Dancing Between The Storm

A dazzling light suddenly appeared in front of there, in the midst of the huge crowd of monsters called diver hyenas, it appeared on the screen.

The diver hyena that seemed to be lying stiff while perched on a nearby tree trunk really became a very easy target for me. With just one jump, spinning in the air with the Sprinter Ghost Dagger in my hand that were in a position like I was about to slash the Sprinter Ghost Dagger, I let the two daggers just follow the direction of my movement.

Sprinter Ghost Dagger's sharp blade followed in which direction my body was turning. As soon as it hit the neck of a nearby diver hyena, the Spinter Ghost Dagger's sharp blade cut through it as if it didn't have any resistance from colliding with something.

With each spin, the pair of daggers in my grip cut the neck or tore the body of the diver hyenas where were in my attack area.

Finished with the first jump, I jumped again to do the same movement. Facing the monsters that were lying stiff were not a difficult thing, in fact it was quite easy. Because even though there were many, they were like a collection of dolls used for training in fighting.

However, it didn't last long. Less than five jumps, the diver hyenas had regained consciousness.

I was among a flock of diver hyenas.

As soon as they realized there was an existence among them that they couldn't see, they immediately barked to tell the others that they should be on the alert. What's more, their leader should know it too.

Swift Movement hasn't even been activated yet, but the me who was previously maneuvering through the air between the trees was moving so fast. In addition, the diver hyenas who noticed my presence were still in a daze or had the effects of confusion from earlier and had not fully recovered.

Watching one by one the diver hyenas fell with blood splashes accompanying the lifeless bodies, while the mud on the ground is always waiting for intake, the diver hyenas were getting louder.

The sound of barking was very much different from that of a dog. Hyenas sound more sinister, unpleasant to hear. With so many of them, I who was among them had to hear it from all directions.

Every time I passed a diver hyena, a lifeless body would fall.

I hadn't stopped moving since the first five jumps when the diver hyenas were still blinded by the very bright light that suddenly appeared in an instant. If I stopped once, my movement speed would be much slower. At this speed, the Agility Master became active because the criteria for it to be activated were met. That, without even using Swift Movement, I was able to move very quickly.

The sounds of barking that were not pleasant to hear continued to shout at each other, until I could feel the vibrations from the muddy ground that propagated through the trees. In addition, there was a heavy roar as if a large creature was heading towards me. Moreover, with the sight of the fallen trees, the creature that was coming was really large. Because of that, I didn't move away from it, but went to the voice.

While darting over the tree branches, I muttered: “Hmph! Interesting. What great creature is coming?”

A monster whose shape was similar to a hyena in general, but its size was so large that it could be seen to me that it was running on the muddy ground as if it was on sand and ignoring the supporting roots, it just cut it down. Then, there were bones that protect some of its limbs. It's an exoskeletal armored hyena!

“Oh! The highest level monster I just encountered. How lucky…” I smiled brightly.

Exoskeletal armored hyenas were level 17, whereas I was currently at level one level below level 20. Dealing with monster below my current level wasn't difficult, because I was used to facing monsters of a higher level than me, even at the beginning.

The pair of eyes behind the bone mask stared intently at me, then the exoskeletal armored hyena roared like an alpha wolf, but its voice was far less pleasant to hear.

Because of that, I stopped jumping right on one of the tree branches near the exoskeletal armored hyena to cover my ears that couldn't stand the roar.

I gave a small nod, before saying: “Apparently, as the leader of the herd, you are quite intelligent. That's good! You can cheer me up, maybe-...”

Suddenly, there is a scream for help not too far from where I am and a group of diver hyenas with one exoskeletal armored hyena are present. From its voice, I could tell that it is a woman who shouts.

Sigh... that scream made me remember something... I think.

I quickly shake my head not to think anything out of the ordinary. There, someone must be in danger. So with a heavy heart, I have to leave this herd of hyenas.

[Swift Movement]

[Agility Master]

[Stealth]

In order not to leave any traces, fearing that it would make the situation worse in the place of the person asking for help, I activate my three mainstay skills.

...

"Vierr!" shouted Katerine when she looked back after she had worked up the courage to follow Vierr's final instructions, finding that Vierr had been rendered helpless by the diver hyenas.

There was one more woman following her, yet she still looked like a lunatic.

Katerine was not far from carrying Brant who was unconscious due to serious injuries and did not receive first aid from the experts, while the expert referred to here was Vierr who had just fallen on the muddy ground.

Seeing Vierr who sacrificed himself, Katerine's knees were getting more and more powerless to hold her and Brant's helpless body.

“Why, why is all this happening?” murmured Katerine who was still standing on her knees that wouldn't stop shaking. Then as if getting an urge, she finally chose to scream.

"Anyone, help us!"

Being in despair, life was no longer ignored. Despite noticing that the diver hyena blocking the escape route was approaching her, Katerine made no more attempt to run away. With tears running down her cheeks, she couldn't help but sob. She thought, maybe this was where everyone would die in such a miserable state.

“Well… Maybe this is for the best. We will die here together…”

Katerine took a deep breath, staring up at the sky which made her eyes glaze over. She realized that the sky was cloudless. It's so ironic, the heavens don't seem to feel sad about what's about to happen to us . . . Katerine thought.

It actually didn't take long for the diver hyenas to come and tear her, Brant, and the still-looking mad woman out with a bow that was just a toy. Katerine, who had just realized that she shouldn't be alive anymore, turned to the hyenas who should have arrived.

Then, what Katerine sees is something of a shock.

Katerine blinks her eyes, afraid she’s just hallucinating because she is too afraid of facing death, everything doesn't go away like normal hallucinations even though she has closed her eyelids just to make sure the hallucinations she is seeing would disappear.

“What exactly is going on? After all, is it really a hallucination that there will be sound?”

Katerine wonders and becomes increasingly doubtful that what she is witnessing is just a hallucination. The event that appears in her view is too real to be called hallucinations. However, her heart refuses to believe reality. Let it be a mere hallucination, hope does not need to come back . . . she thinks.

Her eyes are fixed on what the thoughts of her is a mere hallucination, but her mind isn't there.

...

From a distance, I saw several people standing on a stilt root that was quite large as if waiting for the diver hyenas who seemed to be getting ready to go to their place, which of course the diver hyenas would surely tear them apart and made them prey.

"Don't they love their own lives?" I shook my head, before letting out a deep breath.

Taking the opportunity when the diver hyenas were giggling, or sounding like that and it was horrifying how they were giggling, as if they were cheering for a victory yet to be won, I quickened my pace so I could quickly get to them before they noticed me.

Swift Movement was indeed on a cooldown, but in the speed I had maintained since I moved towards the sound of the call for help coming, I hadn't slowed down my movement speed. Thus, the Agility Master was still activated.

A diver hyena who had just realized something was coming didn't have a chance to just see what it was, its head had been separated as soon as the joints in its neck were about to shift so that it could turn.

I didn't stop by just slashing the neck of a diver hyena, nor did I let the Agility Master shut down. In an area full of large stilts and many tree branches, I darted from various directions. The Sprinter Ghost Dagger's blade that was hit by the sunlight seemed to glitter. It made me move swiftly like a flash of light that had a shadow tail.

When my figure landed on a nearby tree branch, all the diver hyenas who were there suddenly fell as the wind pushed their bodies. The bodies fell down accompanied by blood oozing from the wounds they got, and the wounds became the reason that they no longer had life.

A pair of blades splattered dark red bloodstains, then I tucked them into their sheaths.

My eyeballs fall on several people I had previously seen from a distance, which turn out to be three people and two of them were women.

"Oh? It seems, the one who shouted for help was one of them huh…” I mumble while nodding a little. Then, my attention is drawn to a weak-sounding voice coming from below.

There, I see someone lying down as if clinging to the mud that always enveloped the fairly dense clay. Still breathing, no doubt, the sound does come from there. So, I immediately jumped over the tree branches and stumps to get down there.

"Ugh... Thank you very much, sir..." says the man after I helped out of the muddy ground and sat on one of the branches, I let him lean on the main trunk of the tree.

I nod, looking at the mud clinging to part of the body as well as the clothes worn by the man I have just helped with a look as if I feel disgusted at the mud, before pointing at the three people who are still standing in the same place, before asking: “are they your companions?”

"Yeah, they are"

"Then why would they be willing to leave you alone against the previous dozen diver hyenas?"

The man I asked smiles gently, then replies: “Because I told them to save themselves. By sacrificing one life and allowing three lives to be saved, doesn't that sound more reasonable?”

I am stunned to hear his answer. Really, I didn't expect such a wise answer from someone who has just survived death... I think in amazement.

“Sorry to bother you again. But, can you bring them here?” The man asks in a still weak voice, looking at me expectantly.

"Sure..."

After I scanned the surroundings and confirmed that there is nothing that could harm the man I have just saved, I begin to jump over tree branches and stumps to get to where the three people are. Because the distance is not far, I can get there in less than a minute.

With just one more jump, I would be able to tap one of them on the shoulder. However, there is something strange that makes me stop jumping.

There is a woman playing with a bow like it’s just a toy. I am amazed, what really happens to that woman. She looks like someone who no longer has any sense, or perhaps you could say she is a child who only knows how to play. The expression that caught my eye says, the woman who’s smiling looks so innocent.

Turning to a man who is being carried, it seems that he had received a wound that made him unconscious until he turned into a pathetic figure as a man.

Then, a woman who shows a blank stare, is the woman who is holding the unconscious man.

I try to wake up the woman who is staring blankly. I wave one hand in the same direction as where the woman is staring. However, it seems that the woman's mind really isn't in her body. Not even a wave of my hand is able to attract the attention of a pair of eyes that look beautiful in that blank stare.

I call out in a voice that isn't too loud, but the woman still shows a blank stare. If I act rashly, I'm afraid that it will make the situation worse.

"Shouldn't I pat her on the arm?" I mutter, still in doubt.

The reason I hesitate to just pat the woman's arm, while her shoulder is covered by the arm of an unconscious man, is because the woman doesn't cover her arm with a cloth. Automatically, I will be in direct contact with her skin that looks sparkling.

Once again, I jump up and immediately land smoothly beside the woman who is holding a pathetic man. I pat her arm, and what I didn't expect was that the woman is very surprised.

Of course.

Almost falls, I immediately wrapped my arm around her slender waist which is not covered by a cloth. The skin covered in sweat felt sticky, moreover my palm feels hot in the soft texture of the skin of a woman who almost fell.

My other hand is not idle. The left hand is holding the unconscious man from falling.

He’s so heavy! I think with both my eyes fixed on a pair of eyes that are quite close in front of mine. Exhalation smelled fragrant from the woman. I gulp, not knowing why because it makes my heart beat so fast.

"Can you stand up?" I ask in a stuttering, slightly depressed voice.

Blinking so quickly, it seems that the woman has just realized that she is in my arm. She immediately stands up with a look that is nowhere to be found, before saying: “Th-thank you, sir...”

I accept the thank you, then I lift the body of the man who is still unconscious to let me stand by being held by one hand.

"You must be confused, right?" I ask who see the woman's behavior looks strange. "But, we'd better go there first..." I point at a man who is leaning on a tree branch not too far from here.

The woman's eyeballs follow where my index finger is pointing, then a smile that’s so beautiful is etched as soon as her gaze caught the figure she was so worried about actually looks fine.

"Come on..." I ask.

I don't let a woman carry or carry a heavy burden, I can't bear to do that. What's more, there is one more that needs special care. So, I told her to guide the woman who is still playing with her bow and go to where a man is sitting leaning on a tree branch.

Then suddenly, another barking sound is heard from the direction where I had come before. The sound grow louder and louder, and one sound dominates the other's barking.

Apparently, this time the fight is inevitable.