Chương 119: Help Them Do What?

Milena sat on top of a massive cracked pillar. The top half had gotten destroyed somehow during the fight, and this gave her the perfect vantage point. She scanned the sea of monster corpses below and gave herself a satisfied nod, her feet dangling playfully.

"That was pretty fun, right?" she said, turning to the trembling boy next to her. He stared at her with wide eyes, unable to speak.

"What?" she asked.

"I thought—I thought we were sent to observe," Sebek said.

"Hah!" Milena laughed.

"We're observing right now, aren't we?"

"I don't think that's what they meant…" Milena looked affronted.

"Well, excuse me, mister scriptor, sir. Maybe they should have been a bit more clear then, don't you think?" Sebek looked down, then back at Milena, avoiding her eyes.

"They said we had to wait for the girl to clear the dungeon, and then when the squad came we should record what happened when they met."

"They did, didn't they?" Milena said, nodding thoughtfully.

"And I did exactly what they asked. I'm a girl. I cleared the dungeon. Now we're waiting for the squad."

"I don't think—""I know you don't think. That's why they sent me with you. Don't worry, I can think for the both of us. You just write down what happens."

"Wouldn't she turn around if she sees all the monsters in the dungeon are dead?"

"I don't know. Would you?"

"Yes?" Milena pursed her lips.

"Maybe you're right. Guess their plan wasn't as clever as they thought it was, eh?" She shook her head, chuckling to herself.

"Why would anyone enter a dungeon that's already been cleared?"

"But you…" She waved him off.

"No sense crying over spilt blood. Let's get out of here. There wasn't even any good loot. Waste of my time."

"What about the inquisitors?" Sebek asked.

"You're right," Milena said, narrowing her eyes.

"We should kill them. Get rid of the evidence." Sebek's eyes widened in shock.

"No! That's not what I—" She jabbed a finger in his chest and he winced.

"You don't want to get in trouble for killing all those monsters and messing up this very important mission, do you?"

"But you killed all those monsters…"

"Yeah," she scoffed.

"Thanks for the help, buddy!" Sebek frowned. Milena put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. Sebek yelped in pain.

"Don't worry, Sebek, I'll kill them for you. And you won't tell anyone. Your secret is safe with me." She stared at him intensely, her piercing green eyes boring into his, her pupils shrinking into tiny dots. Sebek put his hand on hers, trying to get her to release her iron grip on his shoulder.

"Or I could just kill you," she said.

"Accidents happen all the time. And you are weak as shit. I wonder why she let you live. You think she let you live because you're so weak you're not even worth her time? I'd like to ask her when we meet."

"I won't tell anyone," Sebek managed to say through the pain. She released his shoulder, leaving a bloody handprint, then shot him a big grin.

"I knew you wouldn't."

"Let's get out of here," she said, jumping down from the pillar onto a corpse that exploded into gore when she landed on it. She looked up at Sebek, still on the pillar.

"Well? You coming?"

"I can't." he said.

"I'd break my legs… Or die."

"No worries!" she said cheerfully.

"I got you." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She casually strolled up to the pillar and kicked it. When her shin connected with the stone it exploded, sending a shockwave through the massive dungeon hall. The entire bottom part of the pillar had been blown out, causing the column to topple over. Sebek fell down, screaming, high-pitched. Milena caught him in her arms. Sebek stared at her with wide eyes. She gave him a wink.

"Kind of romantic, don't you think?"

"I—I," he stammered. She dropped him onto the floor into a pile of monster guts.

"Playtime's over. We got us some inquisitors to kill." Sebek slowly rose to his feet, clutching his painful shoulder. Milena gave him a once-over and shook her head disapprovingly.

"So fragile." Together they exited the dungeon.

Sebek's eyes kept flicking over to Milena, who seemed to be in good spirits. She had used some kind of spell that had cleared all the blood and gore from herself, and her armor looked like it had just been polished, not at all like they'd just violently ripped apart an entire dungeon full of monsters. Her braids were perfectly in place and clean again, no longer dripping with blood. She'd be pretty if she wasn't so scary, he thought.

As if she heard what was in his mind she slowly turned her head to face him, and stared at him with that creepy grin, and those big eyes that showed far too much white. Sebek shuddered, which only seemed to widen her grin. He immediately looked down at himself, prompting a chuckle from her. He was still covered in gore, his wet clothes sticking to him, but he was too scared of her to ask if she could use one of those spells on him. Milena suddenly halted and put her palm on his chest.

"Stop." She pointed at a cloud of smoke rising from the town.

"Something tells me our Hecate has found those inquisitors before we did."

"Shouldn't we go in and help them?" Sebek asked. She gave him an incredulous look.

"Help them do what? Die?"

"If they already ran into each other in town, they won't go to the dungeon and no one will ever find out you killed all the monsters already."

"Oh, yeah," she said.

"I guess not." She shrugged.

"They're probably dead already, don't you think? If anything you said was true it would have been over in a couple of seconds anyway. For all we know this happened hours ago." Sebek hesitated and rubbed his painful shoulder.

"I still think we should try and help them if we can."

"You mean I should help them while you scream like a little girl?" she said, staring at him mockingly. He quickly looked at his feet.

"I won't scream… This time."

"Sure you won't," Milena said, giving him a light push.

When they arrived in town only a single building had been burnt down. There were some puddles of blood in the street and some people standing around chatting in hushed voices, but it was not the chaos Milena had expected—or hoped for. She spotted a man who appeared to be holding a foot and walked over.

"You," she said.

"You with the foot. What happened here?" The man looked at her, then noticed Sebek's bloodied inquisitor robes and quickly hid the foot behind his back.

"I-Uhh… There was a fight." Milena blew some air out of her nose.

"No shit. If you make me repeat myself I'll take your foot. The one still attached to your leg. You seem to have plenty."

"No! No!" the man stammered.

"The witch from the posters was here. She killed all the inquisitors."

"How?" The man looked down, unsure.

"I don't know. I didn't catch most of it, and what I did see I couldn't follow. It happened so fast. One moment they were arguing, the next moment all the inquisitors were dead, and the witch walked off."

"Hmmmmmm," Milena said, turning to Sebek.

"Sounds like our girl, doesn't it." Sebek nodded.

"How long ago was this?" The man shrugged.

"Several hours?"

"Guess she's long gone then," Milena said.

"Too bad. We'll never catch up. If only you hadn't wasted our time killing all those monsters, Sebek."

"I didn't! You did! And aren't you super fast? Shouldn't we follow?"

"Yes, I am super fast. But you are super slow, and I'm not carrying you. Look at you, all covered in blood and guts. What would the Church think if they saw you like this?" Sebek stared at her with his mouth open. He shook off his indignation, then said, "I still think we should follow her." Milena rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Why not. Maybe we'll get lucky." Without being asked, the man pointed in the direction Hecate had gone. Milena and Sebek set off, hoping to run into her or catch her trail somehow. Milena glanced back once, then waved.

"Enjoy the foot. Weirdo."

As they were walking down the main road they heard a distant boom in the forest.

"Milena?" Sebek asked, pointing at the trees. Milena scanned the area. She didn't really feel like going into the forest. She prefered to stay on the main road. The forest was full of insects, and it would probably be full of mosquitos, as forests tended to be. She hated mosquitos. It wasn't even about the itchy bumps they left behind—they couldn't pierce her skin, so that wouldn't be a problem—it was the annoying sound they made. Somehow they always had to make it right next to your ear too.

Could it be Hecate, though? Possibly. But if it wasn't, she would have walked around in the forest getting irritated by nasty bugs for no reason. Getting buzzed at and crawled on. No thanks, she thought. The thought of all those insects only made her more annoyed with Sokolski for his moronic "observe and report" demand. And it was a demand, she was in no position to refuse anything the Church "asked" of her, and she knew it. The benefits were good, but being told what to do still boiled her blood.

Getting into bed with them was the best thing and the worst thing she'd ever done. How much longer would she have to serve them? When would they allow her to go her own way? Probably never. They wouldn't have allowed her to grow so powerful if they were planning on ever letting her go. She understood that well enough. She also knew they only tolerated her because she was so powerful, and because she always completed her mission. They let her have her fun as long as she did that.

Still, them treating her like a dog they could just set loose on whoever didn't sit right with her. What would happen if they decided she'd become too powerful? Too much of a liability? Yeah. She knew what would happen. Fuck them.

"It's probably just a tree," she said.

"Let's keep moving."