Chapter 7: Black Eyes VII

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[CORBIN VILLAGE - Village Center]

Fourteen arrows left, thought Cain to himself.

Another arrow blitzed through the air, barely missing the bandit in front of him by a hair. His aim was perfect, but that didn’t mean his opponent wasn’t able to respond - but he was starting to reach the limit of his reaction speed.

Any closer, and he wouldn’t be able to avoid Cain’s arrows anymore, but that also meant that he couldn’t get at the archer with his longsword. They were in a stalemate.

A false one, to be sure. Cain was certain that another bandit would catch the commotion soon and show up, so it was only a matter of time until he was outnumbered. He had to finish this, and finish it fast.

Thinking quickly, he notched two arrows.

His opponent saw what he was doing, and guffawed crudely.

Aim, and fire. Two missiles shot out at slightly different angles. He could see the bandit’s eyes widen. Then the nasty sound of metal ripping into flesh, as the large man howled in pain. He had managed to deflect one of the arrows, the one that was aimed at his face.

He was not, however, able to do anything about the one that pierced his thigh. Cain didn’t let up, and as his opponent was distracted by the pain loosed two more arrows, as quick as a gunshot.

It was overkill, as this time his opponent wasn’t able to do anything about either. As one of the missiles pierced his heart, the other one passed through an eye and into the brain. The corpse stayed upright for a second before toppling over as Cain averted his gaze.

Cain’s bow hand trembled. He rubbed out the shakes with the other one.

No regrets about the kill. He had seen the horrified expression of the man’s would-be victim, and the gleeful joy on his face. If the bandit had his way, both Cain and that little girl would’ve been in his place, and he doubted that he would’ve made it quick.

Still, that didn’t make his first taking of a life any easier.

Ten arrows now.

Screaming in the distance. Cain followed the sound, keeping to the shadows.

Unfortunately this time he was too late. As he peeked in from the distance, he could see a man slump to the floor, his head split in two by the war axe another bandit held. Cain grimaced, before raising his bow.

If he couldn’t save him, then avenging him would be the next best thing.

He shot, and this time it was one shot, one kill. The arrow embedded itself into the back of the brigand’s skullcase, and soon the murderer slumped over just as his victim did.

Nine arrows remaining.

Cain let out a breath in relief. That was two down by his hand alone now. He closed his eyes once more to center himself, and got up.

Or he would’ve, had it not felt like a jolt of lightning just passed through his nerves. He almost screamed in pain, before he fell to the ground.

[LEVEL UP!]

God, was that what levelling up felt like?! He thought it was supposed to feel good!

The status window popped up in front of him, unprompted.

[CAIN THOMPSON]

[LEVEL 2]

[EXP - 24/200]

[JOB CLASS: NONE]

[HP] 100/100 > 120/120

[MP] 50/50 > 60/60

[STRENGTH] - 13 > 15

[DEXTERITY] - 11 > 13

[CONSTITUTION] - 10 > 12

[INTELLIGENCE] - 11 > 12

[WISDOM] - 13 > 14

[SPEED] - 12 > 14

[LUCK] - 14 > 14

[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED 3 FREE STATUS POINTS!]

[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED A SKILL POINT!]

[SYSTEMS ACTIVATED:]

-CONTROL SCHEME-

His EXP was still 24...? No wait, that made sense. If he assumed that each bandit kill was worth 50, then that meant he had gained 100 that way and hit the EXP requirements.

Free status points probably meant he could allocate them to his stats as he wanted. A skill point? He looked through the menu again. There wasn’t an option to allocate the skill points, at least not one that he could find.

Cain shook his head. There was no time. He had to keep moving. A moment wasted was another life lost, and he wanted to help protect this village that had been so kind to a lost stranger.

Speed. Speed was good. He quickly allocated his points by tapping on the small arrows next to each stat.

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO ALLOCATE 3 POINTS INTO SPEED?]

[ YES / NO ]

No brainer.

[YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ALLOCATED YOUR STATUS POINTS!]

[SPEED] - 14 > 17

Cain waved the status window away, and got up. He blinked.

Immediately he could feel the difference. It felt as if the world moved slightly, almost imperceptibly, slower. Just a little bit more stability in his step, and the bowstring drew back with less effort.

Then the sound of footsteps rounded a corner, and Cain realized he had brought his bow up again only after he had done it. He was reacting almost quicker than he himself could keep up. It was clear he was going to need to do some training to get used to this.

“Hey, are you still--”

The bandit’s question was cut off as an arrow embedded itself into his forehead. Another one down.

50 more EXP, and who knows how many more lives would be spared tonight?

BOOM!

What the...

Were those fireworks?

---

[CORBIN VILLAGE - Main Gate]

Muse knew there was something wrong when she had seen the mud wall surrounding the village, but it was confirmed when she saw the signal flare. She was familiar with these things; she had read the reports on the extermination campaign two months ago.

The Red Riders, or more specifically, the Red Beast of Ermire was still alive, and they were attacking.

Her options immediately boiled down to two; one was to get in there and save as many lives as she could, and the second was to retreat immediately and get the information out so that the world knew.

Her choice was made for her after she heard the first scream. This was what she had joined the knights for.

Without a second thought she launched herself above the wall and into the village. Worst-case scenario, she could retreat and just give up on combat. Few could catch a chosen of the Windmother if they decided they wanted out.

Her heart was pumping out of her chest as she landed in the village proper, right past the front gate.

Although this wasn’t her first combat situation since she had graduated, a real chance to test her skills had been far and few between. But, if she could save just a single person...

She slowly moved forward, unsheathing her saber.

She kept her eyes open. It was time to focus.

There was a presence ahead.

---

[CORBIN VILLAGE - Village Center]

...Footsteps from behind. Cain notched his bow again. It was best to put the firework out of his mind for now. No point in paying attention to silly things when his life was on the line.

He kept to the dark where he could. The moon was rather bright tonight, but fortunately a cloud rolled overhead at the perfect time. It seemed providence was on his side.

He slunk forward, keeping his ears open but letting his eyes wander. Cain had a rough idea of where the footsteps were coming from, but now he had to find a good angle of approach.

Another memory - a nugget of information from the old world. Human beings tended not to pay attention to what was above them. Good, that was something he could use.

Cain’s path was simple then.

There, just ahead of him. A tiled roof amongst thatched roofs that would dampen his footsteps. All he needed to do was get on top, get a good angle, confirm his target and then shoot.

Two quick steps. One to bounce off a fence, and the second to leap off a wall, and he had managed to grip the edge of the roof. With strength that he somehow knew he had yet was somehow still surprised by, he lifted himself up on one hand and immediately readied his bow.

Only to realize that he had ended up in a standoff against somebody else who had apparently the same idea. Arrow against saber. It was a tense few seconds, but it seemed like neither were willing to make the first move.

Then the clouds parted, and moonlight shone down on them.

Since he had arrived in this world, all Cain had seen were mundane humans. Sure, from a period of time different than what he knew, but they were still similar to the human beings of Earth’s history.

He had started getting comfortable, started getting the sense that things weren’t as different as he expected them to be. Mages and magic only existed in the far-off cities that he had no access to, and the blue lizards were more like chilly komodo dragons than real magical beasts.

Which was to say, he wasn’t quite ready for the vision of a green-skinned beauty in front of him.

Silver hair, light green skin, and striking red eyes. She wore a mantle that covered the top half of her body, along with a small symbol he didn’t recognize. In front of him, pointed directly at his face, was a saber that was partially engraved with filigree. Fangs that could be mistaken for extra large incisors poked out of her top lip, and for some strange reason the boots she wore left part of her bare feet exposed. Her figure was lithe for a fighter.

It wasn’t as if he fell in love at first sight. Rather, it was more like looking at an illustration in a fantasy book come to life. The sight filled him with a sense of awe.

Was that a spider on her shoulder? The sucker was gigantic!

...and kind of weirdly cute with the way it tilted its head.

Cain did his best to hide what he was feeling. Had to keep a cool heart. It would really suck to die to a bandit because he was too distracted by her appearance.

Muse, on the other hand, openly gawked.

The man in front of her wasn’t that out of the ordinary. His clothing was certainly weird, but she was familiar with his bearing. An excellent archer by the way he held his arrows, and skilled enough to conceal his presence from her. But his eyes... They were striking.

The descriptions couldn’t have prepared her for them.

Vast expanses of darkness, they pulled and drew her in. She felt as if she was staring into the abyss - that was how little they reflected light. But more striking than that were the man’s irises.

Golden circles hidden within the darkness; the black surrounding them only served to enhance the contrast. She could swear that his irises were glowing, that’s how bright they seemed to her. Like two golden moons illuminating the night sky.

Black eyes? The Grandmaster had described them as black eyes? It was the other way around. The black wasn’t the focus here; they were accents.

It took them a little bit to remember that both of them were still pointing their weapons at each other.