Book 3: Chapter 102 (1/2)

Mary frowned and turned her head from side to side. The path to the left was dark and ominous, filled with lurking dangers that would eat her since she didn’t have her sword. The path to the right was also dark and ominous. Ahead of her, there was a giant tree. Behind her was the way she came from, but even that looked scary as well. Did she really come from that way? The moon and stars weren’t out, and the only source of light came from … nowhere. Mary shivered and hugged her shoulders. She wanted to go back, but her stomach growled at her, and she swallowed down her unease. Even without a sword, she was strong. At least, she wouldn’t die if—

Snap.

Mary shrieked and dropped to all fours. The rune on her head flashed, and an aura rose up around her body, wrapping it up and creating a turtle-like shape. A snake slithered out from her lower back and tasted the air with its tongue.

“Mary?”

Mary opened her eyes and raised her head, turning around to look behind herself past the aura. Tafel was standing there, holding a fireball in her left hand, her staff in her right. Mary blinked twice, and the aura dispersed as the rune on her head faded away. “T-Tafel,” Mary said and nodded. “Were you hungry too?”

“What were you doing?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. She walked up to Mary and offered her a hand, helping the empress to her feet. “You seemed, uh, very—”

Mary cleared her throat, drowning out Tafel’s voice. “I was hunting,” she said. “The snake part of my aura can see in the dark. It’s like I can see the hot things inside a cold forest.”

Tafel’s expression didn’t change, and Mary’s face flushed as she looked away. It was a good thing her face was already tinged with red thanks to the bloody color of Tafel’s flames. Mary’s stomach growled again, and she wet her lips with her tongue. Right when she was about to say something, a shiver ran down her spine, and she whirled around.

“Mary?” Tafel asked.

Mary furrowed her brow. “Tafel,” she said and stood in front of the demon like a mother bear standing in front of its cubs. “This might be very rude of me to ask, but can I borrow your sword?”

“You want to borrow Chi’Rururp?” Tafel reached into her portal and pulled out her one-eyed sword with a single wing on its handle. She passed it handle first to Mary. “I don’t think he’ll improve your strength if you cut yourself with him, just saying.”

Chi’Rururp blinked at Mary, but the empress wasn’t looking at it. Mary clenched Chi’Rururp with both hands and shouted, “Come out!”

There was no response. Mary narrowed her eyes and took a step forward while sweeping her sword in a wide arc. It sliced through the trunk of the massive tree ahead of her, but it remained standing as if nothing had happened. Mary placed the sole of her boot against the trunk and nudged. There was a groaning sound as the top half of the tree shifted forward. Then, it toppled over, speeding up as the top neared the ground.

Screams filled the air, and stomping sounds rang throughout the forest, heading away from Mary and Tafel. Tafel frowned and raised her hand, throwing the fireball in her palm into the air. It hovered above the treetops and grew in size like a miniature sun, lighting up the surroundings in a blood-red glow. The backs of people running away came into view. They were equipped with shoddy weapons: one had a hoe, another had a sickle used for harvesting wheat, and a third tossed away the branch it was holding to run away faster.

Mary sprinted forward and grabbed the man who had thrown away the branch. He shrieked and shouted, “Mercy! Please, mercy! Don’t kill me, please, please, please.”

Mary stared at the man. There was nothing special about him. He was wearing dirty clothes, and his hair was matted as if it hadn’t been washed in a few weeks. A layer of dirt covered his arms and legs, and the man wasn’t even wearing shoes. Mary tilted her head. She had heard about people like these. They hid in lawless places and robbed anyone who came through. “Are you a bandit?”