I stood there, having the worst injury in his life, and he drank alcohol before he died. Suddenly, a male voice ringing my ears, it was no other than Plasma
"Roxy…Roxy! Can you here me there, it's urgent"
"What is it, Plasma? Can't you see that I was at the middle of something"
"I examined the liquor he drank… it contained…"
Plasma didn't finished the sentence clearly as White interrupted me,
"I beg you pardon. It seems that you're talking to yourself" White said in a confused expression
"Oh, I'm so sorry, it's just nothing"
"Haha, are you toying me?, Roxy?"
"No, certainly not, White! We defeated the leader of this syndicate, Am I right?"
After that, White blurted out a cut face toward me, but she felt bad about her death of her former partner, it seems that White and Edrie are both capital knights, they know very well each other, and they are likely connected to the past. And it still wasn't enough while White stared at his dead body directly
As both of us deeming our condolences, a male voice interrupted me again. It was Plasma, my ai assistant from my blood curse, there he continued
"Roxy, why the sudden talk. I'll giving you life-changing advice over there,"
"Life-changing advice? Plasma, were in a mourning from her dead partner, don't shush me, I'm your host, remember"
"Yeah, yeah. But you need to listen carefully, this is important, so please listen"
"Sure, I'll listen"
"Roxy, you wouldn't not believe me at first, but the liquor that Edrie drank before he died contained an unknown pathogen"
"What pathogen, Plasma?"
"Based from my analysis, it is an ancient virus that was modified several times, if a human drank that, it gives superhuman abilities, just like experiment 001"
"Huh?!"
Upon hearing this, I was about to told White about Edrie drank the specially modified virus, but her face lend out a shock, clasping both of her hands from her face,
"R-Roxy, am I crazy or that hand twitched for a second"
There, I looked at Edrie pale body, and through my shock. It twitched in an instant, it's fingertips began to move itself, and it's intact limbs jolted in succession. Something is not right,
"Oh my, what in tarnation is this?!"
"Edrie… is not dead!"
Edrie opened its eyelids as we stood there silently, It's eyes glowed blood-red, the same irises as the creatures inside the facility, but even more vibrant, it's teeth grew in a instantaneous rate, jagged like teeth were shown at our eyes. And worse, it's gaping hole at his chest began to regenerate, it covered up until it was none left but a scar,
Edrie stood up while both White and I backed out from a distance, holding our swords pointing at him, while his body began to change, his face was unrecognizable as his body healed, much eerily similar to Experiment 001, with a disfigured appearance of an man, it transformation had only just began,
"Edrie, what have you done?" White asked
Edrie's eyes were stained in the intense scarlet of freshly spilled blood, and his muscles expanded to the point that they threatened to burst through his clothes, His skin began to change, a blueish tone changes from his body, he was mutating from the virus
The monster with a disfigured face was named Experiment 001, we fought that monster with a bit of struggle, and it is a striking resemblance from that same creatures from before. It seems that the virus that Edrie drank contains the same virus as Experiment 001, based from Plasma's observation.
Then, Edrie stood up, his appearance has greatly changed from the one I knew, he became a monster. As we raised our weapons high, I began to use inspect at Edrie's new body
Edrie Collon
Skills: Vanishing, One handed spear Technique, Retribution, Health Regeneration Boost,
Vitality: 12700
Strength: 23000
Defense: 21000
Agility: 42000
Mana: 67200
As expected, Edrie become more stronger, as stronger as a standard Luminous Knight, even worse surpassing the spider queen stats completely, it measured above a peak-level beast, it is too strong to be in this world
Also, he acquired the health regeneration boost somehow, I can tell from the sudden regeneration from his wounds when he awoke ,it mostly originated from the ancient virus. As well as the sudden increase from his stats, its stats have a branded exactly five-digits on one of them,
"Shit, this is bad, it's stats exceeds from mine. If we fight Edrie, it will be certainly that we would die"
I was still frozen, unable to say a word. Both my arms and legs also refused to move. It was proof of the overwhelming difference between Edrie's power and my own. I hated it, White had saved me countless times, and now I couldn't speak. I couldn't stand the humiliation
"Ro…xy, Whi…te, I'm scared"
His face is full of fear, the same face that Experiment 001 made before our fight, Edrie turned once more toward me. Her eyes glistened with tears. I never knew that he is in pain. It wasn't the face of someone who had lived an extraordinary long length of time. It was a face that finally matched his appearance, a unrecognizable monster
"Thank…you…for…everything, White"
As Edrie stutter slowly, he punched a hole in the wall beside him. Due to its overwhelming stats, he punched the wall with ease, like a wet cardboard was left there. Then large black wings sprouted towards his back and proceeds to fly off.
"Edrie, he is escaping. He flew off the night sky"
I wouldn't allow the sudden escape from him, I morphed my blood sword into a shape of a bow, then I charged the bow and aimed at the flying creature
"Fuck, none of them managed to hit"
I imbued several arrows with Defense Reduction, but because of Edrie's flight speed combined on it's overwhelming stats, he meticulously dodged the homing arrows and didn't land a single hit, I wasted a lot of mana from a single attack
"Edrie, he flew away, he was infected by the virus, am I right?"
"Indeed, letting out of the vile creature in the wild is life-threatening, I saw Edrie stats myself, it was horrifying than I expected"
There, I explained Edrie's current stats after he transformed into a monster, she was horrified through her discovery. I seen those stats myself with the use of inspect, an appraisal skill that can view any stats whatsoever
As a former appraiser, I used my human skill inspect everyday advantages such as my appraisal stall, revealing their stats and knowing their skills easily. I'm basically a walking wikipedia filled with information at my head, despite being an appraiser
"Roxy, I know your skills come in handy, your inspect skill is useful for identifying threats. I can tell that Edrie is more of a peak-level beast"
After we looked at the hole that Edrie made, a sudden vibration felt through my thigh, it was a communication stone, it was ringing continuously after Edrie left Castle Libra, I contacted it and recognized the voice
"Roxy… Roxy, can you hear me?"
I recognized that voice, it is one of the guild members that I frankly know of, it was Leonhard
"Leonhard, where are you?, I was so worried"
"We were at the front gate of Castle Libra, we retrieved the guild's caravan, it was left unscathed at the backdoor of the castle"
"Sweet, we'll be waiting there outside, how about the guards patrolling the facility, does anyone get hurt"
"Easy peasy, these guards were dumbasses. They were drunk and was driven to unconscious. I stalked the guards by night, the second I found a guard asleep amongst the reeds, I looped it's head off"
"Well, that was unexpected, are you all right?"
"Heck no, reinforcements were guarding the facility. Mind if I wanna help us a little bit?"
After that, the stone lost its contact, the guild was under attack by the same guild that was patrolling the area. When I first got here, several guards were guarding the gate, so I picked up an easier plan, to climb the rooftop so that not to arouse detection from the guards, and I allured quickly
"White, let's go outside this ruined castle, it best to escape this place"
We approached the hole that Edrie punched with his bare hands and left inside of the castle. At a farther distance, I saw one of the members fending off the guards from Castle Libra, there were eight of them joined the raid. The same ones I saved during the ambush, now alive and well.
White sprinted with great speed, slashing the remaining guards that stood in her way. While I was at a farther position, The shape of the bow cast the same fascinating arc whenever I draw my blood bow, I pulled a bowstring back, forming a blood arrow and set itself upon the string. Without aiming properly, I released the bowstring
I released multiple blood arrows as well as my mana is draining significantly, the arrow flew the air, correcting it's course in midair as it disappeared into the battlefield where the guard's hid.
The arrow pierced at one of their vital organs, directly aiming at the guard's body. One of the guildmembers saw me at a greater distance and waved at me, as well as calling through my communication stone
"Roxy, nice aim you got there. I didn't knew you are a sharpshooter, you pierced that body in half"
It was no other than Leonhard, the tanned man shook at a farther distance, along with its partner Veer, the shy and timid one. The bronze-ranked adventurers were also deployed by raiding the castle. By seeing the view momentarily, I saw the guild carriage that the guild was talking about, it was a gold-plated caravan filled with piles of jewelry from their guild funds… I can already tell the importance of this caravan, as it can affect the future of the guild
I glanced at the golden-plated caravan at a distance, it was protected by my guildmates, from which they swore to protect with… it was their mission to follow the golden-plated caravan to safety, led by the leader of the guild, White Flower
Because of my blood bow, I annihilated all the reinforcements from the castle because of the sure-hit capabilities of the blood arrows, allowing me to not miss a single target, the best part is that, it is directly aimed at the vital parts of an enemy… it will be a sure-kill from those enemies
Closing in on them with only the blood sword would've been like sticking my hand in a hornet's nest. But with the blood bow, I could fight them, As long as the arrows weren't somehow intercepted, I can kill my foes without aiming properly, I could fire a hundred shots from a long distance and never miss a single one. This bow is extremely useful.
Seeing that no more guards were left in the castle, I decided to approach my guild once again. And there it was, I saw my members once again
"Vice-leader, welcome back!"
And there it was, the guild was ready for action, In a glance, I saw my popular duo, Leonard and Veer, watching over a distance whilst waving their hands at me. I approached them once again, appraising my skills and my talent from the raid
"Roxy, you aim is impeccable, that castle was over 100-meters long, and still managed to shot that very far away, your great at marksmanship, Roxy" said by Leonhard
While Veer was casually strolling at a distance. Approached at me and began hugged me tightly,
"Thank you Roxy, I owe you a big thanks from you, without your skill, I would become food from those foes"
Veer response kind of worries about me, despite it's petite appearance, she hugged me in the waist down. It reminded me of Mya when I first met her, in the discarded town of Tata, she was impeccable about her safety more than mine, and when later arrived at my hometown, Town Allure marks her home.
I sensed that Veer attitude changed over a period of time, Her timid and polite attitude that I know of suddenly vanished. And instead replaced me with a talkative Veer that I know of, she praises my talent while leaving her timid attitude from me
Luke and Luck are also arrived in there, the twin brothers were both bronze-ranked adventurers, more likely that they subdue from their combat experiences, they greeted me in a polite way
Luke knew my blood curse very well, ever since I drank my foes blood after the ambush, my secret is safe from Luke, he didn't tell anyone about my blood curse. Only partially know that I can cast my blood sword at will,
"Vice-leader, thank you for saving the guild from us. Without you, I don't want to know the downfall of our guild. Your a lifesaver, Roxy"
As I greeted the remaining members from the guild, I saw my partner, Maine, also participated from the guild, his hair is still messy as ever, and the eyes of someone who needed a little more sleep. Even though he was at a raid mission, he wore a white lab coat, like he was ready to jump straight back in his so-called research at any given moment,
"Roxy, it nice to meet you, I suppose you embark on this dangerous mission, I suppose"
His sleepy face hasn't changed, as well he participated into the battle, he didn't even wore a single set of armor, and suffered from minor injuries, his only weapon of choice is a shield… all likely due to his human skill he born with, One-handed Shield Technique
After I greeted the remaining members from the guild with all my might, the guild we're heading for departure back to the Flower Manor, the primary base from our operations located inside Town Allure, my hometown. We left the ruined Castle Libra before sunrise,