Reina’s eyes opened. Her pupils were extremely dilated, her gaze unfocused, as her mouth gaped open in a silent painful scream. Her body bowed off the ground, limbs taut. The title bar over her head changed. Her level increased from 53 to 54.

My eyes widened as horror set in. Please no. Someone tell me I’m not seeing this. I took a step back from her.

Reina’s arms started to shrink, as if something was sucking out all the fat and muscle from inside, leaving only narrow bones covered in skin. No, not really skin. Her flesh was darkening to an opalescent black color. Thick, bristly hair grew on her arms. Her wide eyes kept expanding, and expanding, until her ballooning eyes took up half of her blackened face. A red, matted film covered her eyes as two antennae popped out of her forehead. Her mouth shrank in size as mandibles grew over top of the hole.

She was turning into a bug.

Reina convulsed and arched higher into the air, almost defying gravity. Two large bumps grew on her back, the with a loud rip, huge white moth wings exploded out from her. They twitched against the dirt, but stayed unnaturally clean. Two more bumps grew on the sides of her withered yet morphing body. Her lever increased to 55.

I gritted my teeth. I had to do something. There was no way I could handle a level 55 monster that was fully conscious. I could just run away. I had my stats back and there was time before Reina finished changing. But I’d never forgive myself if I just left Emma to die. And if she lived, how would I explain to her that I abandoned her team to face this?

I didn’t know if it was because Reina’s transformation wasn’t complete, but I couldn’t see the location of her energy crystal. I needed to find a different way to kill her. I grabbed Billy’s huge-ass claymore and lifted it with both hands as high as I could. I took a deep breath and thrust downward, plunging the blade into her chest. Instead of a soft shh of sharpened steel piercing skin, there was a loud crack as it broke through the newly formed exoskeleton to nail her to the ground.

No, not her. Reina wasn’t human anymore.

Monster Reina’s face contorted as its body started to wiggle and wither against the sword. The hands, that were a disgusting mix of insect and human, clawed at the blade but it didn’t seem to be aware enough to remove it. A second pair of arms popped out of its sides and grabbed at the claymore as black blood leaked from the fresh wounds. The bulbous head thrashed back and forth as clumps of hair fell from its lumpy skull. A small screen came from its mouth.

I ground my teeth against the guilt and disgust that wound together in my stomach and took out my kindjal. Down on one knee, I tried to cut off the head. I desperately needed a kill shot and this was the only one that I knew would absolutely kill the monster. The problem was, I couldn’t push my blade through the blackened exoskeleton. A flailing arm grabbed me. Its pincer-like fingers latched onto my greave and pulled, trying to dig its claws into my skin. I winced at the sudden pain as 17 HP dropped from my bar. God, and it wasn’t even fully conscious yet. I had to end this now.

I propped my left foot on the back of my blade then I jumped. I came down, putting all my weight against the crystalized steel. There was a loud crack then Monster Reina’s head popped off and my kindjal sank into the ground. The hand clinging to my leg spasmed then flopped to the ground with the rest of its six limbs.

[+720 EXP]

[You have Leveled up!]

[You have Leveled up!]

I staggered away from Reina’s body, and shifted my weight off my aching right leg. Even though I’d just gained two levels at once, I wasn’t jumping for joy. I stared down at the half-transformed body. I lifted my kindjal and looked at the black blood slowly dripping off the beautiful blade. I had sworn that I wouldn’t become strong off the blood of humans, yet this was the second time I’d killed someone I knew was a human. I knew their faces. In Reina’s case, I’d even exchanged words with her.

I didn’t want to kill her — it. But I needed to protect myself and Emma. Was it guilt that weighed my shoulders down? No, just disappointed. In myself mostly. If I hadn’t lost my head yesterday, I wouldn’t have been so weak today. And if I’d been stronger, faster, maybe I would have gotten to her in time.

I looked at the mess I’d made. Was there a silver lining here? Could there be a silver lining as a result of death? I now had evidence that energy crystals could transform Hunters into monsters. When President Price saw this, he’d surely back me up and I wouldn’t have to wait four months to talk to the Council. I snorted and sighed. God, how callous was I? All I could think was how to use the mangled body of a person, half-transformed into a monster, for my own agenda before it’s warmth had even cooled.

As I stewed, the System prompted me. [Destroy the energy crystal. I won’t be able to warn you again.]

“What?” I stuttered. I need this body! It’s my evidence!

Of course, the System didn’t respond.

What do you want from me? I mentally screamed at the System. I’m just one weak girl. What do you expect me to do?

The thought barely left my mind when I remembered the message it left me the other day: Get stronger.

Mentally growling with frustration, I matched up to Monster Reina’s carcass and glared at it. Slowly my instant anger morphed into bitter sadness. Maybe it was better this way. When I die, I’d rather my body vanish than be treated like a science experiment. I looked around at the webbing that clung to the cliff walls and scattered trees, forming the white tunnel. At least this was still here, it could serve just as well, I suppose. It would be better if I could find and catch another caterpillar but I couldn’t feel any monsters close right now. Although that didn’t mean that I let my guard down.

There weren’t any drop orbs to collect, but there was a faintly glowing circle hovering over the ill-formed thorax. It was just like the faint glow the monster caterpillars gave off. Instinctively I knew that was where a newly formed energy crystal was. With a quick motion, I stabbed down. Her body exploded into tiny little lights that vanished into thin air, taking all the black blood on the ground and me with it.

On the ground where she used to be was a thumb-sized red agate stone. I stared at it for a second before my System identified it.

[Skill Stone.]

Really? I didn’t think I’d ever get one of those. Carefully, I reached down. I could touch it, right? It was different from an energy crystal, so it shouldn’t be a problem, I think? The System didn’t warn me away, but I poked it just to double check. When I wasn’t warned to stop prodding, I picked it up and held the cold stone in my hand. Looking at it made me think about something that I should have done as soon as the team collapsed.

I put the Skill Stone into my Items Bag then walked over to Mason and knelt beside him. “Sorry,” I muttered and started to leaf through the small sack tied to his belt until I found a token like a smooth, circular disc barely bigger than a large button with the Stone Mace symbol. At least I didn’t have to take off anymore of his armor to find it. I sat back and examined the object.

My System auto-labeled it: [Distress Signal. Press the symbol and throw into the air.]

I did as instructed and threw it straight up. It soared twenty feet overhead then suddenly exploded into a glowing image of the Stone Mace symbol spread out at least ten feet in diameter. I guessed that meant someone was notified? So, all I had to do was wait now, right?

I looked around at Emma’s team still crumpled in various positions on the ground, some of them still bleeding. Maybe I should do something about that? I began to drag them closer together, positioning them in a row. It sounded like a good idea to begin with. Until I got to the last man in full armor.

“This was a stupid idea,” I muttered to myself. I scowled at the divets his armor made on the ground.

I wiped sweat from my forehead and rested my hands at my belt. God, I needed water. My tongue limned my teeth, feeling out every bone-dry crevice for a lick of moisture. I stopped, breath stuck in my throat. Something shifted against the white webbing next to the drag mark I scowled at. My kindjal instantly appeared in my hand as I focused on it. There was steam coming from the webbing. I frowned and looked around. No, it wasn’t just in that one spot. All the webbing in the whole tunnel was smoking.

My eyes widened. I didn’t know what it was, but it couldn’t be good. A spare shirt from my Items Bag appeared in my hand. I pressed it over my nose and mouth, then I looked down at the people at my feet. And the smoky film that was starting to form around them. Crud.

With quick movements, I cut my shirt into pieces. First, I tied one around my face then I bent down and tied the cloth strips around the other's faces. In the end, I crouched next to Emma with one hand pressing the strip of cloth over her mouth and nose while I held the kindja in my free hand.

I watched the smoking webbing. Were more of those caterpillar monsters going to come? It took me a second to realize that the webs weren’t actually smoking — they were evaporating. I gaped as the webbing shrank and thinned until sticky clumps fell to the ground and disappeared in puffs of smoke. In minutes the whole white tunnel had vanished, leaving nothing behind except for the dead trees and the jagged canyon sides.

“No!” I jumped to my feet and looked around. It was all gone. All of it.

As if the parasites didn’t want Hunters to know that they existed.

I hacked at brittle dead trees with my kindjal, sweating hard, frustration boiling over. Goddamnit! It was all that thing’s -- that damn parasite planet’s fault! Everything! The Gates and monsters. How the world fell apart twenty years ago. The death of billions of people. The reason why the human population still steadily declined. Even my father’s death and how it spearheaded the crumbling of my family. The trauma that I couldn’t escape and would keep going through. All of it.

And it won’t end until Earth collapses.

With a final heave, I struck the tree truck. The brittle wood cracked and splintered in half then fell to the side barely missing Axe-Guy. I stood there, breathing heavy but listening carefully. I shouldn’t have lost my head like that. Who knew what monster would be attracted to that much noise?

My breathing evened out as my senses grew more alert, but nothing came. I glanced up and the Guild symbol still flashed overhead. Someone would come, right? I walked over to Emma and crouched beside her. I smoothed the cloth over her face. I guessed it was fine to take off since the smoking webbing was gone, but it wouldn’t hurt her to keep it on her either.

In that silent moment, my stomach grumbled. I sighed. Crud. I’d been in such a hurry to get to Emma before the Guild left on their mission that I’d forgotten to grab a lunch from Henry. My face scrunched up in a scowl and I checked my surroundings again. A thought popped in my head and I paused. I did actually have something to eat in my Items Bag.

I extended my hand and a pink pastry box appeared in my palm. Even though it’d been a couple days since I got it, the smell of fresh baked goods immediately filled my nose like a breath of heaven. My Items Bag couldn’t keep cold things cold or hot things hot, but any food that was put in was preserved at its freshest state. If I put a bowl of ice cream in my Items Bag, I’d end with a bowl of flavored cream. But if I put ice cream in a thermal then put that in my bag, it would stay ice-creamy cold perfection until I took it out. The thought of something cold and quenching further parched my tongue. This éclair and a bottle of water would have to do.

Slowly I opened the pastry box and pulled the éclair out. I folded up the box and put it away then looked at the puffed pastry. Honestly, I never actually meant to eat anything from Kesstel. I also couldn’t bring myself to throw perfectly good food away. But right now wasn’t the time to drag my feet. I needed the calories, even if it was empty ones.

Still vigilant of my surroundings, I took a small bite. Instantly my attention was blasted with a sweet, creamy custard. I let out a slow sigh as I savored the bite. “So good,” I mouthed the words. Just like that, the weight of failing to keep all of Emma’s teammates alive lessened enough that I could finally breathe easy.

Man, I’m too easy to please, I thought as I glanced around for any more rainbow caterpillars. As much as I mocked myself in my head, I still savored every single bite until the éclair was gone. Once it was, I pulled up my stats and adjusted my extra Skill Points. I was so close to level 20. So close! It was such a relief to see these numbers instead of the crappy single digits from this morning.

The rustling of branches and underbrush cut through my thoughts and a shiver of alarm went down my body. I turned to the entrance of the canyon. Please let it be a rescue team that spotted my distress signal.

Jyn Devhro

Rank D

Lv 19

EXP to Next Lv 322

HP 534/680

MP 95/95

Strength 41 (+10)

Magic 33

Constitution 34 (+10)

Stat Points 0

Agility 37

Perception 34

Intelligence 30

Skills

Throw

Critical Hit

Quick Hit

Mirror

Abilities

Mist (Improved) (20 ft)

Feather Step

Regen (limited)

*****