Chapter 140.5: Interlude

Adventurers were an intriguing breed of people. They weren’t tied down to a single location most of the time—unless they were too weak to traverse the wilds or too old for the world to offer anything new. Admittedly, though, few reached that age if they had traveled so extensively.That didn’t mean they couldn’t take long-term missions in one place or even settle down temporarily if they felt a location had much to offer. However, throughout her career, Akari had rarely met anyone deserving of being called a true adventurer who remained in one place for long.

The call for freedom was simply too alluring. Getting paid to roam across the kingdom—and even beyond, for those daring or powerful enough—was just too good of a deal. Constantly fighting various monsters provided a wealth of experience that was simply unavailable to anyone who chose to remain in one place for long.

Akari had always seen herself as a free spirit; even during her training to master the Stalking Gait, she never allowed her teacher’s morals and ideals to shape her as the old hag would have liked.

Sometimes, she regretted moving on so quickly. She would have loved to join the dungeon raid happening in Floria, not least because she saw the sleepy town as a kind of home base. Not a place to settle down, no, but she certainly enjoyed coming back every few years to check on Elena and her few remaining childhood friends.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t find some excitement to overcome her disappointment.

“What are you doi—ghurk” The man she had just stabbed in the throat said eloquently.

“I don’t know if that’s something I’d say about myself,” she smiled, watching as life drained from him.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You have defeated Lv. 32

+8.000 Exp

Akari hummed. This particular bandit den didn’t seem likely to get her blood pumping, but at least it would be enough for her to work through her annoyance.

“You know, I’d almost pity you. You have no hand in my being pulled away from Floria before things got actually interesting. But then again, you people have been raiding the local farming communities and taking off with their women. So I don’t feel bad at all.” She smiled, and from the reflection she could see in the pool of blood, it wasn’t a nice expression.

Stalkingthrough the grassland, Akari kept a tight grip on her presence. This bandit group didn’t seem strong, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t have surprises. She hadn’t gotten as far as she had by being careless.

The bandit group she had been contracted to eliminate was currently occupying the area around a dilapidated temple. It had apparently been used until about a century ago but had been abandoned after Berea’s westward push and subsequent evangelization of the local tribes.

The frontiers were filled with interesting locations like these. They were relics of smaller, weaker civilizations that had been unable to resist being swallowed by the larger, more powerful kingdom, which had finally ceased the senseless civil war that had ravaged it for three hundred years and began to spread outward.

Any adventurer worth their salt knew this was the kind of place to explore thoroughly, as there was always some artifact that had been overlooked by those who had passed through before.

The bandits' takeover and strategic use of their hidden location within the tallest part of the grassland indicated that they had to be locals. Perhaps not all of them, but the leadership likely had connections to the land to navigate so easily.

The blades of grass in this area were over ten feet tall and so dense that even Akari’s keen eyes couldn’t make out anything beyond ten feet. They also constantly rustled in the wind.

It was essentially a nightmare to navigate for anyone lacking sensory skills, which explained why the local militias hadn’t managed to stop the bandits from appearing out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly.

Both options meant that Akari was in for an interesting hunt. She was always eager to test her stealth skills, after all. This type of mission prevented her from becoming entrenched in her ways, which was why she’d accepted it. Well, that, and she had to get out of Alluria for a while after that bad business with the debt collectors. How could she have known the pretty girl she’d been seeing was using her as muscle to avoid facing them?

“,” she murmured, and her already suppressed presence vanished entirely, even from her own senses. That sensation was always freaky, but she was more than used to it by now, and the vertigo passed before it could fully set in.

Moving deftly through the blades of grass, Akari didn’t disturb a single one, as her skill allowed her to navigate on a slightly different plane of existence. The theory had always bored her, as she relied mostly on instinct, but she suspected it was similar to what the Spirit Classes did to influence wraiths and ghosts. Just entirely dedicated to hunting purposes rather than interacting with restless spirits to calm them.

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She continued stalking forward for a mile before she finally sensed her next prey. This time, it was a woman, which made her tilt her head before a grin spread across her features. It was rare for women to participate in a bandit group’s operations, at least in this capacity, but when they did, it usually meant they were tough motherfuckers.

Getting closer to her prey without being noticed took only a minute as the world blurred around her. The advanced techniques of the Stalking Gait were almost entirely focused on locating, approaching, and eliminating a target, all without drawing attention. This meant that anyone without a similarly skewed build was unlikely to notice anything before it was too late.

This was proven to be the truth once again as Akari approached the woman, only to discover her sitting on a rock, prodding what appeared to be a doll with a stick.

She was certainly a burly one. Just slightly below six feet tall, with scars covering her bare, muscular arms, Akari had no doubt this one could command the proper respect from her comrades. Too bad she was already dead.

Indeed, barely a minute later, the woman staggered up, looking around in fear. If Akari didn’t trust her skills as much as she did, she would have thought she had given herself away, but that was not the case.

“Who is it? Jeremy, I swear if this is another one of your stupid pranks, I will bend your spine so much that it looks like a horseshoe!” the woman growled.

Despite her posturing, nothing answered. Nothing Akari could see, at least.

The bandit snapped around as if she had heard something and threw her hand forward, launching a thin needle that Akari noticed was laced with some kind of poison. It traveled several feet through dense grass before stopping.

Clearly, that wasn’t the reaction the woman had anticipated because she growled, “Fuck, is it a spirit? I warned Portos it was a terrible idea to use the temple.”

As Akari looked around, she sensed nothing unusual; however, one thing was emitting significant power. Unfortunately for the bandit, she was too preoccupied with searching for the possible ghost to notice the foxkin priestess doll rising from the ground behind her.

“Wherever you are, you hold no power here! Your animal god died a century ago, and if you dare to manifest here, you will be hunted down by Sashara’s priests and burned!”

As far as intimidation tactics went, Akari thought the woman could work on it some more. It was unlikely that the doll didn’t already know about the death of her god, after all. If anything, the fact that she was revealing herself now indicated that she was looking for vengeance.

That instinct proved accurate as a howl echoed across the grassland and an ominous wind began to pick up. Finally, the woman noticed that the doll she had been poking was levitating, causing her to jump back and create some space. To her credit, she didn’t bother with any further banter but went straight for the kill.

A hail of poisoned needles flew from her hands, made all the more impressive by her lack of sleeves. Usually, one could expect enemies who bared their arms to want to fight physically, especially if they were as muscular as the woman.

However, the needles pierced the doll without effect as a figure started to materialize.

Akari tilted her head, taking note of the luxurious robes worn by the spirit. She wasn’t a student of history, but she had spent enough time in Floria to be somewhat familiar with the local beastmen traditions. The many layers indicated that this was someone important. Or at least, it used to be.

Seeing that her attack had no effect, the bandit did the smart thing and shouted for help at the top of her lungs. “ATTACK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” She turned around and legged it, probably hoping that the dense grass would aid her escape.

Unfortunately for her, the fox didn’t miss a beat; with a wave of her hand, blue light blossomed.

It was over before the woman even knew what had happened. Charred bones fell to the ground, and not a single blade of grass shared their fate. Such control was certainly impressive and put her at the upper end of the Mortal tier, close to Prestige.

Akari had seen A-rank adventurers with less control.

Without sparing her victim a glance, the fox spirit glided forward at incredible speeds, forcing Akari to kick off to follow her.

The shout had at least given the remaining men enough warning to prepare for a fight, but as they finally broke through the grass and entered the clearing that surrounded the temple, Akari had to shake her head in disappointment. Not a single one of these men seemed capable of resisting for long, and certainly not enough to compel the spirit to reveal all her cards.

Still, she didn’t mind watching a beatdown. Men threw themselves forward, brandishing glowing weapons as they used whatever they could to fight the spirit.

Akari noted that some form of coordination was happening that she wouldn’t have expected from such a weak group. When the first row of bandits failed to gain ground and had to retreat to avoid being burned by the foxfire, the second row immediately attacked, unleashing long-range skills ranging from the classic to the more esoteric .

As she looked around, her instincts guided her to identify the one responsible. The spirit gradually dismantled the bandits with a whip of blue flames that passed through their defenses without any delay, and she eventually found her quarry.

A squat, rough dwarf sat at the back of the temple, holding his hands as if in prayer. She sensed the mana now, and clicking her tongue, she realized what was happening. A dark dwarf was a rare sight this far south, but she could tell he was an exile from the sun-like tattoo on his forehead.

Suddenly, things began to make sense. The strange coordination was clearly due to his interference, and even the local militia's inability to stop the bandits no longer seemed surprising now that she knew there was a relatively powerful psychic nearby. Dark dwarves were also known for their keen senses and their disregard for desecrating a god’s domain.

When she discovered the remains of human females scattered around the temple, any doubt she may have had vanished. Akari didn’t waste any more time, for while she might have respected the spirit’s vengeance, she also wanted to truthfully claim that she had slain the bandit’s leadership herself.

Monomolecular blades of wind extended from her nails, so thin and dense that they left no disturbance in the surrounding air. With a swipe, Akari watched dispassionately as the dwarf’s head detached from his shoulders.

CONGRATULATIONS

You have defeated Lv. 62

+158.000 Exp

Level up!

AKARI

LEVEL

MANA

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Hunter/Human

Based on the screams echoing from outside, the psychic backlash had struck the bandits. A minute later, the fox spirit entered the temple, her gaze landing where Akari had chosen to wait.

Fire blossomed all around, and she knew this would be a real fight.