The next morning.Casey woke up early and practiced her skills in the garden. She was trying to cut the flower petals without damaging them. Having worked as a florist for years, she knew the anatomy of plants and flowers, so she could focus on specific parts with her knowledge.When she failed, she looked at the book in her hand. It was a book she rented from the local library. It covered the skills related to the hair-manipulating ability.“I can definitely feel that my hair got sturdier and can stretch for longer distances, but I’m sure I absorbed a bow, so where did that bow go?”Just then, she felt her hair moving on its own. Some of her hairs turned into a bow.“Wow,” she couldn’t see it, but she could feel it as she was holding a real bow. “This is cool, but where’s the arrow?”An arrow automatically formed with a few strands of her hair and shot at the mango tree. Nothing happened, or at least that’s what it seemed like at first sight.Casey went closer to the tree and noticed
The Hawk ward was separated from other wards by a deep ravine. At its border, the guards checked the IDs of everyone coming in or going out and recorded them on both computers as well as physical notebooks, which was part of the protocol.Ria crossed the bridge and showed her ID.“Is this your first time coming to this ward?” the tall woke-lizard guard asked.“Yes. Is that a problem?” Ria raised her brows.“That’s not the issue, but your mage score is below six,” the guard said while checking her status online. “It seems you are yet to pay a million dollar fine for causing a ruckus in a public market?”“My teammates are going to pay that today,” she softly replied.“Is that so?” the guard gave her ID back and said, “Don’t let your score fall below four, or you won’t be able to travel from one ward to another.”“Okay.”They let her pass.Ria entered the Hawk ward and observed her surroundings. Most of the species living there were woke- rats, squirrels, snakes, lizards and so on and so
Hawkins was busy teasing the women that were serving him, so he didn’t notice Ria until she flew into his view and unleashed a deadly attack that scared the living crap out of the two women that were next to Hawkins.“Thousand Terrors!” all of Ria’s feathers darted like spears and whooshed into Hawkins.He brought his wings out and immediately guarded himself. All of Ria’s feathers struck his defense and bounced off in different directions. Ria controlled the feathers and pulled them back to her, or the feathers would have struck the two maids and killed them.Ria landed in front of Hawkins and changed into her hybrid form and leaped at him. “Talon Raze!” Her talons cruelly dug through the tiny gaps in Hawkins’ wings and struck his diaphragm.“Krgh,” Hawkins spread his wings and forcibly pushed Ria away.Ria somersaulted in midair and came striking down toward his face this time.Hawkins moved his head away.Ria’s talon crushed through the chair.Hawkins rolled to the side and made di
Hawkins was watching everything from the rooftop below.Four objects came falling down freely, and they were the four woke-kites.“These useless bastards…” Hawkins wanted to just let them crash and die, but then these four guards weren’t exactly weak, so he flew and caught the four of them with his talons, and mouth and brought them down safely.All four of them were unconscious and suffered broken bones at different places.“Who could beat the four of them like this?” he hurriedly soared into the sky, but to his bafflement, neither Ria nor Myles were there. “Where did they go? I’m sure they were still here only seconds ago.” His eyes scanned for them as he hovered over the city, but he still couldn’t find them. “Tch, they must have hid themselves under a roof.”He gave up looking for them.“You can’t escape from this city, Ria. It’s only a matter of time before we see each other again, and I won't let you escape from me twice.”In the ravine right outside the Hawk ward.Myles and Ria
Don Saber had woken up and was checking the surveillance cameras at the headquarters to narrow down on the whereabouts of Myles.“He’s seen in ten different wards, sir. He’s everywhere.”“He was last seen entering the Sheep’s ward—him and his group.”“Isn’t that on the back side of the nether dungeon? It’s a dangerous zone where religious extremists live.”“They are entering through the back door,” Don gritted his teeth. “How the hell did they get into that ward? How did they find out about the secret entrance?”What most of the citizens didn’t know was that there was a second entrance into the nether dungeon, which was located in the Sheep’s ward, a land prohibited to enter by the outsiders.There was no surveillance system in the Sheep’s ward, so Don had no way to see what Myles and his group were up to.“There’s no other way,” Don’s gaze turned sharp. “I have to enter the dungeon myself and take down Myles Mertzel, but I can’t do it alone.”In the Sheep’s ward.The locals were very
Myles and others went through the muddy grounds. Casey and Biskie kept complaining that they were feeling an itchy sensation all over their body, especially their arms.Myles, Justin, and Ria didn’t feel that way.Myles checked their pulse. Something didn’t feel right, but he didn’t have the magic powers to look into their body and tell what was going on.“We’re not going to die, right?” Casey tensely asked.“Don’t worry too much,” Myles calmly replied. “No matter how much we struggle, we can’t delay our appointed deaths even by a second.”“You believe in destiny?” Biskie asked in an almost mocking tone. “Only fools would believe in things like destiny and God.”Myles smiled. “You are able to think and talk because your body is carefully built with intelligence. Your eyes, your teeth, and the blood that flows in your brains didn’t come into existence because some random wind blew and created you from dirt. That’s not how it works. If you use your God-given eyes, you’ll see that there’
Goblins were by no means weak. Each of them were stronger and faster typical humans, but their true power shone when they worked together in groups.Just a group of dozen goblins could easily take down a mammoth, so what about a thousand of them? They could conquer a town if they wanted to.Naturally, they didn’t even see the four humans as a threat.“Siege the women, and kill the man!” the elder goblin with a staff in his hand yelled. He lifted the staff. “I bless thee!”All the hundreds of goblins were given a significant boost in terms of speed and strength even before the battle even began.Their howls, screams, and snickers demoralized Casey and Biskie. Even Ria felt threatened by their sheer number, but remembering the reason she entered the dungeon again was to grow strong enough to defeat her mother’s killer, she quickly brushed her anxiety aside.She flew forth and used her most trusted attack. “Thousand Terrors!” Her feathers flew and pierced through the hundreds of goblins
The second floor was actually bigger than the first floor, with crazy monsters everywhere. Creatures that were able to mimic wood and stone and hide perfectly, or those that were able to rust everything around them.Most creatures were just horrifying to look at.Moreover, the landscape itself was huge, making them feel like they were miniscule.“There’s no way a dungeon this big is under the city, right?” Casey was wide-eyed as she saw flying monsters with long hairs growing out of their heads like with horses. It had been a few hours since they entered the second floor, but the scenery all around them still amazed her the same.“Yeah,” Biskie was also thinking the same, “we’re probably in another space or dimension or whatever you call it. I think the air itself feels tacky.” She could feel the stickiness in the air. “It’s probably full of particles that can corrupt our bodies.”“What makes you say that?” Ria asked.“Didn’t Myles say this is the breeding ground? So, the monsters fro