“Estelia!”

  I didn’t see it… I was in complete disbelief. I never thought I would get hit just like that without even realizing it beforehand. I didn't even sense the enemy whatsoever. As if time had slowed down, I glanced at the gray fingers digging into my shoulder. To think I would get injured before even getting the chance to see the enemy. To think there would be a monster of this caliber.

  What the fuck…

  To be honest, this kinda pissed me off.

  I shifted my leg back and moved my body backwards while tilting to the side, just so its hand wouldn’t get through me. If that happened, I might fall into a critical condition. Using all the strength my mana and body could muster, I successfully escaped its grasp, whatever it was. It was just a bare hand, to be able to pierce my skin like that, it would have to move at an outrageous speed.

  It was then I noticed Taneva reached the monster and in a flash swung his spear at the creature. There was a banging sound as the monster was blown away into the base of the cliff, blowing clouds of dust all around it.

  I groaned as I stepped back, my blood seeping out of the wound. To apply some pressure, I pressed my hand on to the fucking holes in my skin.

  This better not leave some scar, goddammit!

  I then immediately cast healing magic.

  “Princess!” Velar quickly ran towards me.

  “I’m fine! Focus on the enemy!”

  If that enemy could move that fast, then there was no time to remove our eyes from it.

  “Tik, tik, tik…”

  The dust slowly settled, and the monster was crouching on the ground. It was a humanoid creature with gray skin and long, slender fingers, it was so thin, like a malnourished man. It had a face similar to a human’s, but its eyes were glowing with darkness.

  “What t-the hell is that?” Hartwin asked.

  “We heard it’s a Striding Husk,” I answered, recalling what that warrior said. I was expecting a powerful monster, but I didn’t think it would be this powerful.

  Taneva stood ahead in front of us, as if serving as a barrier. I had not seen him this serious before.

  It was then I heard the clan leader yelp, and I saw him running away like a coward. Where was that tough guy act from before?

  The husk slowly stood up, its face slowly shifted, looking past Taneva, and into me. What the fuck? In that instant, it dashed with incredible speed, and it was heading straight for me.

  Why me?!

  I frantically ran backwards as Taneva engaged the monster. His spear shone with mana and he unleashed a powerful blast of magic at it, but it still kept charging forward. As if it wasn’t feeling any pain at all. Taneva landed a direct hit into its chest, but it only cut shallowly. There was no blood whatsoever, like a corpse with no blood left.

  And then, the monsters slammed its hand into Taneva, and he was immediately sent flying, causing a loud and powerful shockwave as he crashed. Velar and Hartwin got in front of me, and together they swung their swords at it. The monster used its hands to block both weapons.

  Nira quickly got below the monster and dug her claws into its legs. Bearing the pain, I held out my hand, lightning crackling. I had to be precise, else I’d hit the others.

  “Watch out!” I shouted, and a streak of lightning crashed against the monster’s head. Instead of it piercing through, the monster was only blown away. It immediately regained its footing, and instantly continued going after me. Fucking thing was relentless. And this time, it swiftly got over my three guards.

  “Oh no!” Velar exclaimed.

  While conjuring barriers, I held out a hand and fired a dense bolt of fire. With a loud blast, it crashed against the monster, bringing along with it an explosion of smoldering fire. I could feel the heat from here.

  However, to my surprise, once the flames settled, I noticed it running at me again. I removed my hand from my wound and conjured a wide and tall wall of ice, trapping it inside. However, a moment later, it broke through the ice and leaped above towards me, its hand at the ready. I conjured barriers in its trajectory, and it landed on it.

  To my dismay, the moment its hand slammed against my barrier, it already cracked.

  Just how powerful is that fuck?!

  A couple of fog then dove in and pushed the monster away. They crashed on the ground, Heneis and Galik still pinning it down, clawing it savagely. But the monster managed to grasp their arms and crushed them, blood burst out. The monster then slammed them violently on the floor.

  But Heneis and Galik grabbed its legs, holding it.

  “Keep it in place!” Taneva gathered a vast amount of mana into his jade spear. He drew it in as the glow became brighter and brighter. “Hah!” He threw the spear with great force, and it streaked brightly through the air before crashing into the monster.

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  And it was blown away into the cliff wall.

  “Estelia!” Taneva shouted. “Throw as many spells as you can at it! Throw everything away!” A black hole appeared beside him and he pulled out a couple of swords. Instantly, he began swinging, sending a continuous number of magical slashes.

  I did as he said, and I waved my hand. Different kinds of spells floated above me, plain magic, ice, fire, lightning, and shot them towards the location where the monster crashed into. The earth shook, stones crumbling, loud booming sounds echoed as countless magic spells bombarded the monster.

  With the number of spells I had sent, I winced as a faint sharp pain stung in my head. I had to stop. That was too much. Velar rushed to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder before I was about to fall. I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering all the strength I had left.

  “I’ll be fine…” I said, and thus Velar let go of me.

  Taneva had also stopped, still glaring in the monster’s direction. Heneis and Galik formed a protective perimeter on me.

  “What the hell was that, Taneva?” I asked.

  “The worst-case scenario.”

  “Worse than demons?!” Hartwin was both shocked and terrified.

  I also didn’t expect there would be something worse than facing a demon.

  “That thing is a dead angel,” Taneva said.

  “An angel…?” I muttered. That was a dead angel? It didn’t look like any sort of angel I knew of. That thing was more of a damn demon than anything angelic.

  “I fought one in the far past, searching for death,” Taneva continued. “But to no avail.”

  “Did you defeat it?”

  “I did. But it took an entire day of endless battle, and a lot of being torn apart.”

  What the hell? What a ridiculous thing!

  “It’s dead, yet it moves?” Hartwin asked warily.

  “It is corrupted by this place. A corrupting force had taken these lands without the gods’ grace. And it took over the corpse of a dead angel.”

  What the hell even is an angel doing here?

  But more importantly… I glanced at the wound that I was still in the process of healing. “Why the hell is it going after me?”

  There were more people right in front of it. So why was it after me, one who was at the very rear of the group? It seemed to be dead set on killing me.

  “That’s because—” Taneva’s words were cut short when a wave of air erupted from where the monster was.

  Dust scattered, and there it was, the dead angel, still standing. Slouching deeply while its legs were standing straight.

  Fucking hell, how did all that not kill it?

  It didn’t move.

  “Mission… Mission… Mission…”

  It began speaking in a deep, growly, and watery voice.

  What the fuck?

  “Mission… Eliminate… Utter destruction… Slay her… Slay the goddess… Slay the Ruler… Slay the River of Life… Slay…”

  I have a bad feeling about this.

  “Do you get it now, Estelia?” Taneva asked.

  “What…?”

  “Why it’s after you? It’s because of its last mission before its death. And you remind it of what it was.”

  I had an idea where this was going.

  And Taneva continued, “To kill the Goddess of Blood.”

  Fuck.

  The dead angel raised its head and glared at me. Its hands squirmed before the tips of its fingers were torn open, letting out bone like claws, shredding the skin in their way. Its back then started waving like water, and there was a crack and sounds of ripping as bones grew out of its back. Bones of what should have been its wings, and the tips were sharp like spears. It cradled its head as if it was in intense pain while its bony skeleton wings stabbed down on the ground. A strange aura radiated from it, causing a dreadful sensation to my skin.

  “Okay… That’s the first,” Taneva said, to my horror. “Estelia, run. The three of us will hold it off. The rest of you, run!”

  We immediately started moving without hesitation. There was a loud shriek. We sprinted through the valley, I could probably run faster, but that would mean leaving behind Velar and Hartwin.

  A battle ensued behind us. Despite the two Cursed Children and Taneva holding it off, it would seem they couldn’t completely stall it.

  Heneis whooshed past us, his body was a wreck as he crashed against the stone wall. His body was torn like ragged paper, he was missing both his hands, his blood left a trail in the air. I glanced back, only to see Taneva being ripped apart by the monster’s claws and wings. The dead angel then slammed him into the wall. Incidentally, I couldn’t find Galik anywhere, wherever he might have been thrown into.

  The angel then leaped up in the air and landed ahead of us, blocking our path.

  Shit shit shit.

  I couldn’t believe we’d actually face a monster that posed a serious threat. Even Taneva was rendered unaccounted for. So much for escaping. No, I must find a way to escape, resisting this thing right now would be the last mistake I’d ever make.

  I frantically looked around until I discovered a ravine. It was narrow enough to let us run through. And it would prove difficult for the monster, considering its wide bone wings.

  “There!” I pointed towards the ravine.

  We instantly made a run for it. Before I got to step into the ravine, the dead angel had already gotten close to me. It swung its hands, but not before Hartwin and Velar stepped in to block its claws. They gritted their teeth, the weight of its strike weighing down on them. I continued into the narrow ravine with Nira.

  I stopped and looked back. “You two!”

  “Go, Princess!”

  You can’t possibly think of beating that thing.

  But this was their purpose, to protect me from danger. Still, I never thought I would get to lose them this early, if they do die.

  The angel shrieked, and it used its wings to attack the cliff entrance walls. With powerful slams and slashes, its attacks shook the surrounding walls. And then the walls of the ravine began to crumble. If we don’t move, we’d be buried in the earth.

  “Let’s go, Nira!”

  “B-But—” A large boulder dropped on the path behind us, blowing dust all over.

  “We have no time!” Besides, we need to get away from that angel as far as possible. Or rather, I should. It was after me, like fuck!

  I ran through the ravine as the stone walls collapsed behind us. I poured Physical Enhancement on my body to make myself move faster. Nira was in her fog form, that was why she was able to keep up with me.

  After running a fair distance through the ravine, the crumbling stopped, and I looked behind us to see a blocked off path, the debris reaching high up. If we ever try to scale over it, it might take a while, even more so for Velar and Hartwin. The Cursed Children could fly over, but they’d be busy fighting off that angel. It could still go after me.

  “We should get going, Nira. Run as far as possible from this place.”

  “B-But what about the others?!”

  “They’ll be fine. We’ll meet again eventually, likely in the capital city.”

  “... O-Okay.”

  We continued moving away, putting as much distance between us and the angel as possible. And a while later, we got out of the ravine. But I still kept running. Considering the power of that monster, this amount of distance wouldn’t be enough to get it off my trail.

  “Where are we going, Goddess?”

  “Don’t really have any idea at the moment. Let’s just get as far as possible!”

  Like, what the fuck?! A dead angel. And oh! Turns out it’s after me and intends to kill me! Just my fucking luck, isn’t it?!

  Everyone, and I mean, everyone, just wants to kill me!

  And I almost fucking died again.

  I placed a hand on my shoulder. Very close indeed. How frustrating.