41 Candle Guides (1/2)
”Scarlett! Don't you dare touch the turtle!” Melody cried out. While riding on Wendy, she was currently dealing with several multicolored goblins through her illusions. Since the critters moved based on their instincts, Melody could easily fool them into hitting each other.
Behind the fairy was an enormous obsidian turtle the size of a four-story building and a single lizard girl filled with curiosity.
”I'm going to finish the request if it's the last thing I do today!” Scarlett replied as she readied a fist.
”Scarlett! Please, no!” Bridget fought several gremlins with her knives and wires. Throughout her training, she became proficient enough to not tangle herself in the string.
Scarlett had underestimated the difficulty of the request and now they were stuck fighting weak, but endless mobs. Although she was a white ranked adventurer, she managed to take a mission that was for higher ranks due to a single typo in the writing.
Scarlett's punch landed onto the turtle's eye, however, it did not wake up. In fact, the turtle was unscathed from the minuscule blow it received.
Instead, a baby turtle emerged from under the giant turtle.
”Let's capture it and sell it,” the lizard girl's irises glittered in a greedy light.
”Before that, get your scaley tail here and help out!” Melody threw a pebble at her, but it bounced off Scarlett's head and hit the baby turtle.
”Shkyaaaa!” The baby turtle shrieked as the giant turtle twitched.
Its eyelids opened revealing two white orbs. Glaring straight at the lizard girl, it opened its beak.
And, bit onto Scarlett's head.
”Scarlett!”
------
Jade Hargraves observed the dainty crystal doll in her hand.
Her bodyguard, who was more strong and tenacious than most of the men that guarded her, was now a delicate figurine, which could shatter if she dropped the girl.
”Alexis…”
As always, the doll was unresponsive. At some point during those four months, Alexis stopped waking up and decided to focus on storing her mana.
On the other hand, Jade never forgot to supply her own mana to Alexis.
With the renewed hope the auction brought, Jade was determined to earn enough money to fix her bodyguard.
And, her best friend.
Knock. Knock.
Putting Alexis away, the demoness faced a man in a black suit.
He sneered, ”So, this is the demon who wishes to offer her services at our humble guild.”
Her eyes never left the man's body as he took a seat in front of her.
”I never thought I would find similar kin to my own in this repugnant city. What would you like to do? Assassinations, trade, or maybe research?”
Jade withdrew a slip of paper from her sack and pushed it toward the man.
”This.”
His smirk grew wider.
------
Falling through the abyss, Jae Farley wondered why he was here.
A few moments ago, he listened to a girl named Shannon and entered an abandoned building in compensation for murdering her seekers in cold blood. After discovering the masked men, he was forced to exterminate them lest they sought his companions.
Right before dealing with the last of the three, Jae fell into a hole to another dimension like Alice from ”Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”.
'Deja vu?'
It was not the first time that he had plunged into a pitfall. Both figuratively and literally. In the beginning, he did panic like a headless chicken. However, it had been several minutes since he had begun this continuous freefall and his senses had become dull.
”I'm not liking how this is going.”
If he continued to fall, then at some point he would become like an egg. Not a sunny-side up, but a smashed one for scrambled eggs.
He considered changing into a slime so he would not have to heal any mangled limbs. But when he reached out for his sack, he realized that he dropped it at some point in time.
”Is this my end?”
”No.”
A girl in all white stared into Jae's pupils. Her expression was indifferent like a doll's. With an umbrella in hand, she seemed as light as a feather, yet fell at the same pace as him.