“... Akira!”

“Akira!”

Mika saw what happened to Akira and immediately leaped out of Olivia’s arms, drew her sword Chigatana, and charged at the four-legged creature that came out of nowhere. 

She didn’t know what had just attacked Akira, but she didn’t care. All she had to do was kill it and save the little girl. 

Mika didn’t want such a pure and innocent child to die right in front of her eyes. She just met the girl, for god-sake! 

Olivia's face was pale as a sheet, shivering from fright, became horror-stricken when she saw Mika jump out of her arms toward Akira. She wasn’t even in the right state of mind to notice the sword now in Mika’s hands.

“MIKA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET BACK HERE!!” Olivia screamed in fright at the thought of losing her little sister. 

“Olivia, just stay put and beware of your surroundings. Watch out for these creatures and run towards me if you find one approaching you. I’ll finish things up here real quick, then come back to your side!” Mika yelled without even turning around. 

However, Olivia only felt worse after hearing Mika’s words. She felt like her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach, and she couldn’t breathe. She barely registered Mika’s words in her mind and could only blankly stare at her little sister running off to save some little girl.

“I…I… Mi… MIKA!! W… WHAT… hic… ARE… hic hic… YOU-” Olivia tried to speak but couldn’t form any sentences, and before she could say anymore, Mika yelled at her right before she was about to clash with the creature.

“OLIVIA!! GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER AND PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS!!” 

Even though Mika’s voice still sounded childish, the power and tone she used, combined with the killing intent subconsciously leaking out of her body, was more than enough to wake Olivia up out of her dazed state.

Now that her mind was starting to clear up, Olivia could finally get a good look at Mika and noticed the sword in her hands. 

She didn’t know where Mika got such a thing, and she really wanted to ask her about it, but she knew now wasn’t the time. 

She stared at Mika for a while before finally looking around her, but what she saw made her hairs stand on end, her blood freeze, and tears unconsciously fall down her face.

There was only one word to describe the scene around her: Chaos.

Kids were running for their lives, trying to escape the monsters that had just appeared. Headless bodies were lying all over the ground with several puncture wounds on their bodies. 

Pools of blood were forming all over the floor. Kids were getting their heads and limbs ripped off, only to be eaten by these monsters before they moved on to the next target.

It was like a scene straight out of hell. 

‘W-Why? Why is this happening? Am I going to die? What about Mika? Is she going to die here?’ Tears streamed down her face as this situation was too much for her to handle.

She subconsciously looked over to her little sister and froze in fear and amazement.

Mika dodged and blocked attacks like she knew when and where they were coming. Her sword moved perfectly in accordance with her movements while each attack looked precise.

However, with how her arms shook after every time she blocked, it was clear that she was struggling. 

She would be done if she took just a single hit from it. 

Luckily, the creature only seemed to have basic intelligence, which allowed Mika to fight it on somewhat even ground using her sword, Chigatana. 

It still had its appendage in Akira’s stomach, to which Mika was thankful because the girl would definitely bleed out if the monster removed its arm.

‘As long as I can kill that monster without it removing its leg from Akira’s stomach, there’s a chance I can save her.’ Mika thought, and quickly a plan formed in her mind.

Without allowing the monster to move any further, Mika leaped at the monster, readied her sword, then slashed at the arm inside Akira’s stomach.

In one swift motion, Mika’s sword pierced through the monster’s arm. 

Mika glanced at Akira and then let out an indistinct sigh of relief when she noticed that part of the monster’s arm was still in her stomach. She would prefer it if Akira didn’t have an arm through her stomach, but at least she won’t bleed out immediately with it still there.

If Akira can hold on for long enough, then maybe she could be saved. 

Now that she’s sure Akira won’t bleed out in the next few minutes, Mika can focus on the monster in front of her. 

The creature was all black and had no face, only a mouth, along with bladed appendages. It looked quite terrifying and even gave Mika the chills just looking at it. 

As Mika stared at the creature, it also twisted its head in her direction, which only freaked her out more. It didn’t let out any kind of screech or roar and just charged at her.

‘Fast!’ Mika thought before moving accordingly to dodge its blade-like appendages.

The monster kept leaping at her, trying to pierce her stomach, head, arms, and legs, but Mika kept dodging all of its attacks. 

Whenever it threw an attack that she couldn’t dodge, she would use the flat end of her blade to parry the strike. Doing that would give her just enough time to get her body out of the way before its blade-like appendages stabbed her in the gut. 

Unfortunately, she couldn’t counter-attack off of those parries because she had to use every ounce of strength just to make sure she could block the strike without taking it head-on.

The battle lasted for around 30 seconds before Mika figured out the best time to strike. 

From what she gathered over the last 30 seconds of this fight, the monster has very basic attack patterns. When she’s close to it, the monster will bombard her with slashes and stabs that, although they aren’t precise, are fast and neverending. 

There’s no way she can kill it when it does that. 

Thankfully, it had another attack that it used quite frequently. When she was outside of its reach, the monster would lunge at her with its blade-like appendages extended out in front of it. 

And that’s when Mika felt it would be the best time to strike. 

As the monster was swinging its arms like crazy, Mika bounced backward, but this time, it was a little farther than usual. The monster, sensing its prey trying to escape, crouched and lunged at Mika with its arms out in front of it. 

Mika smirked, ran up, slid under the monster, and thrust her sword into the monster’s head. The monster died on the spot, but its momentum was enough to drag Mika across the ground about a meter. 

After she was done sliding, Mika removed her sword, stood up, and decapitated the monster making sure it was dead.

“Haaa…” Mika let out a breath of turbid air, “That was easier than I thought it would be.”

All of a sudden, System prompts started popping up in her mind.

[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED]

[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED]

[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED]

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Quest Name: Invasion]

[Quest Description: The voidlings have unknowingly invaded this Universe through a rift in Space and Time and have chosen Avalon City as their first place of attack. Their objective is unknown, but they are slaughtering everyone in the city. 

You are weak right now and can’t prevent this invasion from going out of control. However, you don’t have to worry about that as there are plenty of people in and around the city that can deal with this invasion.]

[Quest Objective: Survive]

[Time Limit: None]

Quest Reward: Information about the Voidlings, 50 Initial-Stage Mana Stones, Personalized Kimono]

[Bonus Quest Objective: Slay as many voidlings as you can until the invasion is over.]

[Bonus Quest Reward: Depends on the Host’s performance.]

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mika quickly read over the Quest and wasn’t surprised by the contents since it was pretty obvious. There can only be one reason for a Quest to pop up at this time, and Mika didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that the cause of the Quest was due to these monsters that the system dubbed as voidlings.

She was surprised by the quest rewards but didn’t find them too shocking. If anything, they were rather lackluster compared to the difficulty of the quest. 

However, it’s not like she had much of a choice but to participate in the quest. 

‘I guess that’s why the rewards for the main quest are rather poor.’ Mika shrugged, ‘Even without the quest, I’d still have to survive against these creatures. The System was just generous enough to give me a reward.’

What surprised Mika was the [Bonus Quest]. Truthfully, she didn’t want to fight these things. Just glancing around the room, she can spot tens, if not hundreds, of them. She can barely handle one; how can she fight off an entire hoard? 

Also, the aftermath of doing so might not even be worth the risk. 

Is it really worth risking her life and potentially her future for a couple of benefits?

‘Not really. Why should I risk not only my life but the life of my family for unknown rewards? If someone finds out about my secrets, our family won’t live another day in peace!’

As if sensing her thoughts, the System sent her a few messages that made her have a change of heart.

[The System has decided that since this is a special occasion, the System will provide some assistance to the Host. For the duration of the Voidling Invasion, the System is willing to cloak the Host in an illusion that prevents anyone from seeing your true self. After the invasion, you will be nothing but a hazy memory in the minds of those who saw your illusory figure fight. 

[REMINDER! You will only receive this benefit should you choose to fight the voidlings. If you only want to survive, you will not receive the System’s assistance. However, the System urges you to fight. The experience will be great, and the reward will be bountiful.]

After hearing that, Mika suddenly had a change of heart. After hearing what the System just said, she released a maniacal smile.

‘Hehe~ I finally have the chance to fight to my heart's content without having to worry about the aftermath! Alright, System, let’s go kill some-’ Mika stopped her thoughts when she saw Akira lying face-first on the ground. 

‘Oh shit! I almost forgot about her! Fuck!’ Mika thought as she ran over to Akira.