Running through the dark forest carrying her friend on her shoulder like a sack while also pulling her other friend to keep pace, was a point at which she already had no doubts that they were done for.
"Come on, Kate…!" She said, gasping for air. Her friend was a mage. Prolonged battle, several days without sleep, swim through the cold as-ice river and marathon cross-country run were not what mages trained for. But not Kate. She was a mage but she trained herself as a warrior. Better than a warrior even. In a fight, she could very well put to the ground any dimwit with a warrior's system even without using magic. With magic, she could fight a Knight and come out on top with a few scratches. Kate was a fighter and proved this several times in these two days.
But this fight was just over their heads. Kate was running on fumes. Samantha was running on fumes herself and she had a warrior system that gave bonuses to endurance, so she could not blame Kate for struggling to go any further. At least she could still run when Samantha pulled her, unlike Lilly.
Lilly was out of commission for a long time now and had to be carried. Not that Lilly was a lot softer than the two others. Just that they all got a lot of injuries while struggling to survive. And healing took a lot of energy, even if she just did the basic healing. Still, it was only thanks to her burning her energy like powder that they were still able to run considering the shit they were in.
"Leave me...Sam." Wheezed out Kate, struggling to her feet after another fall. She was too exhausted to see where she was running anymore and stumbled more than ran now.
"Fuck this! I ain't leavin you! I lost Danny! I'm not losing you!" She screamed, jerking her friend onto her feet with force. "You're going even if I have to carry you too."
Loud wolf howls sounded deep in the forest making the girls jerk their heads back.
"Fuck, they are close! Run. Run." Hurried Samantha.
"Where too, Sam?" Said Kate, wording what Samantha only thought herself but did not dare say aloud. There was nowhere to run anymore. They ran as if hell was on their tail for two days, but there was nowhere they could really run to. They did their best in these two days, however, circumstances were just too much against them.
Circumstances. Could the shit they got themselves in be called that? She did not even understand how they got themselves into this situation. Maybe it was just the usual? The usual thing this world had to prove to her time and time again. That it fucking hated her. Yeah, it must be the whole fucking world was against her from the get-go. Thought Samantha as they kept going.
Fucking world never gave her a moment of an easy life. She struggled from the moment she could remember herself. Living on the streets as a rug rat, with no love, no care of the world. Being beaten and fighting for a single loaf of bread a day. The life of a street child was a constant battle. Against other groups, against adults against the whole fucking world that wanted them dead so much.
After that, struggle in the adventurers guild. A town where street children were running around in such quantity did not need much introduction to tell what kind of shit hole it was. That is what the outpost towns, the ones made on the outskirts of the dungeons, were like. Adventurers, as well as fame seekers, died there by the droves. Many of them leaving their children behind in towns before diving into dungeons only to die there miserably. With no proper foster care and nonexistent orphanages, these kids were forsaken to fend for themselves after their parents' unfortunate deaths inside the dungeons.
Only in some towns like Greenville, where the City lord had his head on the shoulders instead of inside his arse, were these children taken care of and trained into future adventurers and laborers that would help develop the town.
Samantha and Lilly were not lucky to be born in such a town. They struggled their whole life to survive in the city where the city lord had his head so deep in his ass he could not see what was going on on the streets of his own town. Of course, the adventurers' guild branch in such a town was no better than the streets. And the life of girls in such a guild was twice as hard. Yet even then, it all only served to make the two sisters stronger.
Against all odds, they put up a proper team, gained a good reputation, and got out of the deep shit that their lives have been until then. But not for long. Was it the unsatisfied men's jealousy or was it simply the world fucking with them in a more sophisticated way than usual, did not really matter. What mattered is that they were betrayed by the guild they served for years. Given out as pieces of meat on a platter to some trash noble that paid off the guild to have them as his bitches or whatever the hell he wanted them to be when he set up a trap for them. Whatever he wanted he never got it, as it all ended in the most gruesome way for him and his family.
Since then they were on the other side of the law. And by then they had enough of the law and rules of the world built by the fuckers that wanted them dead or under their fat sweaty bodies. Crossing the line by then was more of a right choice than a struggle against conscience. If this world wanted them on their knees, fuck the world. Fucking up the guild as well on the path was just a bonus.
With all their connections they soon found a nice niche market where they could excel. Being sex slave dealers for perverted by their noble life high society ladies was a novel thing no one else would dare to do before them. As it turned out, women were not the only sought-after product of those trash nobles. Funny as it might have been after all the attempts of men to put Samantha and her girls under them, it is the cocks that were even more in deficit than women on the black market.
The problem was that noble ladies, many of which had high-level systems, as it was a prerequisite for all Noble families to level up to a certain degree to not gain the ire of the Royal family struggling to contain the adventurers guild power, had endurance and strength that no normal man could withstand in bed. These bitches needed a good vigorous cock that could withstand the abuse of their insatiable cunts quite well when their dear hubbies that they married for political reasons rather than love, did not commit much to these relationships. In most cases leaving poor women less than unsatisfied with their sex lives. Some of them had it out right none existence ever since the first wedding night or first pregnancy. So cocks were sought after. Good, strong cocks capable of withstanding these poor women's needs were a quality product so to say. And they could only be found from the men with warrior systems that gave good bonuses to body development and strengthening.
In a systems-dependent world, where Gods gifted every child a random system to live by, only a select few were born with systems for being warriors. And among these select few, even fewer fit the criteria of saleable products that a noble lady would want to have. Which were: Handsome and well-endowed.
Where else could such a product be found in enough quantity to have a choice to pick from? The answer was Adventurers' Guild. The home for all lucky enough to have any kind of a warrior system.
Ever since The Guild showed its worth in progressing humanity's development and helping to conquer more territory in a few decades than the nobility did in centuries, it was a force that even Royals had to be respectful to. Fucking with The Guild was no different from suicide. No one would dare to start kidnapping promising adventurers on a regular basis.
However girls were not only high-level adventurers and knew the guild in and out, they were also professionals. Every kidnapping was a well-prepared plan with lots of preparation work. Every kidnapping was done in a well-thought-through way that guild investigators would not be able to trace. And after getting in contact with Dark Society and having a way to get new identities and city passes they were like ghosts, adding only slightly bit to adventurers guild mortality statistics in different towns. Nothing too suspicious for the guild to even learn of their crime's existence.
In Greenville town, their job was well thought through just like usual. They analyzed the situation in town and outside it. Learned of all the useful association's contacts and prepared hideouts. After that, they waited for the perfect timing. All the high-level teams, except the one on the vacation after a hard task, were inside the labyrinth. The walking disaster A-class adventurer Paula was on a mission out of town. They chose an area where the chance of other newbies accidentally stumbling on them would have been almost impossible. It was a perfect job. Yet it all went to hell with some kind of middle-class monster waltzing into a newbie hunting ground out of nowhere. If that was not the divine intervention of whatever God that was so keen on fucking up their lives, then nothing else was.
It all went downhill ever since that day. Well, not everything. However much unpleasant to admit it, it was only thanks to that she met him. Noah. That one man in the whole fucking world that she did not want to stab the moment he gazed at her. That one man that made her feel cared for, safe…even loved. It was only because of that disaster she had the chance to know him. Because of that one-night chance meeting, she could not get angry at whatever God has fucked her up this severely this time. In a sense the wrath that she felt at the world until that day diminished. She hated the guild, the nobles, that fucking monster, the associations that betrayed them now just like everyone else before that, but she did not hate the world as much now. This world let her meet that man. Have that magic night with him.
Ever since then she had time to rethink her life's position and what she wanted. She wanted that. That happiness. Wanted Noah. Maybe not exactly him as there was no chance of meeting him again. But someone just like him. Someone she wanted to be worthy of. Yet could she be worthy of that life with the choices in life she made? In her long travel to their secret safe house, where they could take a rest and recuperate she thought of it a lot. She did not want to continue a life like this anymore. She wanted…if put to words what to describe what she really wanted then the word was - Noah.
Noah. The things he gave her were everything she would have wanted in her life. Love, care, gentleness...normality. That's what his name symbolized for her. A normal life that other people could have so effortlessly. She wanted that. In the last month of constant hiding and running she kept on living off the dreams of what it could have been, had she met that man in other circumstances or if she was not a criminal, if this fucking world was not her enemy. She would give everything to be his woman. To make him the happiest man, to have the normal happy life that countless people had. Have children with him. Grow old together.
Why could she not have it? Why could she not have HIM? Was she being punished by the world? Yeah, as if. Samantha did not believe in Karma. If Karma was a thing, it was not her that was supposed to pay. It was this fucking world that owed her a debt even after all the crimes she has committed. Fuck Karma. This world had no right to judge her after all the shit it threw at her.
Even as they fought these two days she kept on thinking about all these matters more and more. Was it her evaluating her life sensing that it comes to an end and she would have to soon meet the whatever fucktard of a God that made this world? Was it really the end? She was resisting to think so. She was not ready to go yet. Not after she finally found a worthy goal in her life. Not after she gave a promise to one day meet that man and try out at life anew. Try and see if he would accept her. If she could have a chance at normality.
"Fuck this!" Roared Samantha with anger. "Cover my back." She said putting Lilly on the ground, pulling Kate behind her, and pulling out her sword to meet the fuckers that were after them. They thought they would get her easily after thoroughly exhausting her? Well, fuck it. She was not going down without a fight.
"A few punches is all I can." Wheezed Kate.
"Sam. Leave us." Slurred Lilly laying on the ground still dizzy from mana exhaustion. "If it's you, you can get away on your own. We are holding you back."
"A few punches is all that needs, Kate. Just make them worth it." Said Samantha, ignoring her sister's words. "If this is the end, we take as many of them with us as we can. Let them fucking regret they messed with us."
Kate did not answer, only nodding slightly. Make them regret it? Could they really do it, considering the enemy they were facing? When they were well rested and full of strength, no doubt. But in this state, after an ambush of several teams of dark society hitmen and then this fucked up group coming out of nowhere and chasing them like devils for two days with not a moment of rest given to them? It was useless.
After a few moments loud rustle of bushes and broken twigs announce their pursuer's arrival. Out of the forest, a group of people in adventurers-like get-ups came out with leisurely gait, surrounding the three women.
Although they posed as adventurers at first glance there were a few distinctions that made them stand out as non-adventurers as well. The similarity of their get-ups, akin to a uniform, that a usual adventurer team, consisting of people prioritizing efficiency would not have. The uniform-like similarity of armors spoke of them being a team under someone's command. It marked them as belonging to the noble house. Leashed Dogs as the guild used to call them. Some adventurers tended to abandon their risky adventurers' jobs, choosing a sweet spot under noble houses' wings and being at the beck and call of these nobles as an obedient dogs.
Choosing a leash and a full bowl rather than a life of constant fighting may sound good, however, in many cases this also meant performing dirty deeds for these nobles. So many leashed dogs were not just ex-adventurers, they were criminals with a record. And murder was no rare crime in that record. However, in many cases, Leashed Dogs wore insignias that marked them as particular house's servants. Nobles loved to mark everything they owned, including humans. This group, however, had no distinctive markings on their 'uniform' armor.
Samantha knew quite well what this meant. They were a hit squad of a noble house. The ones who would not be traced back to the house if their body were to be found. No one would admit to being their master. They were also usually the most vicious bastard any house had under them. And these ones looked particularly craziest among the ones she was unlucky to ever meet. Not because Samantha struggled against them in the fight before. No. Had she not been injured in an ambush at that time she would have made an easy job of them. What distinguished them as the craziest type was that they stood in the company of three monsters as if they were fucking buddies.
The reason Samantha's team struggled so much to get away from this group was not because of the human's capability in tracing them, but because they had a fucking Werewolf with them to trace them.
The reason they were pushed back in a fight was not that these guys were top shit, but because they had two Tariaksuq bastards that supported them.
In her whole life, Samantha was in this kind of situation for the first time. She fought against Werewolves and Tariaksuqs in her adventuring years when she dove into the Labyrinths and even these three fellows were not the strongest she met. On the contrary, they felt like one of the weakest bunch. But it is their synergy with each other and humans that put her at disadvantage. They fought well together. This was not a bunch put hastily together. They were a well-trained team.
Are monsters and humans trained together? What the hell? Since when was this a thing? She thought as she gazed at the three figures that confused her so much. One of them, a wolf-like creature standing on two legs a few heads above any human around it, covered in fur and long tongue lolling out of its opened maw as if in a wicked grin. Two others were similar in appearance, bipedal monsters standing a few heads above any human with their back a bit hunched, with the only difference being it was a moose with a huge antlers head on their huge muscular monster body instead of a wolf mug.
Werewolves were pure close-contact fighter types of monsters, assisted by their fur that gave them good magic resistance to get close to an enemy even under heavy magic assault. Their high speed and regenerative ability that was second only to Trolls that were almost unbeatable until fully exhausted of all their body nutrients stock from constant regeneration, made werewolves a very dangerous bunch to deal with as given time they could recover from almost anything, safe for decapitation and even that had to be done in a clean cut as they could run off and recover if you did not finish the job in one go.
Tariaksuqs were not good close-combat fighters, however, their magic was to be reckoned with. It was deemed that their antlers served similarly to magic staffs that humans used to absorb and concentrate magic from surroundings. The bigger the antlers, the stronger the monster would be. These two guys in front of her were not the strongest she faced even when she was still a C-rank adventurer and had antlers on the smaller side of their race. What usually made these monsters a hard bunch to deal with was their shimmering mantle-like camouflage that made them almost transparent when they hid behind it and did not move too much. This mantle was purely magical and was one of the distinctive features of this type of monster. The bastards were good users of both frost and wind magic and could deal damage on both long and middle ranges. But it is their support magic that dealt in obscurity and illusions that was the worst to deal with.
These two types of monsters that you would never meet together anywhere in nature or dungeons, now as a team were as if born to complement each other already. With humans on board, it was a hell team and Samantha could not figure out how it was possible for them to fight together.
It did not look like they were just tamed monsters either. From the looks of it, these three monsters were as sentient as any human man in that team. How the hell was that possible? Monsters were crazy mindless bastards. That was the first thing you learned as an adventure. Only with the higher level, they may have been more cunning compared to mindless beasts. These ones however were not the same case. She never heard of such a level of sentience in any monster, not to mention in particularly mediocre in strength monsters as these three. Besides she never saw any monster fight with martial arts and strategy like they did, be they tamed or not. This was something off her charts of familiarity with these monsters. Something she was not ready to fend off in the state she was left in after an ambush of the dark society people.
Separately, yes. She and her girls would have dealt with them long ago. But together, in the team of humans and two different monster types working together? Well, their current state told a lot of their struggle so far.
Samantha and her team were over their heads here.
This group proved to be a worthy opponent in the previous bout and now they proved that running was not an option either as they had a damn Werewolf to follow them and without Danny that these bastards took out first, they had no way to cover traces. Ranger's skills were indispensable in getting away. Without Danny, they were just a bunch of silly girls running with no chance of getting away from an experienced tracker like a werewolf.
"Come on you fuckers! I will put down at least a few of you before going down." She roared at them, but they felt no particular fear. Some of them even haughtily smirked at her.
/That's it bastards, underestimate me. This will be your last mistake./ She thought gazing at their amused faces.
"Don't underestimate them. Until they are down the fight is not over. Don't forget our target." Said a rough voice coming from the Werewolf maw.
"A fucking werewolf is their team leader, can you believe that?" Said Kate in a weak voice. "The fuck is this? Some circus? Speaking dogs. That's a new one."
"Sounds logical to me though. A bunch of leashed dogs has to be dominated by a bigger dog, right?" Answered Samantha.
The faces of humans in the group changed from smirks into anger after hearing their words, which they especially said loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Bitches, we will see how you speak when you are being dominated by a few of us later." Said one of the men.
"Look, that mutt can speak too. I thought monsters were the smartest of these bunch." Said Samantha.
"Maybe it's a doe of that moos-like monster? It just looks human with no antlers." Said Kate.
"Quite a small to be that monster's bitch. A little bitch she must be." Said Samantha as if talking to Kate but saying it loud for that guy to hear every word.
"Fuck. Let's end this!" Roared the guy and they all jumped forward at the girls.
In their last fight werewolf took a support stance hitting them here and there from behind, holding back in case they managed to escape and his tracing skills were needed. Even then they managed to drag him into close combat and kick his ass enough for him to need recuperation for a long time. That cost them a hefty price as well, however, as they lost Danny.
In the end, it only bought them a few days. This time this bastard did not feel the need to be in the support role, obviously feeling they were running on fumes and had no chance of escaping. He was right of course. But still, when Samantha thought about how to hit them the most painfully while going down, she was out of ideas on how to make that fucker get close to her. Yet here he was, serving himself on a platter. Now she had to make him pay the price for messing with her. Whatever the reason they were pursuing them for, they would regret it.
The werewolf was the first one to reach them with his dagger-like claws swinging at her, with a few humans rushing at her from the side. His speed was definitely faster than any normal warrior, but not something Samantha could not overcome in her healthy state. Even being utterly exhausted she could match him, fending and parrying his swings without him putting a scratch on her.
Two other humans dashing at them from Samantha's back were met by Kate. One of them had his swing parried to the side with Kate's magic shield, while the other dodged her point-blank fire arrow shot jumping to the side in the nick of time.
These people thought they would take them in a typical pack bite and jump away tactics, making them fend for themselves until they collapsed. But they were very wrong in recognizing Samantha's and Kate's intentions. They were not standing back-to-back to fend them off. They already decided to go down with a bang.
Just as the guy that Kate parried recovered swinging at her again, she hit him with a shield pushing him back but the second guy that jumped away from an arrow was already rushing at her. Surprisingly instead of fending him off, she ignored him, suddenly turning around and shooting a fireball at her friend's back.
Samantha that was successfully fending off the monster a few heads higher than her, turned her body at the last moment letting a flaming hot ball of fire pass through the position she was in just a moment ago, scorching the side of her face.
Instead of her, the ball of fire was met by the werewolf that reflexively stretched his clawed paw forward to not let it hit his maw. The hot blaze exploded in front of him covering his hand but with its magic resistance, it only dealt minor damage that he would recover from in a few moments. Damaging him with a fireball was not, however, Kate's intention.
As the ball exploded she watched with a smirk as her friend pumped her last strength into the skill turning her dodging move into a lightning-fast slash.
'Axel' activated her skill Samantha, which was out of werewolves' scope of view for a split second. While his view was obscured by the flame she rotated her body with such an unnatural speed that no amount of training would allow achieving. The moment he saw her blade slashing through the flame from the side, partitioning it as if it was made of tangible matter, was already too late for him to dodge. He tried to evade but the blade followed him faster than he could move, always staying on the path to slice off his head.
In the middle of her deadly swing, Samantha noticed Kate's scream behind her. When she was turning she noticed that the man attacking her friend, struck with the back of his blade as if deciding to knock her down instead of outright killing her. She registered how strange that seemed in the back of her mind, but had no time to dwell on it as everything happened in a split second. Next, she saw two guys that rushed at her from the side. There was no way she would be able to dodge them now that she poured the last of her strength into that skill. Neither did she intended to. It was the end. But it was a good end. She was taking the canine motherfucker with her.
Strangely she was not scared. She felt regret. Not for the crimes, she committed not for the life she led, not for dying in such an unsightly manner. She felt regret at not being able to fulfill her promise to that boy or more like a man now as she took his virginity. They promised to gift each other another night if fate would allow them to meet again. However now she would not be able to fulfill it.
"I am sorry, Noah." She said in her head as her sword neared the neck of the frightened werewolf. Even in his beast form, she could read that emotion well. The bastard was afraid and she was content to see that terrified expression as the last thing in this world.
However, when her sword passed its neck she noticed a shimmer-like distortion of the werewolf's figure. The neck that she was aiming for turned up to be slightly off from the course of her blade when the illusion of the Tariaksuq shattered from her blade. What she really managed to slice into was the werewolf's shoulder that he lifted while bending away from her blade. She was so close. But too far from decapitating him as she planned.
Werewolf in his realization that he was saved in the nick of time with his right hand shoulder being sliced through instead of his neck, barely managed to save his ear from being cut off when her blade exited from his collarbone. With its expression quickly changing from fright to fury as it swung his only working now left hand at her blade with its claws, kicking the sword out of her hands and sending it flying over their heads. With his right hand dangling as if cottony from having part of his shoulder sliced off he could not swing with his second hand to strike her immediately. It gazed into her eyes for a second and swung its left hand at her again, in its anger forgetting the plan they were following.
They were not supposed to kill these bitches. But his wild nature and fury overcame him, so this bitch would die on his claws.
On higher levels, warriors started to gain skills that were too quick to be registered by a human mind. To counter it, their mind started to awaken their abilities to momentarily concentrate so much that time seemed to slow down for them. At first, these moments would happen spontaneously, later warriors would gain control of it.
Samantha wasn't at the level to control it yet, so when it happened she thought it was her mind's reaction to her imminent death. But instead of her own death what she witnessed was her own sword that went flying just a moment ago into the sky falling from above, penetrating the werewolf's neck as the huge figure slammed at it from above, nailing him with the sword to the ground.
At first, she did not see what fell on the mad beast dropping him down so hard, but that thing stood up, gazing back at her with its familiar eyes.
The monster that all four women of Samantha's team had seen in horror dreams ever after that day in the forest on the outskirts of Greenville town, stood in front of her once again.
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