A few moments ago…

"Man, you really went all out living in this world, huh?"

Lyle said, his voice jubilant. His new guest and fellow otherworlder, Zeke, smiled at the response. He scratched the side of his head, sheepishly smiling at the comment.

Lyle believed that Zeke is the sort that is humble, often putting himself down in his head. Even a casual compliment would make him nervous, causing him to react in such a way.

When he spotted Zeke coming in, he felt his heart about to stop. He thought the target somehow found out about their homebase, planning on taking them out where they lived. While Lyle panicked in his head on how the hell this bloke managed to find them, he kept it cool and tried to stave off any suspicions. Much to his surprise, it turned out the very target was an otherworlder like him and Janet.

When he first heard word of the Runist being their target, all Lyle cared about was making sure they both survived while taking down another potentially dangerous Journeyman. Considering he was a Runist who went out on quest, it was a sort of Runist who was decent in a battlefield.

After finding Janet nearly cornered by the guy, Lyle flanked him and hit him with the poison. After all of that, he still lived, eventually getting his partner to arrive to make them run away.

If he was honest, he never liked the targets they were required to kill regardless of their background. Usually, they would be the sort to let money do the talking, forgoing any ethical reasons that might harm the others.

But this particularly target didn't even do anything bad. If anything, he helped others. But unfortunately that pissed off not just the Alchemist guild, but the Runist guild as well, and once those mages get involved, nobody gets out safe. So regardless of his feelings, Lyle and Janet did what they had to do.

But after talking to him, he realized Zeke was nothing like those Runists in Arcelot. Despite his power probably being greater than some of the Journeymen Lyle met, he hadn't shown any ill-contempt at all.

Zeke relayed his story, bringing in surprising information such as an angel taking hold of his partner's little sister as a vessel, which was when he found out about their trials. Then he talked about the town he first visited called Eve Glade, and then the biodome… this man and his partner certainly went through a lot these past months, proving exactly why they reached Journeymen so quickly.

Hearing about a child in the tower was definitely shocking, and probably the reason why he and Janet were left in the dark. The very idea gave his insides a twist, making him sick at whatever cruel joke these so called gods were playing.

Throughout it all, Zeke just proved that he has no deceptive bone in his body. If anything, he seemed like the sort that gets taken advantage of.

Lyle stood up, and Zeke did the same. They spent quite a while telling their tales, though Zeke did the most since all Lyle did while he was stuck here in town was trying to live. It was thanks to his partner that got herself a 'job' that can hunt monsters.

Though he said it like that, it pained him that he had to keep it quiet. Janet doesn't like the idea of being an assassin, and neither did Lyle. He hoped to have Zeke as a friend first before explaining about their circumstances.

"Well, I'd like to keep going, but I got a store to run."

"Oh, yeah," Zeke nodded. "Sorry. I didn't mean to take any business away from you."

"Hey, it's fine," Lyle waved it off. "You can keep staying here if you like, but it'd be better for me to keep the store open. My partner is coming by soon too, and I don't want her getting worried."

"Oh, alright…"

The way Zeke nodded, then stood about looking around, Lyle instantly realized what he wanted to do.

"...You wanna check my gear?" Lyle said with a grin.

"Yes, please!" Zeke agreed easily. "I wanted to know so badly how alchemy works in this world."

"Hehe, it's a lot more boring than it looks, but it's definitely something. Come with me, I'll show it to you."

The two men headed out of the back room and towards the counter at the storefront. When he was looking around, he noticed something that he completely forgot.

"Ah, shit. I forgot to get that hangover medicine," Lyle said, catching Zeke's attention.

"Oh, I don't think I need it anymore," Zeke responded, but Lyle shook his head.

"Still, I need to refill it. I don't like having to shuffle around so many times while keeping customers waiting. You know how it is."

"Oh, alright… you want me to open the store then?" Zeke offered, shoving his thumb at the door.

"Nah, just stay here. I'll be right back."

Lyle said as he left his new guest there. He knew for certain that Zeke wasn't the sort to snoop around and take anything he wanted. Besides, Lyle can easily tell when something like that could happen.

But rather than doing that, Zeke stayed around like Lyle said and just marveled at the shelves filled with potions. Like Lyle, Zeke is the sort to get curious about the magical products. Perhaps he was a nerd like him, or maybe he really was curious about how alchemy works.

Alchemy wasn't exactly something anyone can get into. Just like Runists and Enchanters, one has to have a certain affinity for the General Skill, and not everyone can have it. That's why alchemists, runists, and enchanters are rare and sought after.

Though it wasn't like they were completely running out of them anytime soon. When Lyle went to the other back of the shop, where it was the storage room of the shop rather than the living portion they were just at, Lyle shuffled about again trying to find his damn medicine.

He really got to listen to Janet about sorting through this stuff. But he just has so much stuff here, it's too much of a bother.

Then the door to the store opened. His sensitive hearing could tell that immediately, and he knew for certain that he already put the closed sign there.

Stolen novel; please report.

Then, could it be Janet? She did say she went to the repository to kill some time, but she came back earlier than expected.

Then his lizard brain finally connected the dots, only just now imagining the horrendous result if Janet, the assassin, met her target behind the counter.

A horrendous crash echoed out, almost bursting his eardrums. Lyle instantly dropped everything and rushed out the door to the storefront, only to see a chaotic result.

The counter was smashed in half and the shelves behind the counter were ruined. The contents of the potions were splattered everywhere, the stench of the medicine wafting up and curdling his nose. But that wasn't the worst part.

The worst was the two people that were at the center. Just like he expected, Janet lunged after Zeke, her dagger out and poised to kill. And it actually landed right on Zeke's throat.

"Janet!"

Lyle shouted, fearing the worst. Zeke was left standing there, his hands covering his bloody neck.

Or rather… at the blade. While there was blood there, Lyle's eyes could pick out that the blade was piercing the neck, but just barely. That was because around the neck was completely covered in what looked like shimmering metal made entirely white.

Zeke groaned and grunted, but he managed to avoid a fatal blow by causing the part of his neck to turn to metal with some sort of skill. He looked down at Janet, who widened her eyes at the realization. Then she narrowed them and pulled her knife away, causing Zeke's hand to bleed from the reaction.

"Wait, Janet!" Lyle shouted.

But before Lyle could even do anything about that, the door to his store was forced right open, practically launched off its hinges. A young woman appeared, her sword in hand. The moment he saw who it was, Lyle cursed at just how unfair this coincidence turned out.

"Zeke!"

Zeke's partner shouted, almost roaring at the sight. Seeing the blood running down Zeke's neck, her eyes turned bright yellow, her irises becoming frightening sharp and slitted. Once she directed her sight to Janet, her bloody dagger in hand, there was no escaping it.

"You bitch!"

She launched at her, lightning coursing through her veins as the two women duked it out.

…..

When she heard a lot of noise after the girl entered the store, Mikella immediately headed inside. It wasn't as though she came in to attack the girl, at least not at first.

But when she came in and saw none other than Zeke of all people, his hands holding his bloody neck with his eyes wide in alarm, her mind went blank.

Even worse, the one she had been following the whole time had her dagger out, looking ready to kill. Her mind worked overtime to understand what occurred, and the only thing she could think of was that Zeke went to the shop to get something, and the girl clearly knew him as her target and tried to kill him.

Rather than thinking it over, she launched a Heavenly Strike at the girl, uncaring about the environment.

Due to that, the entire store shook as dozens of debris, wood, and plenty of products were destroyed upon impact. The store was decently big, but not big enough to contain their battle.

And Mikella wanted to have an advantage with her weapon. So when her attack was dodged as the girl moved herself enough away to avoid the blow, Mikella grabbed the girl by the collar and launched her out of the storefront, blasting through the door and out into the open air.

She quickly followed, using her Warp Jump skill to hop through the distance in a heartbeat. There was a small thrill in her chest when the girl looked at her in shock at her sudden appearance.

Mikella dashed and threw several Heavenly Strikes at the girl, electricity coiling around her to try and paralyze the young woman, but she refrained from getting even scratched.

The girl reacted by blocking some of the strikes, and somehow countering her lightning with her own, her neon blue lightning countering her flashing yellow.

The two weapons clashed, the sword having no purchase against her dagger, now becoming two as they fought. As the two dueled, their metal clashing against metal, it was clear who would lose out. The girl easily showed a haggard expression, frowning harder as she reflected to keep dodging instead of countering. It was impressive enough as it is, proving that her mastery over the dagger was nothing to sneeze at.

But Mikella didn't care at all. Flaring her will, she summoned other weapons from her storage bag, holding them aloft with her lightning. Seeing the spectacle of a spear, hammer, and axe up in the air, the girl made a gesture with her hand and slammed the scorched ground beneath her.

Blue lightning covered the field, electrifying Mikella in the process. But her control over her lightning attunement gave her an immediate resistance to that. What she worried about was that this lightning field forced her levitating weapons to be useless.

The girl flew right at her, her dagger in hand to try and slice her head off. Mikella just swung her foot high into the air, catching her arm off guard and slamming the girl's face to the ground with her fist.

The ground caved in from the power of her Strength, spider-web like cracks spreading across the ground. The girl spat blood at the response, but she gritted her teeth as she pulled her legs up into the air and tried to kick her face.

Mikella jumped back away, dodging the blow. She could have tanked the hit, but that injury to the head was enough to settle things. Considering her fighting style and magic intensity, she was built more for quick magical combat, not enduring hard hits.

And as she expected, the girl slowly rose to her feet, her head wounded and bloodied, almost like a carmine waterfall down her face. Still, even breathing heavily, she held her dagger up and across in front of herself, a deadly look in her eyes at the woman in front of her.

Mikella will give her this–this girl's got spunk. If she hadn't tried to kill her partner, she would've respected her.

Unfortunately, she ran out of respect the moment she tried to kill Zeke with no hesitation. Holding her sword up, she readied herself to take her life and end this quickly.

Flaring Heavenly Strike, she dashed with every intent to slice her apart. So she was shocked to find Zeke suddenly standing in the way, her blade literally grabbed by his own hands. Granted, they were covered in mithril alloy, but blood still spilled from between the palms, his face frowning in pain.

Despite how impressive the grab and his defenses were, with Heavenly Strike active, she could have sliced his hands right off and him along with it if he was just slightly off and Mikella focused on taking him out instead of the girl.

"Zeke, what are you doing?!" She practically roared at him, her eyes burning with intense frustration and fury.

"Mikella! Stop! Just stop!"

He called out, but that still wasn't enough to quell her fury. But when she faced the girl she planned to kill, she saw that a literal giant snake wrapped its coiling body around her, stopping the assassin in her tracks. She looked distraught, not from a literal giant snake trapping her, but as though she was being held back from attacking them. That got Mikella to pause to listen more to what Zeke is saying.

"You can't hurt her. She's just like us!"

"What?"

Mikella dropped everything in her mind as she faced Zeke. Even more surprising, the girl stopped resisting the giant snake's hold, looking at them in surprise.

"Mikky," Zeke breathed, looking straight into her eyes. When she dropped her sword, Zeke healed his injured hands as he spoke softly. "She's an otherworlder, just like us. So is Lyle here. They both came from our world."

Mikella had to take a step back mentally. Then she took an actual step back, unable to configure what he just said. She looked back at the girl, who looked back at them, then at the snake.

Suddenly, the snake released its grasp on the girl, then shifted back into a tall looking dark-skinned man with a steampunk attire. He looked frazzled, face sweating from the effort as the girl slowly turned her direction from him to Mikella.

"You're…" The girl finally responded, her eyes looking confused and downright mortified. "You're just like us? You came from Earth?"

That proved it for her, forcing Mikella to let out a harsh breath before relaxing her stance. She still had her weapon out, the adrenaline still fueling her veins. But right now, her mind was at a loss of what to do.

So apparently there were otherworlders who managed to get out of the towers just like them. Who'd thought?

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