Netori: Stealing The Hero's Party!

Chapter 426 Standoff

”Stay out of my way and I wonʼt hurt you,” chilled by the fox girlʼs breath, Amedith as well as Liliyana felt their lungs freezing from the inside in a crystalline pattern. Their eyes glued to the girlʼs hand, the two knew they couldnʼt back away and any hasty movement wasnʼt a good idea either. ”A witch sleeps inside, I need to kill her before she hurts someone.”

Spread wide and hollow, the silver gaze of the fox and her empty expression, had the duo at the edge of their seats and inclining more and more towards a violent resolution. Standing still with their hands stretched forward, the two moved not an inch while the pained voice of the drugged false heroes echoed in the background.

ʼFirst the whole ordeal with those fake heroes and now this girl?ʼ Not exactly in a forgiving mood, Amedith couldnʼt hide his anger from reflecting on his face. The girl noticed the change as soon as it happened, and with a tighter grip around her weapon, she let go of the doorknob and flipped the rifle towards Amedith.

”I warned you,” she blurted and pulled the trigger.

In a matter of a second, the runes on the rifle began glowing a deep shade of violet. Oozing from the barrel came a deep violet aura–a concentration of hatred and malice, a higher form of corrupt power. Getting himself ready in the nick of time, Amedith barely managed to get his shield up and in front of him.

But as the bullet of concentrated malice hit his shield of light, it sent his body flying through the building. Crashing against walls, multiple of them, Amedith crashed against the mossy uphill pavement and almost lost consciousness.

”NO! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” Following the smoke that traced the trajectory of Amedithʼs fall with her, Liliyana looked on in horror at the devastation brought forth by one single shot of the rifle.

Hearing a click, her body flinched to the sound. Frozen in place, she tried to turn her head to face the girl, but before she could gather the courage yet another click echoed in the slumbering halls. This time, however, Liliyana didnʼt have an invincible shield to protect her from the blow.

”I told you to stay out of my way,” whispering those words under the ear-piercing sound of the bullet shooting out of the barrel, the fox girl watched the horror in Liliyanaʼs eyes as her head barely turned towards her. ”You didnʼt have to die.”

”As if sheʼs dying you rascal!” In the specter of a second that it all happened, Will-O emerged from Liliyanaʼs hair and her body burst into a ball of blinding light. Shielding her eyes from the fairyʼs magic, the demi-human girl made sure to hear the sound of gunfire and feel the rattle of the building as more of it came crashing down.

ʼWhat was that?ʼ Opening her eyes as the light dissipated, the fox-girl let down her hand and looked around to find the victims of her assault. Moving through the crumbling room with smoke and dust flying all over, she stopped at the edge of the building, yet to her surprise, neither Liliyana nor Amedith was anywhere to be seen.

In their place were a handful of villagers gathered around the crater in the path caused by Amedithʼs devastating crash. Clicking her tongue at the sight, the girl quickly turned around and ready another bullet to fire towards Linkleʼs room. Walking through smoke and getting to the hallway, however, she was met with a dozen blood-soaked devils walking out of a hellʼs portal.

Their shoulders padded with skulls and their bodies draped in silver armor, they appeared far more prepared for a fight than the heroes whoʼd tried to confront her without any preparations.

”Turn around little pup, donʼt wanna ruin that white fur of yours now, do you?” Smug as ever, the nude devil leading the group smirked as she mocked the fox girl. Leering at her with half-shut eyes, she wanted the girl to go against her advice.

Shooting through the horde of demonic souls did cross the girlʼs mind, however, being a lifelong hunter she knew better and reminded herself of a saying that has kept her alive so far.

ʼBetter failure than death, thereʼs always a next time as long youʼre alive.ʼ Hooking the rifle on her waist belt, the girl turned around and headed straight for the broken walls that looked over to the streets. Disappearing behind smoke, she could still feel the devilʼs watching.

Standing at the edge of the crumbling floor, she whistled out loud. At first, nothing happened and the only thing she managed to gather was the attention of the bystanders still freaking out over the crater. But then came through the skies a shriek so loud that everyone on the island, even those put to sleep by magic woke up with a jolt.

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ʼA drake?ʼ Tilting her head with her eyes glued to the fox girlʼs back, the devil woman grew curious as to what kind of a monster such a little girl truly was. Walking up behind her, she witnessed the girl getting on a frost dragonʼs back and flying away in an instant. The flap of the drakeʼs wings froze everything that came in its path.

The roads, the bystanders, and even the tacky sign of the Booty and Barrels.

”I couldʼve handled her myself…” Lost in her own musing, the devil almost didnʼt notice a familiar voice calling from behind her. ”Thanks to you now we have no clue who the hell that girl was!”

Rolling her eyes as Linkle complained behind her, the devil turned to face the witch with yet another mocking smile.

”Had it not been for us, youʼd be dead…again.” Moving closer to the witch whom sheʼd kidnapped to the hells for a brief period of time, the devil poked a finger against her chest and whispered with a smile. ”How about a thank you? A little reward? Iʼve saved your big fine ass more times than I can count at this point and yet every time you have something to complain about.”

Pushing the devil away, Linkle growled in her face.

”Itʼs your fault I have to be saved in the first place! Just give me my body back and youʼll never have to do this again!” Laughing at the top of her lungs, the devil only mocked the witch further. Holding her belly even, she kept shaking her head as if trying to pull herself together.

”Y-you think you can still escape? AHAHA! F-fuck! AHAHAAA~” Shaking her head even more violently, the devil continued to laugh.

”Thatʼs enough, fuck off!” Opening a hellʼs portal beneath the devilʼs feet as well as her soldierʼs, Linkle sent them back to hell and stood on the spot for a while, just wondering what the hell had happened.

ʼUghhh! Worry about this later, you need to find where Will-O took those lovebirds first!ʼ Pulling herself out of her depressive trance, Linkle tried to look for Amedith and Liliyana everywhere. But to her surprise, it wasnʼt just them that was missing but the rest of the party had gone missing as well.

The few people that had remained in the inn were the devastated owner pulling her own hair out as well as the dead bodies of the false heroes with half their torsos torn from being accidentally shot through by the fox-girl.

ʼThat saves us a few decisions I suppose, but where the hell is everyone?ʼ Giving up on looking for everyone on foot, Linkle grabbed hold of her teleportation ring. Holding it tight, she activated it without a second thought. ʼLetʼs hope I wonʼt teleport next to more corpses…ʼ

Though her hopes were grim, having seen the effect of that rifle first-hand, Linkle tried to ready her heart for the worst possibilities. Sacrifices had to be made that night, but just how severe they had gone, remained to be seen.