.

     They couldn't see any villagers running around the area. They tried to look around, but all they could hear was the explosion and loud tremors.

     "They must be at my house, since it is the largest and safest structure in this village. Sylva and others, come with me!"

     Sylva and the village men nodded and followed Silas in haste. Meanwhile, Reika didn't follow them, but noticed that the dwarves where nowhere to be seen.

     BOOM!!

     Reika heard the explosion in the distance and immediately turned around. Without hesitation, she went at the source of the disturbance.

     She was about to take a step further when Soru confronted her.

     "Where are you going?"

     "I'm going to investigate what's going on ahead."

     Without uttering a single word, Soru followed her quietly.

     Due to the small size of the village, they managed to reach the battle quickly. Finally arriving at the area, a person welcomed them, flying in their direction.

     Both of them immediately moved in order to avoid the impact.

     THUD!!

     As the smoke subsided, they saw Aeden stuck on the wall.

     "Cough! Cough! He's too strong..."

     Reika immediately rushed to help her stand. She grabbed her hand and helped her get onto her feet.

     "Are you okay?" Reika asked.

     Aeden, who was struggling to stand up, reached out her hand while groaning in pain.

     "Y-Yeah..."

     Aeden saw the intense battle in the distance. Two people, Völun and a dark-skinned man, were struggling to fight a single person.

     "I must help them... Ghk..!"

     "Take it easy! You must have suffered some injuries from your fall!" Reika told her.

     Aeden sat on the ground while resting for a little time in order to recuperate. 

     Naturally, two against one was a one-sided battle. But what Reika saw was an overwhelming strength that both surpassed the two who fought desperately against one person.

     "That man that holds a giant sword... who was that?" 

     Aeden heard her and stared at the man with an intense gaze.

     "That man that the king and Völun was fighting... is in the Top 40 of the Swordmaster Rankings, Agnar!"

          Aeden held her axe firmly. Her face turned serious as she uttered his name.

     "I can't believe they hired him to end the king's life! Even with us three alone, we struggled to defeat that abomination... He's a monster!"

     Aeden slowly stood up and took her axe.

     "Now that I've rested a bit, I must assist the king!"

     Aeden swiftly dashed towards the battle and landed a blow on Agnar. But he managed to parry the axe and shove it away.

     Agnar distanced himself. Without giving them a chance to defend, he swung his greatsword and shoved it on the ground. A pulse of energy was unleashed from the sword, knocking Aeden and Völun a great distance away.

     "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

     The loud laugh that echoed throughout the village came from Agnar. 

     "Surrender yourself, Ex-King Alguis! Even if we turn this entire village into a pile of rubble, you have no chance of defeating me!"

     The former Dwarven King, Alguis Fellad, coughed up some blood. His figure shows several signs of injury. His brown, muscular body is covered by the wounds and blood he suffered from the Swordmaster Agnar and the fight before they came to this village. 

     On the other hand, Agnar, who had a muscular figure too, only got some minor injuries. He was wearing a torn black shirt while holding his weapon.

     "You coward! Using this village as a hostage in order to restrict me... Your title as 'Swordmaster' doesn't fit on you! Ptoo!"

     The Dwarven King spat his own blood right in front of Agnar.

     "Ha! Who cares about that title anyway? As long as I get a huge sum of money from my client, none of it matters!"

     Agnar picked up his greatsword and pointed its tip at him.

     "Now, let's swing our weapons to our hearts content and see who will emerge victorious!"

     Alguis tightly gripped his hammeraxe "Götheimmer". He took a stance, preparing for the incoming attack from Agnar.

     Agnar, on the other hand, raised his greatsword, named "Mountain Sword," in the air and exhaled deeply.

     "Aural Energy Conversion!"