Chapter 24 - Wild Hunt

{24} - Evans Smith: Wild Hunt

It's been nearly an hour since he returned to the real world. He was back in the building he and Io were camping in. Io was still asleep, laying beneath a blanket he'd given. 

[-Wild Hunt Lv 1 (0%)-]

[A Blessing from the Past*. Allows the user to conjure a Phantasmal Bow and Phantom Arrows. Damage of the Phantom Arrows scales with Strength and Magic.]

*The Skill will gain more effects as it Levels Up

Evans whistled, and then winced. He'd been massaging his wrists as he was reading through his Status. He'd pressed wrong then. Grazed the bruise that was forming across his hand. It hurt.

Of course, he was alive. Considering what he just fought, that was a blessing on its own. He was just whining.

Still, he was somewhat worried. That was only one Vestige, and a fairly 'weak' one. What about the Vestiges you'd find in the later areas? How about the Vestiges that came from the DLC? How strong would those corrupted monsters be?

Not being the Main Character sucks.

But there wasn't anything he could do about it. The plotline must go on, lest this world eventually decay.

He shook those thoughts away. And returned to the panel floating before him.

A 'Phantasmal Bow', it said. He wasn't sure what exactly that meant, but that at least meant he had a Ranged attack now. It wasn't the type of Ranged Skill he wanted—a Skill that directly allowed him to control his flames would've been so much better—but it was at least a Ranged attack.

He gave his wrist a quick message before he held his hand forward. There was a new feeling in his chest—a coursing electricity that felt vaguely like popping bubbles. He called upon it, directed it to manifest through his fingertips.

His hand shimmered blue, and suddenly a bow made of starlight formed in his hand. It shimmered a swirling blue and purple, reminiscent of the stars laying in the night sky above. The entire thing was nearly as tall as he was, and the body was thick as his arms.

He brought his other hand onto the strings, and pulled. An arrow formed on it, shimmering blue and purple. He aimed it at a group of Losts prowling the streets below, and let loose.

The arrow flew. And missed his target. The arrow blasted into the street and exploded in a burst of blue. It still killed the group of Losts, but he still missed.

Well, that was expected. He didn't have some -Archery- Skill or whatnot.

…but, hmm-

He fought using his fists. His Magic came from tainted blood and fire. And now he had a bow made of starlight.

He was just a whole mish-mash of ideas.

He glanced at his Phantasmal Bow. And imagined what he'd look like if he used his bow as a Melee weapon. After all, the thing was made of starlight, wasn't it? It was probably more durable than his fists at this point.

Well, that, and it also reminded him of Orion from Fate. 

…

Hmm.

"System, you still up?"

[The System is always operational]

He smiled. "That's convenient." His smile fell. "What's the difficulty of this World?"

[World Designation -Code Vein- holds the Difficulty: Hard]

A grim frown found his lips. "In canon, sure. But this isn't canon, is it?" He glanced down at his wrist. It was bruised black and blue. The amount of power he had to use for his final struggle was not small. His body was unused to handling so much force. It showed.

It didn't answer him for a moment. The words on the floating panel scrambled and fuzzled over and over. Almost as if it was combing through a number of responses. 

[The Scorned One has identified the [Divergence]. Bypassing Firewalls…]

His frown grew. [Firewalls]? Was the System hiding things from him? 

…Honestly, that wasn't that surprising. 

[Query: Code Vein Divergent #1128396 holds the Difficulty: Very Hard]

There you go. That made a lot more sense. 

From what little he'd seen, exploring the areas (or at least the earlier ones) wouldn't be all that different from the game. The 'Bosses' would be similar too. But when it came to retrieving Vestiges and saving the Successors? 

That was probably where he'd meet the most resistance.

[Description of the Special Mission has been updated!]

[You have entered into the world of -Code Vein-, and have discovered the Divergence. However, the Fated One is missing, and the Scorned One must take their place. Find the traces of the Queen's Taint and purge them, even if you must do so one at a time.]

[Completion Reward: 3x [School Expansion Units], [Random Skill Card (Ultra)], Unrestricted Access to Code Vein]

"Well that's just lovely, isn't it." He dismissed the panels with a wave.

Of course, he could just leave. There was nothing stopping him. He could just wait it out, Lecture Io a few times, build up enough Mentor Exp for both he and Io to return to his School, and leave this whole mess behind. This world was just one of countless Divergents.

[Warning! Abandoning a Mission before Completion will incur a Penalty!]

"But I could."

The system didn't answer back. It didn't need to.

He huffed. And then he pulled a small snack and began eating. "Don't worry. I won't. I'm a little too invested in this to leave it behind." His eyes narrowed, and a strange gleam entered his eyes. "But you lot seem awfully concerned for someone called the 'Scorned One'." He grinned. "I mean, it's not like I'm the only one that can do this, right?"

It didn't answer.

He shrugged and let the matter drop. For now. 

He turned his mind to his plans. Now that he knew what he'd be facing, he needed to plan. Without the Main Character, he'd need to face the Vestiges with force. He still didn't know whether he could bring others into the fight, and he wasn't sure what he wanted.

At least, this he knew—if the Vestiges were that strong, then the Successors would be even more dangerous. And that wasn't even considering how strong the corrupted Silva Cruz would be.

But he wasn't afraid. He'd get stronger with every Vestige he brought down. And he still had all the nick-nacks he took from MHA in his Inventory. Hell, he even still had those gauntlets Izumi made for him. Fully loaded too.

He just needed to keep moving forward.

...............…...........

The next day came, and Evans stood at the small opening that stood just outside the Undergrounds' Exit. It was the area where Code Vein's first Boss should've occurred. It would never happen in this world. Hopefully.

Io was by his side, eating a granola bar as her breakfast. She seemed in awe at the taste. She looked like an adorable chipmunk as she stuffed her cheeks with it.

Not too long after, Louis appeared. "Evans." Louis smiled. "You're here."

Evans winked back. "Well, I promised, didn't I?"

Louis huffed, and then frowned as he saw the bandage wrapped around his wrist. "Are you injured?"

He blinked, and then glanced at his wrist. He winced. "A little. I…ran into something in the early morning." He smiled at Louis' worried frown. "Don't worry though. It's dead. And it ain't coming back."

Louis hummed. "Do you not have any Blood Beads?"

"Ah, that-" His smile turned wry. "I'm a little special. I don't need as much Blood as most do. Of course," He raised his injured wrist. "The trade off's that I heal slower than others."

Louis frowned. The man was probably confused that a 'Revenant' like him could exist. After all, his sister had been heavily involved in the creation of Revenants in the first place. Thankfully, Louis simply smiled and said, "Do tell me if you need any, however."

He gave Louis a thumbs up. "Will do." He took a breath, and smiled. "Well, should we go?"

Louis smiled back. "Let's."