Swordsmaster Fox-girl

“Kre—Kreeeek!”

A shadow of a giant beast. I didn’t know what it was, but it looked like a giant millipede.

This pressure…. A 4-Star?

Bad. Very bad! M-Maybe the Otherworlders could help? I quickly turned around and saw the three clueless fuckers already several feet away from me. They looked at me apologetically before Kyle took out a glowing rock.

You fuckers—!

“S-Sorry Nova, we can only transport 3 people! Y-You can survive, right?”

“No I can’t! Take me with you!”

I lunged for them, but before I was even half-way there, Kyle crushed the stone and made them all disappear in a flash of bright blue light.

The millipede started charging at me before I could even get up. Horrified, I fumbled my way to the side and narrowly avoided it.

“Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! Get away from me!!”

I ran through the dense forest, but the millipede had more of an advantage on this kind of terrain than me. If it wasn’t for some very fortunate placement of trees and rocks, I’d have been eaten.

But my luck couldn’t last forever. I soon found myself standing on the edge of a cliff. When I turned around, I saw the millipede lunging at me again. I decided to trust my instinct and stepped aside. The dumb bug fell to its death like that.

“Haaah…. Haaah…. What the fuck!?”

I plopped down to the ground; heaving heavy breaths. What a scary encounter…. But at least I was alive—

“Kre—Kreeeek!”

The familiar screech of the millipede followed by the sound of dozens of armored legs stabbing hard rocks.

“D-Don’t tell me….”

Two small antennae were the firsts to peek out from below the cliff, followed by the first section of its body.

“Shit! Just fucking stay dead!”

I picked up a hefty rock by my side and smashed the millipede’s head with it. But as expected, my meager self couldn’t do anything to it.

I threw the rock one last time at the monster and made a run for it. I had a head start, yes, but that advantage was soon nullified as I heard rapid footsteps behind me.

“I’M JUST FUCKING SKIN AND BONES! GO EAT SOMETHING ELSE!”

The monster didn’t care. It started going in a straight line toward me, knocking down the rocks and trees in its way.

As the forest became more dense and I was just able to barely squeeze myself through the forages, I found hope in the form of a well-dressed man with black hair.

“HEY! HELP ME!”

The man turned toward me. I knew I made a mistake as soon as I did. Although he looked strong, his body was riddled with wounds. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’d dropped dead right then and there.

His eyes glowed red as he eyed me hungrily and bared his fangs.

A-A Vampire? No, I don’t fucking care! It’s better than dying to that thing!

I rushed to his side and hid behind him. His hunger seemingly dissipated when he heard the loud sounds of the millipede knocking over the big trees in its way.

“C-Child, what monstrosity did you bring with you?”

His question was soon answered. The millipede squeezed its head into the gap between two trees and began tearing everything apart. 

The shock made the man fall to his knees. His wounds, though very severe before, got worse somehow.

“Fuck! Take my blood!”

I offered my arm to him, but he refused.

“It’s too late.”

“W—”

“Run. My corpse will surely buy you time.”

Run to where, dumbass!?

We were in a weird clearing surrounded by tightly-knit trees. There wasn’t a single gap that I could squeeze in between.

“I’m not abandoning you!”

Fucking stand up and fight!

“Child….”

“Take my blood! Please!”

“No…. It’s too late.”

The man slumped to the ground. He wasn’t dead yet, but he might as well have been.

Something clicked in my brain.

“I…. Awakened?”

A 1-star Awakener. I’d have much preferred it if I didn’t awaken in this situation, but beggars can’t be choosers.

I knew new Awakeners were useless, so I focused on my Gift. Somewhere, deep in my consciousness, information appeared.

“My Gift: Transpose. I only have two uses?”

I looked at the millipede before taking a deep breath and plunging my hand into the man’s body.

“Transpose!”

His body disappeared, leaving only behind splattered blood as proof of his existence.

Well, not really.

{W-What? What’s happening?}

A small red orb floated around me. To be honest, I wasn’t sure myself. But considering the fact that the voice was the same as the man’s, I could make a guess.

But there wasn’t even time for that. The millipede finally broke the sturdy trees and started slithering its way toward me.

Dammit! If only I had a weapon!

As if resonating with my thoughts, the red orb elongated and turned into particles resembling a spear. It fell straight into my hands and felt weightless. Yet, I could feel its sharpness.

{What the—}

“No time to be confused.”

I gripped the spear hard and stared at the charging millipede. Once more, I sidestepped its charge. As the insect whooshed past me, I stabbed the spear into its side.

Utter failure. I was too weak. The spear inflicted no more than a scratch and bounced off.

As the millipede turned around and set its antennae on me, the world shook.

A thin curtain of bright light wormed its way toward the millipede, tearing both the ground and the insect apart.

As the monster’s purple blood splashed on my face, I looked down at my hands in surprise.

“Did I….”

“You didn’t. I did.”

A woman placed a hand on my shoulder. Her arms and legs looked slender but her muscular abs told a different story. All over her body were deep scars, some of which weren’t fully healed.

Her skin was tanned and her hair was gray. Unlike her hair, her eyes were black.

On her body was full iron armor, and on her back was a sword thrice my size.

“Y-You are….”

“Commander Ellen, as my boys call me.”

No idea who you are.

But she saved me, so surely, she didn’t have bad intentions, r-right?

“I need you to go with me. The black-haired man you met…. I was hunting him down. But now that you somehow made him disappear, you’ll undergo some questioning.” 

She ruffled my hair as her black eyes bore down on the red orb. 

“Actually, the questioning isn’t necessary, but it’s just standard procedure.”

“I-I understand.”

“Great.” Ellen scooped me up like a sack of potatoes.

It was then that I realized something. “W-Wait, does that mean you’ve been watching from the start?”

“Yes?”

“And you didn’t help me until now!?”

Ellen stopped in her tracks and chuckled.

“Forgive me, then. I just want to see how youths like you would do.”

She then tensed her muscles and fucking lept into the air, high above the trees.

I’d seen so much shit today that I wasn’t really surprised. Just…. I was just tired.

‘Hey,’ I looked at the orb. ‘Now that I’m stuck with you, let’s get acquainted. The name’s Nova, what’s yours?’

{....Just call me Kirion. You can’t pronounce my full name.}

Kirion…. Kirion….

What a nice name.