The elf girl smirked deviously as she finished her list of charges. "...and nature harassment." Zoi's eyes widened, a mix of amusement and annoyance on his face. "Nature harassment? You gotta be kidding me."
Lumina chimed in, "Zoi, might wanna play this cool. You are kinda guilty." Zoi shot her a look. "Shut it, Lumina."
The elf girl stepped forward, her bow still trained on Zoi. "I'm not kidding. You've caused irreparable damage to the forest ecosystem. You'll face trial for your crimes." Zoi sighed, rubbing his temples. "Look, can we talk about this? I'm kinda busy."
The elf girl raised an eyebrow. "Busy? You've just killed a new breed of the cyber-toothed tiger species. I'm sure it can wait." Zoi's expression turned calculating. "You know what? I think I'll take my chances." He moved faster than the elf could react, snatching the arrow mid-air. "Sorry, I don't do well with threats." he said, snapping it into two.
The other elves tensed, drawing their bows. "Zoi, maybe don't, you're out numbered" Lumina warned. The elf girl's eyes narrowed "that's bullshit-" before Zoi could complete his words the elf girl had already appeared at his front her finger placed underneath his chin, raising it slightly to make their face meet each other. "So, it's like that, is it?"
-SOME MINUTES LATER-
"Damn it, I didn't know there were more, and how the fuck is she so tall" Zoi thought as they walked through the thick forest, he slowed down a bit but was immediately pushed forward by the elf girl. "Walk faster, slowpoke," she said, talking to him as if he was a prisoner, angering him. "Dammit, I really wish I could kill this bitch right now, if only these guys weren't here," Zoi thought, looking at the other elves that were walking with them. "Sorry but even if it was only the both of you, she'll still trash you," Lumina said, angering Zoi even more. "Just shut up," Zoi thought. "For now, I'll try to reason things with them," he added. "So, if I may asked may I knew what I do," Zoi asked.
"Before asking me anything, correct your English, you barbarian," the elf girl said, her voice dripping with bloodlust. "Sorry, isn't that how elves communicate?" Zoi asked with an annoying expression. Swiftly, one of the elves, a lady, swung her dagger but stopped right as it was about to meet his throat. "Careful with your words, you might not be able to talk again… or even worse," she said, her expression filled with bloodlust. But the elf girl from before grabbed her by the hand. "Tabitha, we have to take him to the castle alive. I will not accept this attitude from you," she paused as she looked at Zoi, "even though it's towards a lowlife bottom feeder." The girl calmed down and withdrew her blade. "I'm sorry milady, I let my emotions get the best of me," she said as she looked at Zoi with a threatening gaze before looking away. "Bitch," Zoi whispered.
"You, I'll deal with you later," the elf girl said as she glared at Zoi.
"Hey, I heard you say castle," Zoi said.
"Shut up and keep walking," she snapped, shutting him up.
"Yeesh, she doesn't have to be so harsh," Zoi thought. "But hey, don't you mind—"
He was immediately cut off by a hard kick to his jaw that immediately cracked it. Zoi crashed to the ground, his mouth foaming as his body twitched. "Lady Eleanor, you've killed him!" another elf who was a man yelled.
"Oh shut up. I'm sure he's pretending or something," she said.
The other elven male poked Zoi's body with his spear. "Nope. He's totally dead," he said.
"Then let's butcher his body and offer him to the forest spirits since he's of no use now," Tabitha said as she unleashed her daggers.
"Wait, I don't think we should kill him," Zoi said, trying to mimic Eleanor's voice while resting his arm on Eleanor's shoulder.
"But isn't he already dead?" one of the elven men said.
"What the fuck—" Eleanor said.
"Wait, he's gone!" the other elven male yelled.
Eleanor looked to her side, noticing Zoi. Her eyes widened in surprise and she immediately jumped backwards, freeing herself from his grasp. "How the fuck did you get there?" she said as the other elves noticed and immediately pointed their weapons at him.
"Are elves allowed to say such dirty words?" Zoi asked as he cracked his fingers, with a smirk spread across his face.
"So your name's Eleanor, huh?" Zoi said as he took a fighting stance.
"No it's not," Eleanor denied. "Don't try to trick me-Hey, what's that?" Zoi yelled, pointing upwards.
All the elves looked to see what it was but didn't see anything. As they looked back, Zoi was already gone.
"Hey, I'd never like to meet you again," Zoi yelled, standing on a tree branch ready to take off.
"Hold up," Eleanor yelled, grabbing her bow and about to shoot Zoi.
"As much as I'd like to see where this goes, I can't. I have to hurry back. I have a bad feeling," Zoi said.
"And how's that my business?" Eleanor said as she shot the arrow. Mana and wind engulfed it, making it faster, more precise and deadlier than a bullet, but Zoi swiftly grabbed it right as it was about to meet his face.
"Nice throw," he said as he broke the arrow.
He let the arrow drop and turned to take off, but immediately he sensed a large amount of mana and bloodlust approaching fast. The system screen popped up: *WARNING SOMETHING DANGEROUS IS APPROACHING*.
He widened his eyes in surprise, his face painted with fear as he looked back. A large herd of mature Flameingos was approaching, preparing a massive fireball.
As much as he wanted to run away, his conscience wouldn't let him. He turned back.
"Zoi, what are you doing? Escape while there's still time!" Lumina yelled.
"Sorry, Lumina, but that's one thing I can't do," he said as he began to jump from tree to tree toward the herd.
Unlike the young Flameingos, the mature ones were fire itself. No flesh, no blood. Their only weakness was the core they had in their chest.
Eleanor pointed her bow at him, but as she looked closer at where he was going, she noticed the herd of Flameingos coming. Swiftly, she turned. "Everyone, retreat!" she yelled, alerting the others.
As they were about to take off, the Flameingos released their fireball.
"Shit," Zoi murmured as he barely dodged the huge fireball. Swiftly, he turned mid-air and swung his hand. Immediately, mana shot out of his fingertips, forming webs- yeah, just like a certain spider guy. They wrapped the fireball like a net, making it dissipate.
Eleanor, wondering why the attack hadn't reached them, looked back and was surprised to see it gone.
A Flameingo suddenly jumped out, about to attack Eleanor, but Tabitha immediately swooped in and took the attack. She was nearly burnt to a crisp as her lifeless body fell to the ground.
"Tabitha!" Eleanor murmured, shocked and terrified as she fell to her knees. "No," she said as she dragged Tabitha's body closer.
Past memories began to flash in her head — memories of the time they had spent together. Tabitha was her personal guard from childhood and had been with her ever since then.
The sight before her was too traumatizing for her to handle. She broke. Emotionless, she sat there quiet as tears slowly dropped from her face.
The herd was still approaching at a faster rate. Zoi leapt into action. He began to run around, jumping up and down from tree to tree, from bush to bush, putting his mana threads all over the place like those security lasers in movies.
He stopped himself at the front of the stampeding Flameingos and dragged his hands back, tightening and strengthening the threads.
The Flameingos at the front noticed and tried to stop, but the others from behind pushed forward, dragging those at the front with them.
Immediately, they were all caught in the threads, which damaged their crystal cores, killing them and making them dissipate.
Zoi sighed in relief as he rested on his knees. "It's finally over," he said as he looked back, noticing the situation. He let out another sigh and looked at the crystals. "Do they have any use?" he asked.
"Of course. They have many uses," Lumina answered as the system screen popped up: "Congratulations. You've killed 20 Flameingos. You're now Level 18. You've gained 20 crystals (can be used for fixing or upgrading weapons), 1 year worth of mana, and 10 stat points. All stats have increased by 7."
"Oh yeah, when I picked the Omniscient Dagger, it kept showing warning messages... that it can't be used," Zoi said as he stared at the crystal in his hand. "So this baby can fix it," he said as he threw it up and caught it. "Nice. So how do I do it?" he asked.
"Put the dagger through the screen, then the cores," Lumina explained.
"I see," Zoi said as he summoned the dagger and put it through the system screen. "Please select the number of cores that should be used," the system screen displayed.
"Oh, just use all," Zoi said.
"What? Are you sure?" Lumina yelled, almost making Zoi deaf.
"Of course I'm sure," Zoi yelled as all the crystals disappeared along with the one in his hand. "You fool, that's too much. It only needs eight to be fixed," Lumina said.
"What evs. More means overpowered, right?" Zoi said as the status screen disappeared.
"Yeah, but then it'll take like one week to fix and upgrade," Lumina said. "Whaaat!! You didn't tell me that earlier," Zoi yelled. "And that's my favorite weapon," he added.
"Too bad. Guess you'll have to wait then," Lumina said, mocking Zoi.
But his joy was suddenly cut short. As Zoi turned, he was given a hot backhand slap by...Eleanor??!!!!!!!!!