Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

"We don't really know one another, huh… So, how is life in this mediaeval magic society?" Toby asked, a slight bit intimidated by the fact that Milo's shoulders were about as big as someone's head.

The instructors had had the brilliant idea of pairing everyone up with people they didn't really know or interact with, the otherworlders were a fair bit social for the most part, except Toby of course, who would rather gather dust in a corner than be out there.

"What does mediaeval mean?" Milo did not quite pick up on the unwanted presence's awkward demeanour, the two young men approached a small building overgrown by roots and grass.

Constructed out of the famed grey brick every architect and their mothers seems to have a passionate affection for, it was pretty much impossible to identify what this stranded ruin even used to be, it was surrounded by nothing else and had no roads leading up to it.

"Ah, I guess this is modern here, It's just that there are skyscrapers, TV and nuclear bombs from where I come from" Milo slightly pushed vines that obstructed what was probably the entrance, not understanding a thing of what Toby was babbling about.

'Skyscrapers? Is that another word for giants or something?' he wondered, but stayed silent as the two of them ventured inside, they had already done this many times in the past weeks or so, their duo was odd but worked rather well, although Toby kept on asking questions that made no sense to Milo.

Milo would rush forward, and Toby would support from a distance, the otherworlder could gather information on enemies as well, allowing for the farm boy to fight with an advantage most of the time, although, they had only ran into a handful of bandits, as well as wildlife, the bears had been oddly aggressive lately for some reason.

"Well, it's empty" the roof had long collapsed, allowing light to trickle in between the branches that had replaced it, the interior was bare, only decorated by rubbles.

Milo bent his knees, noticing an imprint on the ground, there was a spot that was dirt without grass, like something had been there and preventing the growth, he was rather familiar with such sights, it didn't take long to find the small piece of debris that had been right there.

"Seems like someone visited this place recently" he said, it was a bit odd that a ruin would be walked into shortly before they arrived but it was not the most suspicious thing ever, there were villages and towns around, anyone could have just explored the woods.

Milo, if he had the occasion, would have certainly explored random ruins in the woods, for no other reason that he found it entertaining.

"Herm… They might still be here actually" Toby called Milo over, a trapdoor was left open, quite wide and made out of sturdy wood, seemingly unaffected unlike the rest of the ruin, looking around, it had been covered in rubbles and such until recently.

A ladder led deep into darkness, the two of them looked at one another.

"We agree that this is the perfect way to get ambushed, right?" Toby readjusted his glasses, using a function of his special system to summon a lantern that he had received from a death hunter.

"Indeed, and just how deep is this thing? That can't be a normal basement, and…" both of them were suddenly hit by the smell of blood, its aroma was so strong, it was as though they had just bitten their tongues off, allowing rivers of blood to flood their mouths.

Once again, they looked at one another.

Clearly, going down that ladder was a rather poor idea and both were not idiotic enough to give in to the curiosity, lest they end up like the cat in the idiom.

It was a shame however, a cold hand firmly pressed against the center of their backs, gentle, yet ill-intended, cold, yet comforting somehow.

None had the time to do as much as gasp, they were pushed as simply as that, unable to put up any sort of resistance, their ears ringing as though someone had just yelled directly into their ears, no such had happened to either, or at least, they did not realise that it had.

Milo reinforced his body with his golden mana, grabbing Toby before falling right onto his back, letting out a pained groan, something splashed, the lantern intact still.

The two of them were quick to get back to their feet, the fall was fear inducing but it had not been as deep as they had imagined, the ground having been close to the distance the light had reached from up there.

The ground was covered in something that felt oily, sticking to clothes, making moving around tenuous, whatever substance was on the ground mattered little, it reflected the light strongly, but Toby quickly turned it toward every corner, until it finally fell on a figure standing with their back to them.

Spacious and barren, the thing that covered the floor was pulled into something in front of that person, seemingly disappearing entirely, drained into the ground, leaving the two young men alone with this complete stranger.

Even from the back, they could clearly tell that it was a woman, that much was obvious, a rather large one-edged blade against her shoulder, she turned around.

A saucy smile on her face, her green eyes focused, dangerous.

'A Tochian? I doubt she is one of those refugees…' Milo raised his hands, giving Toby a slight tap.

The otherworlder understood and summoned a simple sword and bow, giving the melee weapon to Milo, he stepped back ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

"Wh-" Milo attempted to ask a simple question, but the woman shut him up, grabbing the sheath secured to her waist, putting her blade in with much poise, normally, this would be a sign of non-aggression, but for a warrior from Tochi to do such a thing, this was a threat.

"You wanna fight big boy? Feeling yourself today?" she snickered, Toby was incapable of reacting, not noticing anything until he realised she had disappeared from where she stood, he had been expecting something but not to this extent, after all, his system had not recognised her as a 'boss'.

Milo was able of reacting, to a feint, seeing a green blur coming overhead, he raised the sword, infusing it with mana to block the attack, somehow, the sword was back in its sheath when a foot struck his guts.

She caught him unprepared, he had not reinforced that area, still a rookie.

"Heeeh, not bad I guess"

Milo ignored the pain, stepping back and throwing the sword without hesitation, augmenting his entire body, barely avoiding a stray slash by sheer instinct, he could not believe it, the sword did not even seem to leave its sheath at any given time.

Another slash came, slashing deep on his chest, despite his arms being in the way of the attack, they were untouched.
Your journey continues at empire

All the while, this swordswoman was dodging and deflecting arrows from Toby without even glancing at them, the two of them were way out of their depth right now, the otherworlder was deeply inexperienced and lacking in firepower, whilst Milo just did not have enough fight under his belt, the majority that he had experienced were either friendly spars or against inferior enemies, few had been against opponents stronger than himself, and this woman was clearly much more skilled than he was.

'She's just grazing me… Not taking me seriously, I better-' he threw himself backward with a pulse of golden mana, aiming at the ceiling, he fired a simple mana bullet, but with the power his energy packed, nearly the entire thing came breaking down.

Considering how durable he was, Milo could have used this opportunity for an attack by rushing through the falling bits of stone, but that would be stupid, instead, he grabbed Toby and got the hell out of here as quickly as he possibly could.

"Oh, tactical retreat? Not a big fan, next time I find you-" the young men didn't hear the rest.

Not stopping when they got out of the basement, kept on running for minutes on end, even though it seemed like she was not going to give chase.

"Tactical retreat? How nice… I was just running away like normal" Milo nervously laughed.

"Running away in fear yeah…" added Toby.