58 One Fifth

Jacksan looked at Kayda with evident fear and disgust in his eyes.

Earlier while he was running from the bone deer, he had caught a glimpse of Mr. Gerad making his way towards the carriages.

He had instantly started to curse out that deceptive and greedy merchant inside his head.

Looking forward, he saw Trave and Ottan battling against one of the scaled water minks as they had already killed one and the last one remaining was covered in wounds and blood.

A crafty grin formed on his face. Like hell he was going to let Mr. Gerad leave without him and gain all the benefits.

Running straight towards Trave and Ottan, he ran right between them causing Trave to slightly stumble.

Before he could recover, a large and earthshaking sensation traveled from his feet and he looked up in time to see the bone deer stampeding it's way towards them.

It was already to late when Trave looked up.

Before the bone deer could crush him into the ground, Ottan appeared from the side with his large sword and used all his remaining strength to swing his sword towards the side of its face.

When the sword connected, it slid along its hard armor and slashed across the bone deer's eye. As a result, it raised itself on its hind legs and let out an earth shattering cry.

As if that lone injury had injected it with new vigor, it violently lashed out upon its new targets.

Seeing all this, Jacksan smirked evilly before quickly slipping his way towards the carriages.

Making his way over, Jacksan was just about to step over a branch when he heard a weird gushing sound.

Looking up, Jacksan witnessed as Mr. Gerad melted into a puddle of black blood before evaporating into the ground while a small, animalistic figure stood over him with an air of blood lust.

So shocked, Jacksan dropped his foot and snapped the twig under his boots, causing a small sound that felt like thunder to him.

Turning around, the figure's cold eyes landed on Jacksan, causing him to instantly feel a feeling of dread and then shock.

At first, when he looked at the figure, he didn't realize who it was as its long tail and horns dismissed any idea of the creature being human to him.

But when he finally saw her face, shock, disgust, and fear had filled every pore of his body.

It was the other girl who had joined the group. He could recognize her by her short and vibrant silver hair and her emerald green eyes.

As Kayda looked at him with the familiar fear and disgust, she couldn't help a deprecating sneer from forming on her delicate lips.

Jacksan lifted a bloody hand in disgust. "Monster!" He spat.

With a ruthless smile, Kayda lifted her own hand and pointed back. "Scum."

A white flame quickly jumped from her finger and landed in front of Jacksan.

Jacksan made an attempt to step away from the flame but the instant it landed on his figure, it disappeared.

Shocked and confused, Jacksan froze.

But just as quickly as it disappeared, the pain had arrived.

The burning fire quickly consumed his insides, burning away at his veins and boiling his tendons and blood.

Jacksan made an attempt to scream, but instead, a mist of evaporated blood scalded his throat and escaped from his mouth in a fog before his body quickly became nothing but a hollow shell burning from the inside out.

As Jacksan's figure eroded away, it slowly revealed Kayda who was standing behind him with a grim expression.

There was no flicker of emotion as Kayda watched Jacksan being burned from the inside out.

There was only the calm and cold expression she usually wore as she watched his twisted face in agony before he died. And now, she stared at the lumps of ash that mixed with the weeds on the ground. Exactly where he belonged.

With a sigh, Kayda reached up to the oval pendant around her neck and filled it with mana before anyone else could see this figure of hers.

Looking up, she gazed into the clearing where monsters still fought and the rest of the adventurers were at their last breaths.

Guess there's still work to be done.

Making her way back to the place she left her outer clothes and mask, she cleaned herself up and put her mask back on over her face.

Looking into the clearing, Kayda assessed the situation.

Nick was out of arrows and was fighting the cronos with his bow, waving it around like a sword and aiming the ends towards its vulnerable eyes. The cronos in turn was covered with arrows that stuck under its skin.

Feathers were missing and its breath was labored but it didn't give up.

Ottan and Trave on the other hand weren't fairing to well.

Both of them were beaten up and bloody. Trave's left arm was laying limp by his side while Ottan had a chunk of his leg missing. But neither of them gave up and defended one another from the furious bone deer.

Laying behind them where the two scaled water mink corpses.

Ottan and Trave must have already been exhausted from battling those two beast's but Jacksan had come and dumped his problem onto them causing them not to have a moment of rest.

Understanding the situation, Kayda shot into the fray with inhuman speed.

Everyone noticed when she had entered the clearing, but no one dared to pay it any more attention as losing their focus could cost them their lives.

Kayda directly shot past them and headed to Jacksan's dropped rapier that laid on the ground.

Picking up the rapier, Kayda tossed it into the air before twisting around to gain momentum. When the rapier started to come down again, she balanced herself before using a great deal of strength to kick the handle of the blade.

The thin sword shot forward in Nick's direction.

Before he could even react, the cronos leapt into the blades path and the sword lunged itself into its spine. The tip of the rapier appeared from the large bird's chest.

Freezing in its tracks, the cronos let one last cry before it fell limply to the ground.

Kayda didn't even look back before she quickly made her way back towards Trave and Ottan.

"Trave!" Kayda's shout quickly got Trave and Ottan's attention.

"Dagger!"

At first, Trave hesitated. Why would she want his dagger? But he didn't hesitate for long. He had two daggers but currently one of his arms was severely injured. What was the point to holding onto it?

Taking out his other dagger, he threw it to Kayda who caught it with one hand before continuing to dash towards the bone deer.

Once she got close, she leapt up and landed upon the bone deer's back.

Spooked, it changed the focus of its direction and started bucking wildly around the camp.

With a handful of its mane, Kayda didn't dare to let go.

Raising up the dagger in her hand, she aimed at a spot that was located where the bone armor covering its head had ended and where its mane began. With what was left of her strength, Kayda swung the dagger down and lodged it into the back of its head.

The bone deer gave a sudden shrill cry. Taking advantage of the moment, Kayda gripped the dagger and twisted it, causing a sudden crunch.

The bone deer, having had its weakest spot exploited, died. But not before tripping over it's hooves and falling to the ground with a heavy thud, pinning Kayda under its large body.

The entire clearing went silent. The only thing left to fill the air was the panting breaths of all three men.

Across the clearing, they all made eye contact with equal levels of shock painting their faces.

Each one of them were thinking the same thing.

What in the world just happened?

While all the men were staring dumbly at each other, Kayda was trying hard to catch her breath.

After this fight, she could tell that she still wasn't able to achieve one fifth of her strength that she had in the past.

She was still weak and sick after being malnourished for so long. Of course she wasn't thinking that she would instantly recover, but it made her disappointed that she was still pretty weak.

With a groan, she tried to push herself up, but her legs were still being crushed by the overwhelming weight of the bone deer that was bigger than three full grown horses.

Giving up, she laid back down upon the ground to catch her breath.

[Author's Apology]

Hello. I am very sorry of stalling the updates for so long without any prior announcement. I have no excuse to give and I am very sorry for having to do that. Thank you for staying with this unorganized author for so long. Thank you and I hope everyone has a great week.