“A dust that repels monsters…We don’t have anything like this in Orario, as far as I know,” Lefiya mused.
“You sure this doesn’t actually attract monsters? You know, mix it with some blood and meat and toss it over the side of the boat like bait to keep things from attacking the boat itself?” Tiona posed as the rest of the group exchanged similar thoughts behind her.
True to Lefiya’s words, this kind of convenient “monster repellant” certainly couldn’t be found in any stores in Orario. Aiz, however, knew of another item with remarkably similar properties. It was something she’d heard about from Bell, after he’d fled to the eighteenth floor during his escape from certain death. A “stink bag” that an apothecary from an ally familia had whipped up by chance. The bag and its terrific monster-repelling odor was what had helped him and his party make it all the way to the safety point with their lives.
Perhaps this powder in front of them now was one and the same.
Still…could this smell really keep even marine-type beasts at bay?
“But…we heard this thing was invented in Orario,” Rod mused as confusion crossed his and the other fishermen’s faces. “Yeah, you know! By that…that…Herseus…Persimmeus…oh, whatever her name is…”
“Perseus?”
“That’s it! She’s the one who invented it!”
While it certainly did seem like something the rare item maker could whip up…Lefiya and the others remained skeptical. They simply couldn’t understand why, if such an item truly existed, no one in Orario knew about it.
“Erm…from whom exactly did you receive this powder, Mister Rod?”
“From the big man, Papa Borg…head of the Murdock family. He bought it up in the city and gave it out to us free of charge. Not only to us fishermen but to all the boats that pass through Meren. It’s been forever now. That old man does a lot for us,” Rod explained. “Well…can’t say it’s perfect, as we do still get some raider fish attacks and such, but it’s certainly helped us avoid a lotta excess damage to our ships. Ships ’round here never sail without it!”
Could that be why Kali Familia’s ship got attacked yesterday…? Aiz immediately thought.
Every ship that docked in Meren, and even the passenger ships and sailing boats that often passed through, had these bags…but Kali Familia wouldn’t, given that this was their first time making port in the city. They wouldn’t have known that the powder even existed.
“…”
Aiz took the bag of powder from Tiona, reaching her hand inside.
She scooped up some of the colorful, sparkling dust with her fingers, letting it cascade down into her palm.
All the while, she watched, studying the tumbling, flowing particles.
“Speaking of…what’s going on between you guys and those Amazons, huh?”
“…Why? Did something happen?”
“Ah, no, no, just…us’n everyone else in the city are rightly pretty terrified of ’em. You can tell how strong they are just by lookin’! And then they march right through the middle of the street like they own the place…”
Rod explained as he scratched the back of his head. By strange coincidence, the conversation turned toward Kali Familia, similar to what had happened to Riveria during her visit to the Guild.
“Yeah, they’re scary!” “Savages, the whole lot of ’em!” the other fishermen were quick to add as Tiona grew quiet. The teary-eyed appeals from the burly men were enough to draw troubled looks from Aiz and the others.
“…”
Meanwhile, Tione was standing a short distance away from the group, focused in the direction of the city.
The conversation, however, didn’t last much longer.
“—Rod! We’ve got trouble!” an out-of-breath animal-person trawler shouted as he came running out onto the dock. Before anyone could so much as ask what the matter was, he continued his hysterical rant. “Those Amazonian ladies are causing a huge ruckus on the main road. One of ’em’s got ahold of Mark!”
All at once, the entire wharf plunged into panic.
As the color drained from Rod’s and the other fishermen’s faces, Aiz and her group found themselves thrown for a loop.
Amid the building clamor, however, Tiona was the only one who quickly scanned the area around them.
“Crap—!!” she hissed beneath her breath.
Mere moments later, Aiz, too, noticed the cause of her alarm.
“Miss Tiona, Miss Aiz, is…is something wrong?!” Lefiya inquired hesitantly.
“Tione’s gone.”
“She’s flown the coop!”
Aiz and Tiona responded in unison.
Before Lefiya and the other girls could register their surprise, the two were off, sprinting away from the pier.
“Lefiya! Get Loki! She should be in the storehouse nearby!”
“We’re going on ahead!”
The two first-tier adventurers called back as they raced as fast as their legs would take them. Even as the commotion built behind them, they kept their sights set straight on the city.
It was a gorgeous day.
Fluffy white clouds lingered lazily in the cerulean sky overlooking the city, and the gleam of the sun reflected a beautiful emerald green off the waters of the brackish lake below.
But despite the peaceful calm of the weather, the main street of Meren, normally filled with the hustle and bustle of passersby, was currently blanketed in a strange hush.
No one moved.
Or, more accurately, no one could move.
All eyes were glued to the middle of the street, where an Amazonian warrior was single-handedly holding one of the local fishermen aloft by his throat.
“Is there…problem?” she asked with a smile, her use of Koine maladroit at best.
Her long sandy hair was tied back in a ponytail that fell all the way down her back. The revealing clothing practically drawn on her copper skin was undeniably Amazonian, and around her waist she wore a belt not of fur but of scale—a drop item, perhaps, from some kind of dragon.
Despite her obvious beauty, between the glint in her eyes and the upward curve of her lips, she gave off an aura, purposeful or not, that reeked of reptilian malice. Far from what anyone would describe as “bewitching,” she looked more like a giant serpent anxious to gorge itself on its prey. Even her tongue seemed inhuman, impossibly long as it darted out to wet her lips.
The well-built young man currently in her clutches said nothing in response to her inquiry. A raspy, wheezing breath worked its way out of his mouth as his legs dangled uselessly in the air. The Amazon gripped his throat and held him aloft with one slender arm. Desperate for breath, he clawed at the fingers digging into his skin.
“P-please f-forgive…him…! Y-you were just so b-b-beautiful that he…couldn’t stop staring and…and didn’t watch where he was g-going, so p-please…!!” another fisherman nearby—his companion—pleaded.
The Amazon’s head turned toward the tear-stricken man with an almost audible creak.
“In my country, bumping into a warrior…is a challenge to fight to the death.”
The man’s face paled instantly.
Her grip on the fisherman’s neck tightened with a series of cracks, and the man’s body spasmed in response.
As frightened screams began erupting from the crowd, the woman’s companions, another group of Amazons, simply watched in amusement. Her sister, too, hair of the same sandy hue, merely stared out across the goings-on in apathy.
The man appeared to lose consciousness, his arms going limp, as his assailant narrowed her eyes in amusement.
Only then.
“Let him go.”
An arm reached out, the same copper color, and grabbed her wrist.
It was Tione.
“…Tione?”
“I said let him go, Argana.”
But the Amazon’s—Argana’s—smile never faltered, even at the bone-crushing grip on her arm. In fact, if anything, it deepened.
F
inally, as Tione’s murderous glare continued, she released her grip on the fisherman’s neck with a shrug, almost as though having lost interest. The man’s body fell to the ground with a thud, and she shook off Tione’s hold on her arm.
“Where were you? We searched for you…you and Tiona.”
“I see you can speak Koine now. So fighting’s not the only thing in that monkey brain of yours.” Tione snorted, glaring daggers at the woman in front of her as the fisherman’s companion rushed forward to drag him out of the way.
Argana didn’t so much as flinch, her eyes filled with amusement.
“Kali taught it to me. She teaches us many things. The pleasure of growing stronger…and how to understand those who are different from us,” she added as her eyes passed over the crowd. “We wanted to know…what are our prey screaming? Are they angry? Are they begging for their lives?”
The naked sadism elicited a look of pure revulsion from Tione, who stuck her tongue out at her former comrade.
They were still the same as ever. Interested in nothing but power, bloodshed, combat.
Tione felt her blood begin to boil, face-to-face with the red thread of fate that connected the Amazons to their native country of Telskyura.
Her hand instinctively curled into a tight fist.
“Have you heard, Tione? How strong the outside world has gotten?”
“…”
“They have turned into snakes…just like us.”
“—No one’s the same as you, you evil witch!”
Something snapped inside Tione.
With an almost audible crack, all the years spent remedying her brash nature, her coarse tongue, came undone as her features lit up with rage.
Argana continued to smile that same crescent moon smile, head slowly twisting to the side.
“Then—shall we see just how strong you’ve become?”
For a single moment, no one so much as twitched along that wide road.
Then.
“Gnnngh!!”
The two women launched themselves at each other.
Argana’s left arm blocked Tione’s kick, and Tione’s left arm blocked Argana’s kick.
In less than an instant, the grand hand-to-hand duel had begun.
“Tione?!”
Tiona and Aiz arrived a second too late.
Screaming at the throng of onlookers to stay back, they made their way toward the center of the panicking crowd, where a barefoot battle of fist against fist was currently taking place. Long sandy hair tangled with jet-black as the two women exchanged punches and kicks that would leave an ordinary person crippled. The thick, dull sounds of the blocked blows thrummed in the ears of everyone present.
They seemed on par with each other. No, Tione was slightly—.
The skill with which they delivered their blows was nothing short of exemplary, and as Aiz watched them, she felt tiny prickles of apprehension stab at her heart.
When it came to weapons-free combat, Tione and Tiona were unquestionably the best in Loki Familia. Though Gareth might have been the strongest and Bete might have been the fastest, from a technical perspective, the Amazons’ unique style of martial arts was easily the fiercest. Aiz herself knew that, without a sword, she’d be out on her ass in five seconds flat.
But that same Tione now was slowly, ever so slowly, being “out-fierced” by Argana.
Those long limbs, almost like snakes, pecked away at her in ever-quickening strikes. And Argana’s ability to read her enemy’s next move was uncanny. Before Tione even began her attacks, Argana was already preparing for a counterstrike. There was no question as to her Level-6 rank, and she seemed to have the advantage when it came to Status, too.
Argana’s eyes flashed as Tione’s face twisted in frustration. That same frustration was quickly painted over with pure, concentrated rage as her unwillingness to lose spurred on her attacks at an even greater speed.
Aiz and Tiona sailed over the crowd of pushing, shoving onlookers, just about to put a stop to the fight, when—
“!”
Someone else stepped forward from the crowd to block their way.
It was the other sandy-haired Amazon, the one who shared the same blood as the woman in the brawl.
“Move, Bache!!” Tiona screamed.
“…rhu muu,” was the only reply from the stoic Amazon’s neckerchief.
Aiz couldn’t understand the words, but she could understand their meaning—that the woman had no intentions of letting them pass.
Tiona’s eyebrows positively bristled, and she charged toward the woman’s right side, fully prepared to push her way through, as Aiz zoomed forward at a similar breakneck speed on the woman’s immediate left. The very breaths of the two first-tier adventurers were perfectly in sync as they prepped for the combo technique they’d cultivated in the Dungeon’s depths—only for Bache to take on the two of them at the same time.
Catching Tiona’s iron fist in one hand, she let loose a simultaneous kick in Aiz’s direction.
““?!””
Despite being airborne, Tiona found herself instantly in the clutches of a circular throw, while Aiz, despite her speed, felt the Amazon’s kick slice through strands of her golden hair.
But there was no time for gawking. Hands slamming the ground, the two of them prepared to right themselves for the next onslaught. Bache, however, was already two steps ahead. Spinning like a chess piece, she let loose a rapid-fire barrage of blows and kicks to their heads, torsos, and legs, coming at them from every direction and striking both Aiz and Tiona at the same time.
—She’s fast!!
Aiz could barely believe her eyes at the sheer velocity of the attacks coming from the seemingly dispassionate warrior.
She knew right away that this wasn’t an opponent she’d be able to defeat without her sword. Pulling her backup sword out of its scabbard—Desperate was still in maintenance—she looked up to see the rest of the Amazonian warriors joining the battle.
“…!”
They must have felt Bache was at a disadvantage now that the two first-tier adventurers were fully prepared for battle, and they charged forward with weapons flashing.
Bache kept her focus on Tiona as the group of Amazons targeted Aiz, who quickly found herself drawn into her own free-for-all as the bare-fisted duel between the two Amazons intensified next to her.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’ve changed, Tione! You’ve really changed!”
“Ggh—!”
Meanwhile, the battle between Argana and Tione continued, Argana’s laugh eliciting even deeper rage from the younger Amazon.
But it wasn’t just rage directed at her opponent. It was frustration at herself, too. The more damage she took, the more her combat power skyrocketed, and the more her fury bubbled, the more effective her Berserk skill became. And yet, despite the building power behind her each and every punch, Argana continued to fend them off with ease. Even the most powerful of attacks, enough to completely demolish an enemy, were useless if one couldn’t land them.
Argana’s techniques had the advantage when it came to polish, and she countered every one of Tione’s strikes like a mirror—the very same steps, the very same moves.
Which was natural, really.
Considering that the style of martial arts Tione practiced had been beat into her again and again at the hands of this very Amazon.
“Gnngh!!”
One of the kicks connected directly with Tione’s back, sending her sailing toward the side of the road in front of a nearby food stand.
Somehow, she’d been able to absorb the blow, and her arms tingled from the impact, but she shook it off, fully prepared to dash back into the fight when—she noticed it.
“Huh…?!”
A kid?!
Right behind her, a young human girl was crouched in fear.
What are you doing here?! she almost screamed, only to remember she was the one who’d lost her senses and recklessly begun fighting in the middle of a crowde
d street. No doubt, this girl simply hadn’t been able to run away in time.
Tione found herself at a loss for words as she stared down into the girl’s tear-stricken eyes, when all of a sudden, a shadow overtook them.
“”
It was Argana. And her laugh was enough to make Tione’s blood run cold as she held her fist aloft.
Tione would have just enough time to duck out of the way. But the girl wouldn’t be so lucky. Considering the incoming strike was powerful enough to send an entire carriage flying just by grazing it, the small body would be crushed. Even the resulting shock waves would be enough to snap her tiny limbs.
Argana, however, showed no concern. She had no reason to be concerned.
The only person in her eyes was Tione.
“ngh!!”
Tione yanked the girl out of the way, leaving herself wide open for Argana’s incoming fist.
“Tione?!”
There was a thunderous crash as Tione’s body was launched through the food stall, splintering it into pieces as she careened into the wall of the building behind it.
Tiona and Aiz forgot about their own battles, whirling around to see a giant cloud of dust billowing up from the nearby building.
“Gn—…ghnn…!” Tione grunted, spitting up blood. While she’d somehow been able to defend herself against the full force of the attack, the impact had still created a giant crack.
Argana, on the other hand, simply stood there blinking in silence, a strange look on her face.
“Did you really just…protect that girl?” She threw a glance at the girl in question, currently sprawled out on the ground and trembling in fear, before returning her eyes to Tione. “You really have changed, Tione…You’ve gotten stronger…and you’ve gotten weaker.” A look of pure, unadulterated disappointment crossed her face. “You are…no longer a warrior.”
Her body drooped, almost as though she had lost all will to fight.
There was the sound of weapons dropping from the direction of Aiz and Tiona, both of them still stopped where they stood, as Tione slowly staggered to her feet.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 6 Page 10