“This is… mind-numbingly exhausting…”

They are very organized for a simple mercenary group in the Zone-0. There must be more to it that she has not grasped yet.

After gathering information on the positioning of the mercenaries that have surrounded her, she then stomps her foot casting a large-area magic spell. Three overlapping magic circles briefly glows stretching over the ground. The dry land suddenly grows large hands that grabbed the people standing inside the circle, with the exception of the caster. More than half of the mercenaries are captured while the rest managed to evade the limited reach of those earthen hands.

“Right…Of course, not all of them will fall into that trap.” She mumbles.

Someone tries to stab her from behind but she blocks it with a stone pillar. She kicks the man but he swiftly jumps backward. Gunshots echoes and bullets are flying aiming for her. While she blocks them with a magic barrier, another one slams a giant rock down at her. She is forced to jump away from her spot to evade. While in mid-air, a bulky man swings a large claymore at her. She tries to block it with a quick cast of magic barrier but the claymore brakes through it.

Azalea gets blown away by the force and tumbles on the dusty ground. She picks herself back up, blood drips from her arms. The claymore cut through her steel arm braces reaching her flesh. Magic circles glow as it automatically heals her wounds. Before she could prepare for her enemies next move, three people have already thrown lightning spears at her. She dodges just in time but one of it somehow grazes the tip of her boots. The electric shock is not strong as she is able to resist it but it is enough to make her lose her balance making her fall once again.

“These bouts are getting tougher and tougher!”

She rolls as few more stone spears rain down on her.

“Don’t make the same mistakes that I did…” Her master’s voice rings at the back of her mind.

“I’m not sure what exactly you’re referring to, master.”

She strives to quickly get back on her feet. She knows that they are always ready to lunge at every chance they get. She barely stood up and the man who tried to stab her is back at it again. He slashes with his ki-imbued sword that Azalea hardly avoids. She then instinctively counters with wind magic and cuts through the man’s neck. The man falls on his knees grabbing his neck with blood pouring out like water from a broken faucet.

“Ah-! I mustn’t let you die. Here, I’ll heal you a bit.” Azalea says softly, her tone is low and chilling. She kicks the bleeding man down and then stomps on his chest. Magic circles glowed. “Just a bit… ‘coz I can’t have you jumping around, it’s annoying.”

The man screams for a while before passing out.

She looks at them with her empty gaze. She does not see any of them as a threat. However, their numbers are reasonably troublesome. At best, they are a bunch of annoyances.

“What the hell did she just do?”

The leader laughs menacingly. “Bitch doesn’t intend to kill anyone. We have the upper hand. Dead or alive… We’re taking her corpse back!”

“The best defense… is to destroy them before they can make a move…”

Azalea momentarily stares at the leader who is holding a huge claymore before more bullets storm her way. This time she does not block them. She sends the bullets back. Each bullet fired at her hits a mercenary. Some strikes the gung from their hand, the other got hit on the hand, arm or shoulder.

“So tired… Get out of my way.”

Multiple ki beams strikes from the side which she simply blocks with a thick stone wall. From behind, another man attacks. He uses close combat knives strengthened by magic, aiming for Azalea’s neck. Before his knives could reach her neck, a blade made of blazing flames completely cuts off his arms. The shock and the pain makes him fall screaming on the ground.

The fire sword burned the wound from the cut preventing him from bleeding out.

She then makes two more fire swords to cut through the earth golem running towards her. An armored Yashou lunges at her and she effortlessly stabs the fire sword into its core. She uses the same swords to melt bullets and block ki attacks. She returns every magic spell back to the caster. All while walking forward, to the direction of Wave 5.

“Destroy… destroy them… make a move…”

The mercenaries who are still well, receiving only minor injuries, continue to re-position themselves and attack. Azalea with the skill of Pulse keeps receiving a lot of updated information on her surroundings and the people moving around. Her exhaustion is growing, so she decides to focus on ending this battle as soon as possible. When someone gets close to her, she either cuts off their arms or legs.

“There are plenty of ways to deal with all of you without killing anyone.”

“Prepare ranged attacks!”

“Get in formation!”

She locks her sight onto the leader. She boosts her speed in one burst, instantly moving herself in front of the claymore-wielding man. He is surprised to see her suddenly get close but he manages to block the fire swords with his huge claymore. However, the clash did not last long as the fire swords starts cutting through the thick lump of steel. He abandons his weapon and jumps away to avoid getting cut along with it.

“Destroy…”

The man makes a gesture she does not know how to interpret. He must be sending a signal to his comrades.

She stretches her arm sideways blocking and neutralizing the fireballs that are thrown her way. At that moment, the leader regains his claymore that was cut in half. He then reinforces the missing part with iron sand.

“An Esper… his ability is magnetism… probably level 4…” Azalea is assessing the enemy.

She can feel the sands vibrating. That new weapon might be sharper than before. He makes a taunting stance, preparing to attack. While her attention is focused on him, a stone spear flies by her side, missing her with just a few inches. In that momentary distraction, another stone spear rams into her abdomen pushing her back a few steps. It pierced through her pinning her on the earthen hand that is right behind her.

“Shit! Using my own creation as props!” She cannot pull the stone spear out because it is deeply nailed into the hand construct.

She is about to use the fire swords to cut the shaft shorter and get herself out from being pinned but the leader is not so nice to give her that chance. He lunges at her with his new claymore. She then blocks with her spear and a magic barrier. Her spear clashes with the solid part while the magic barrier shields her from the impact of the vibrating iron sands.

“You’re hella tough, huh.” He smirks.

“Maybe you’re just hella weak.”

He retreats a step back and then scoffs at her. “You should have thought about it more before taking on dozens of enemies on your own.”

He lifts his claymore up for one powerful forward slash. Azalea, who is still pinned, blocks it the same way as before. However this time the sand part of the claymore suddenly crumbled upon impact. It then transforms into thorns breaking through her magic barrier. A couple of thorns hit her shoulder and the side base of her neck. One she barely dodge as it almost dug into her head.

With the knowledge that the target cannot move from her spot, the leader did not anticipate that she can simultaneously still manipulate her spear, as well as the fire swords. It is already too late for him, when one of the swords stabs him from behind. He falls on his knees.

“Destroy…”

“No…”

Azalea cuts the shaft of the spear, freeing herself from getting pinned. The others cannot attack because she is too close to their injured leader.

“I’ll heal you a bit too.”

White light glows around the man and his wound is gone. Before he gets a chance to lift a finger, the earth opened up and pulled him down burying him neck-deep. Azalea turns towards the other mercenaries who are still able to move. She feels their numbers and positions. There are less than ten left. It is evident that they are anxious after losing the commander.

“I’ll spare at least one mage. Hopefully, they learned basic healing.”

She casts the speed boost spell on herself to swiftly close the distance between her and the remaining enemies. Those who have already lost the will to fight are made to pass out, but those who tried to fight back are to lose a limb or two.

After making sure that all enemies will not be able to chase her, at least immediately after this battle, Azalea casts illusion magic to cover her tracks. She disappeared like a mirage in the middle of the desert.

She finds a hidden resting place in the close-by canyon. For a while, she will be able to get a little rest. If she continues farther to the east, Wave 5 will be there. It is the end of the Arbhur City’s Zone-0, and a little more after that she will be outside the border of Surus.

“How did I end up being in the center of such a big mess?” Azalea asks herself while looking at the prominent scratched on her spear. “It’s started with something so petty… and I got pissed off… Well, I’m at fault too, but it isn’t entirely my fault… isn’t it?”

When she thinks back on the past event, she just wanted to pass by Surus for the hunt. It is supposed to be a quick clear and go. Her real destination is Westar, to visit the graves of her friend in YAHO. She wanted to check on it, if someone made a proper grave for everyone. Then, she intends to find the whereabouts of her mother’s grave. She never knew where it was. Nobody told her, and she was unable to contact anyone who might have the information that she needs.

“That’s a bit… It really bothers me…”

Currently, moving around is a big problem. She has no access to public transport because of the dangers that her bounty could bring. As much as possible, she does not want innocent people to get caught up in her troubles. This is like a very long and confusing detour. But for now, what she wants is a decent rest.

∞×∞

Seventh day of Catra’xahr, 4043 AOT

Roham Village, Laamhi

Two days has passed since the hunt of the demon Lu’one. The report has been submitted to the Hunter’s Council. The demon has been slain but five hunters passed away. The demon that self-destructed left a core that is stays warm and pulsing. According to HC, it is a live core. If not taken care of properly, the same demon may grow back from it.

“What are we going to do with the demon?”

“We should give the core to the young hunter. She must know how to handle it.”

“Is she in any condition to take care of that?”

A group of people are chattering outside the village clinic.

“She is… the only one we were able to bring back alive.”

“How is the funeral?”

“All five are having it in the village hall. We should say our condolences tomorrow.”

“My sister is preparing the flowers. What a tragedy… they were too young. The family they left behind are deeply aggrieved.”

“What would the young hunter feel when she wakes up?”

“She’s physically fine… but her emotional condition is… rather chaotic. Her response when I first found her was… very heart-breaking.”

“It’s that… Many hunters experience it when accidents in hunts happen. It’s what they call survivor’s guilt.”

Azalea has woken up but she did not leave the bed. The room has started to dim as the sun is setting. She blankly stares at the ceiling. She is recalling events that she does not want to recall but still they play in her mind over and over like a film in loop.

Few more days passes by, yet her inactivity continues. Until one day, she just disappeared in the village clinic. When they looked for her, they found her in the cemetery outside the village. She is standing in front of the graves of the teens. She is still wearing the clinic’s clothes. Her feet are bare and the hem of the pants are mudded. It seems that she has been standing there for a long while. They are simply watching and observing her as they are trying to figure out how to approach her. But the sky has gone dark and rain is about to fall.

“Azalea,” the granny from the inn calls.

She looks back at several people who have followed. “Ah-… Sorry for troubling you…”

“Pay it no mind. You should go back and rest.”

“A-actually… I’m thinking of leaving tomorrow.”

“Already? I don’t think you have recovered enough.”

“I’m fine, granny.”

“If you’re tired, it’s okay to stop and take a rest… Rest, child… Until you are ready to once again, take another step forward.”

“I’ll keep your words in mind.”

After that, as Azalea has informed them, she got ready to leave the very next day. She talks to the village chief before going out of the village. She tells him that they can claim the reward for the demon and use it for the village. They a little reluctant but have accepted it in the end after convincing her to take the living core at least. She should be able to find a better use for it.