The slum was larger than Erin had expected. It wasn’t just a part of the town. The slum in itself might have in fact been another town but annexed to Quinteburgh. She passed by buildings that were once likely smithies, tailors, eateries, general goods stores, and the likes. The architecture bore little to no resemblance to Quinteburgh’s aesthetics. Erin was interested in knowing more but she had more pressing matters at hand.

The cart carrying the kidnapped children had a head start but Erin quickly caught up to them. However, she had exhausted a good amount of her Mana just to make sure the cart did not leave her sight as she gave chase. She was further ambushed along the path but those men only had conviction and no strength to carry it out. The four men who ambushed Erin all fell to her sword.

[Experience gained +40% - Level Progression: 65%]

“Humans do give much more experience… neat,” Erin mused. A strange idea sprang to life in her head but she quickly banished that thought away. If she went with that idea, she would be living a life infinitely worse than when she was Argon Raze.

After the four men, there was no longer any ambush lying in wait for her, which raised her dubiety. One particular thing she noticed about her assailants was that they didn’t smell like odor the slum was drowning in. This led her to believe the slavers hadn’t been around the slum for long and this was only their temporary base. Their presence in Quintenburhg was most likely quite recent as well. Erin followed the cart while she cerebrated on the slavers’ routine, until the cart went into an alley between two tall buildings. The two tall buildings were once inns but now, it was just another structure grave like its peers.

Before Erin could enter the alley, a pillar emerged at the entrance and sealed off any direct means of entry into the alley. From a quick whiff, she located the spell caster atop of the right tall building. Just as she was about to launch herself up, the scent of danger tickled her nose. She leaped back and tumbled back gracefully, away from a spear thrust from above followed by a full circle sweep that could have potentially taken her head off.

“Nice reaction. I expected this much,” said Erin’s assailant who was revealed to be a man with a height that triumphed over all men she had met. Though the man’s appearance was horrendous. His hair was no better than a patch of wild grass. He was wearing a ragged vest, a pair of torn trousers, and worn-out sandals. The man was an exemplar of a beggar but the spear in his hand tore away that notion. And his gait told Erin he had proper training and wasn’t just some common folk.

The spearman’s name was Rickard, in his early forties at the level of twenty-two. His skills were Spear Art, Brawler, Body Strengthening, and an innate skill, Blood Rush. Erin felt a tingle in her battle sense when she saw the number seven beside Rickard’s Spear Art; he had level seven Spear Art. And there was Blood Rush, a skill she had never heard of. Upon Appraisal, she learned it was a skill that boosts the caster’s speed at the expense of one’s health. The increment was thrice the amount of Fleet Foot’s and it wasn’t just limited to traversal speed.

“I have to say, you have got to be the most beautiful lady I have ever met. The most expensive of harlots and those noble ladies from the capital can’t even compare.” The spearman licked his lips after finishing his praise.

Erin did not hide her disgust and allowed her grimace to show. She took her stance and brandished her saber. If she wished to pass through here, she would have to defeat this spearman first. Otherwise, she could get stabbed in the back as she advanced. Though even if he wasn’t an obstacle, Erin would have still made sure he was at the very least incapacitated for the rest of his life after that remark.

“What’s this? No magic tricks? I thought Fae likes their Spirit tricks?”

As she eyed the spearman carefully, she did not neglect her surroundings. She was certain at least there were one or two more enemies lying in wait to spring at her at the right moment.

“I see, you’re the silent type.” The spearman chuckled as he too went into his stance. “Since you’re so pretty, how about this; you pretend like you see nothing and I’ll let you go, sounds good?”

Erin responded by throwing an Aura Shot at the spearman with a swing of her saber.

He spun to the side and let the spell graze past the empty air. He chuckled again. “Fine then. If that’s your answer, I shall respond in kind.” Rickard activated Blood Rush and literally flew right at Erin.

Erin did not move until the very last second, right before the tip of the spear carved into her skull. She jumped into the air and flipped over Rickard’s attack. When she was right above him as she flipped, she thrust her sword. Rickard moved away from the attack in the middle of his dash. That sudden change of direction in mid-rush was a surprising trick to Erin but not something she hadn’t seen before.

“You underestimated my Innate Skill, Fae. I’m offended.” The spearman regained his footing and sent out at thrust at Erin who was still in the middle of the air. She cast a Lightning Bolt at the spearman at such a range. As fast as he was, Rickard wasn’t fast enough to defend himself against the lightning-based spell launched at a short range. It struck him square in the chest and sent him tumbling across the ground.

Erin grinned to herself. She resorted to a magic spell instead of her sword skill in a fleeting dire moment. She surprised herself. It was a sign that she was becoming more accustomed to magic, and she was proud of it.

“Damn you!” Rickard shouted as he used his spear to help himself off the ground. “What kind of magic is that? How can you conjure up a spell this quick? This is absurd. What level are you to be this proficient? Just who are you?”

“Just someone who’s making the most out of her second chance,” Erin said and charged right at Rickard.

The spearman retaliated with a hundred thrusts in front of him, but Erin stopped right before she entered the spear’s range. She then used Lightning Rush to make a sharp turn. She flipped to the side and crouched low just as Rickard spun his spear around him. Erin slashed up but with Blood Rush, Rickard was able to move himself away to safety. Erin didn’t let up and continued her assault. She threw feints after feints but Rickard’s Blood Rush allowed him to see through them but not all. He retaliated out of desperation with wild attacks. Instead of receiving his attacks, Erin avoided them and aimed for the vulnerability in the spearman’s stance. Rickard saw her intent but even with Blood Rush, his body could not keep up with the Fox-kin. In fact, he was only able to keep up with her due to his Blood Rush but not for long and certainly not in every aspect.

Erin’s blade grazed his flesh here and there. They weren’t deep wounds but they were accumulating. Sweat trickled down Rickard’s face as he realized he had no chance of winning. His opponent wasn’t just adept in magic but also a refined swordswoman. His mind began drawing blanks on tactics and tricks. The Fox-kin triumphed over him in all aspects. She had looked so frail and overconfident. He thought her to be no different than all the spoilt prodigal fighters he had slain. He was wrong about everything. His opponent was no prodigy; she was something more.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! To think there would be a Fae higher than my level lurking in such a lowly town!” Rickard cried. His blows of his mightiest strength were easily dodged and repelled by Erin. “Are you perhaps double my level?”

“I’m not even level twenty, mind you,” Erin retorted dryly.

“W-what!?” Rickard shouted in disbelief. “Bollocks! How are you this good below level twenty?!” He managed to block a few fatal strikes with Body Strengthening but his Mana was being used up at a rapid pace. His saving grace was that Blood Rush would not let him slow down even if he was closing in on death’s door. It allowed him to fight at his best until his last breath. Even so, his best was not enough against the former Sword Saint.

Rickard eventually fell for a feint due to the toll of Blood Rush. He thrust his spear out but Erin dodged the thrust and trapped his spear under her foot. With Brawler cast on her tails, she snapped his spear into half. Erin was getting good with her tails but she was only at the level she could swing it like a cub but not as a limb.

Rickard threw up his hands and kneel on the ground. “I yield! I yield!” he cried.

Erin cast a cold glare at him. Distaste apparent on her face.

“I’m only in this for gold. I’m not like those slavers who get their kick from tormenting children.”

“If gold is your aim, why not just be an adventurer?”

Rickard scoffed. “It’s too late for that.”

“Same old excuses.”

“Do you know what I have done in order to get to this level? The Guild won’t accept someone like me.”

“But to aid slavery of children, just why?”

“Come back and ask me the same question when you have been starving for months straight with only enough dry seeds and stale bread to keep you walking for the day.”

“So you rather have someone else suffer than to face suffering yourself?”

“I don’t expect a Fae of all people to understand my suffering.”

Before Erin could offer another response, she felt her Sixth Sense throbbed. She looked up and found lances made of rocks flying at them. She threw out Aura Shot consecutively and destroyed every last rock lance that flew at her.

Rickard took this chance and went for Erin with a hidden dagger around the back of his waist. However, Erin had foreseen this since their encounter. The dagger broke at the contact of the Arcane Armor cast right around her left chest.

“Suffer this,” Erin said and grabbed the broken piece of the dagger right off the air and plunged the shard into Rickard’s throat.

[Experience gained +30% - Level Progression: 95%]

Without taking a breather, she scaled the height with the buildings around her as footholds. More and more rock-related spells bombarded assailed her but she cut all those down with either her sword or her spells. When she ran out of buildings to step on, she scaled the height by running vertically along the building. It was difficult and would have been impossible if she didn’t have her tails to prevent her fall. Soon, she reached the roof of the building where the caster was.

The caster was a let down. He was a man with an excessive amount of fat on his body. His commoner attire could barely contain his size. He was level fourteen with only Earth Magic at level six. His Might and Finesse stats were below five but his Arcane was more than thirty.

“Fucking bitch!” the caster bellowed. “You think you’re better than us humans?” He clapped his hands together and a symbol was formed in front of his hands.

Walls instantly erupted around Erin and enclosed her from all sides.

“Take that, Spirit-lover!” He clapped his hands again and this time, pebbles and stones floated into the air, slowly forming a large lance. At his gesture, the lance shot out at the encaged Erin. Before the lance reached its target, an Aura Shot burst through the Earth Magic prison, plowed through the lance, and was now rushing towards the caster.

The caster erected walls of earth in front of him but it was futile, the Aura Shot went right through all of his spells like frail wood. Due to his body condition, the caster could not move but allow the spell to split him into half.

[Experience gained +20% - Level Progression: 115%]

[Erinthea: Lv. 15 increase to Lv. 16]

[Skill points gained + 2]

[Ability points gained +2]

[Level Progression: 15%]

[Proficiency reached - Arcane Edge: Lv. 5 increase to Lv. 6]

Erin had six reserved points in skill and ability. She very much liked to use them but who knew what would happen to the children as she wasted her time deciding the allocation of her points. But just for reassurance, she spent her ability points evenly on Arcane and Finesse.

[Arcane: 22 increase to 25]

[Finesse: 19 increase to 22]

With the caster dead, the pillar blocking the alley’s entrance crumbled into pieces. Although, Erin had already reached the roof. She could simply go around the pillar even if was still standing. She clad her whole body in Arcane Armor and threw herself off the roof. She plunged her sword into the wall as she fell straight down into the alley.

There were guards, presumably of the slavers, standing by the stretch of the alley. They all gasped in horror at Erin’s appearance, mostly from the fact she just came down from the roof through unconventional means and received barely any injuries. In truth, Erin felt sore in her arms but nothing she couldn’t handle.

[Warning: Magic Vigour below 25% threshold]

Erin cursed under her breath but she couldn’t afford to stop now.

The guards were in a dilemma. For Erin to arrive at this point, it could only mean that she had bested their three best fighters. They were vastly inferior to the three, so it went without saying they stood no chance against the Fae in front of them. Not just their skills and abilities, they didn’t have adequate equipment to fight a properly armored soldier, let alone a Fae. They couldn’t exactly abandon their post either. They knew who their master was and how merciless he could be against insubordination. They had no choice but to confront Erin.

With the light pouring into the dark alley, Erin’s shadow was cast over all the guards’ shadows. Erin strode gracefully but menacingly deeper into the alley. She let not a single one of the guards out of her sight. They numbered more than ten but none had the guts to even draw their sword. Some had even begun to sob.

Eventually, the guard standing the closest to Erin dropped his sword and bowed down on the ground. “I yield! I won’t attack you, so please, let me go!!”

Erin ignored the guard’s pathetic pleas and simply walked past him.

Just as relief crossed the cowering guard’s face, his head left his neck as a silver flash streaked across him.

“Oi oi! He surrendered! Why d-did you—!?” one of the guards shouted.

“I can see that he surrendered,” Erin retorted coldly. “But do you think I would let slavers like the lot of you go?”

“We’re not slavers! We’re just guards!”

“When you take up this job, you don’t know who you’re guarding?”

The guards all stuttered for an answer.

“It’s not our fault. These are desperate times! Even mothers have sold their children for a sack of potatoes.”

“I see...” Erin muttered. “So that’s the excuse you all are taking with you to hell?”

“W-wait! Please don’t—!?”

Cries for help and mercy resounded in the alley as Erin showed no mercy to the ones that willingly aided the enslavement of countless children. The guards were strong for the average adventurers but for her, their swords might as well be wooden sticks against her swordsmanship. She didn’t even need to use her Mana to fell every last one of the guards. They couldn’t even run if they chose to as the only out was the direction Erin was striding in from.

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10%]

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 135%]

[Erinthea: Lv. 16 increase to Lv. 17]

[Skill points gained +2]

[Ability points gained +2]

[Level Progression: 35%]

 

Erinthea - Faerie-kin: Three-Tailed Fox-kin

Level: 17 | Status: Mild Exhaustion

Might: 20 | Arcane: 25 | Finesse: 22

Magic Arts
Spirit Magic Lv. 8 | Arcane Edge Lv. 6 | Arcane Armor Lv. 6 | Lightning Magic Lv. 4

Combat Arts
Sword Art Lv. 7 | Fleet Foot Lv. 5 | Brawler Lv. 4

Innate Skills
Appraisal Lv. Ex | Night Vision Lv. Ex | Sixth Sense Lv. Ex | Toxin Resistance Lv. 1 | Lust Deviant Lv. Ex

Unique Talent
Mystic Blade Lv. Ex | Revenant Lv. Ex

 

Level Progression: 35%

Remaining Skill Points: 8

Remaining Ability Points: 2