Holly Vendetta Arc Chapter 8

"So let me get this straight. You followed a ghost. You almost died because of it. A sword appeared out of nowhere, the same ghost you were following possessed your body and then you killed the minotaur. Did I miss anything?" Holly recounted as per everything she was told by Kairo the next morning

"Rather anticlimactic when you put it like that, but that pretty much summed it up." Kairo nonchalantly replied

"I can't believe you left me while I was asleep, not only that but proceeded to almost get yourself killed. You made a deal with me, remember? I can't have you dying the moment I take my eyes off you. No more rash decisions, got it?" Holly voiced out as she slapped Kairo on the shoulder, Holly

In all seriousness, Kairo responded "Yes ma'am. You have my word."

"Yeah. Too bad for you, your words mean jack to me after the stunt you pulled while I was asleep." Holly angrily retorted

Kairo continued to attempt to assure Holly that his foolishness was only a one night thing and it would not happen again. As she persistently continued to ignore his plea, he changed the topic to him attempting to summon the miracle sword but to no avail when he returned to the camp last night. Holly rolled her eyes and although reluctant at first, she instructed him accordingly.

"All you had to do is say inventory followed by the weapon's name to quickly equip it in your hand."

"What if I don't know it's name?"

"Then just call out inventory and a blue rectangle will appear with rows of smaller pictorial squares. "

"This world is so game-like, it's scary."

"What are you talking about?"

Speaking over Holly's question, Kairo called out "Inventory."

And just like he was told, An inventory window appeared. Upon its appearance, Kairo stated that something was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Holly asked

"It's not here." said the slightly confused Kairo

"Sadly, it would appear that I can't see your inventory. So, I'm not much help beyond this point." Holly further stated

As Kairo continued the look through his inventory window, he also realised something. He had not been wearing his backpack all this while and that was because his backpack along with all its contents were stored in his inventory. He laughed to himself thinking how convenient it was and the fact that the "world's voice" might have been right about her statement of him.

After putting out the campfire, Holly suggested they start moving off while the sun was still up. It was too dangerous for them to remain out in the open like this and they were in need of food. To which Kairo queried how she managed to fight her hunger while she was in the tower these few years. The monsters in the tower were very different from the ones out here. Not only were they extremely powerful, they would disappear upon death. Which meant there was no meat to scavenge as ration, based on Kairo's understanding. Which would definitely raise questions.

Holly shut his questions down by simply explaining that after killing each monster in charge of the floor, the world's voice would grant her rewards. The rewards included potions to heal wounds, weapons and most importantly food.

"Speaking of survival, from what you told me of your intensive battle last night, you are clearly incapable of fending for yourself."

Slightly insulted, Kairo snarkily murmured under his breath"I took you down, didn't I?"

As his words ran through Holly's ears like an express train through a tunnel, she halted in her tracks as she spun around and pointed her blade at Kairo's throat.

Raising both his hands up, Kairo apologized

"Sorry, sorry! It was a joke!"

As they remained in this position for a couple of seconds, the world's voice announced to Kairo that he had unlocked an achievement.

"Achievement Unlocked" said in an monotonous tone as a blue window with the exact words appeared in front of his eyes

"Thanks?" Kairo responded to the world's voice uncertain if he should be happy with what it was that he achieved

Holly could not hear the world's voice as it spoke to Kairo directly, thus proceeded to question him over what his gratitude was directed at. As he explained that he received an achievement, Holly further added that when the world's voice commended her in the past for an achievement it could sometimes also come with rewards.

"Ooh! Rewards?" Kairo asked as he grinned while clapping his hands like an excited little boy on christmas day

The monotonous voice responded "Would you like to receive your rewards?"

"You bet I do!"

The voice continued to list out the requirements Kairo met as a separate window appeared " You have unlocked the achievement "Provoker of The Night Sky."

"Provoked 90% of every creature you've encountered, cleared."

"Hunted creatures that roam the night alone, cleared."

"Harbors the hatred of a species empowered by the moon, cleared."

"Killed the kin of a species/creature empowered by the moon, cleared."

Kairo frowned with confusion as he could not understand how he could have cleared the last two requirements over what happened last night.

"Empowered by the moon… Empowered by the moon…" Kairo recited repeatedly as his eyes traced the sky from left to right till it dawned upon him

Pressing his right palm unto his face while shutting his eyes, he yelled out for the world's voice to stop listing the rest of it.

"Rewards; Daybreak." skipping ahead to the reward as per Kairo's request, the world's voice concluded as a uniquely designed sword coated full black appeared in front of Kairo pierced into the ground

With a draggy exhale, Kairo wipes his hand across his face in disappointment. Just because he moved to another world, that did not mean his slate would be clean. It was made abundantly clear to him. As the game system of this world reminded him of the irreversible mistake that he wished he could undo followed him here, even to the extent that the system recorded it down as an achievement.

Holly, concerned by the way Kairo reacted to his achievement, asked "What's wrong? Unhappy with the reward?"

Kairo shaked his head as he brushed Holly off telling her that it was nothing. Keeping the sword in his inventory, He pushed forward and overtook Holly in leading the way. Holly, uncomfortable with the way Kairo was acting, ran up to him and clamped his cheeks in between her hands. Kairo did not dare look her in the eyes.

"Look at me. If there's something wrong, you can talk to me. I might not be the best choice since I haven't spoken to another human being in about two years and I may have tried to kill you yesterday, but I'm all ears.Till your end of the deal is done, we're companions."

"Right..." Kairo draggily responded as he slid out from Holly's cheek hold and shrugged off her attempt to ease his internal suffering

Holly was unsure of what she was feeling too, but it was an uncomfortable feeling. That much she was certain of. Thus, she caught up to him and sandwiched his cheeks with her hands once more.

Holly then spouted the first words that came to mind "Y'know, it's dangerous out here. Having you distracted over something else right now and letting your guard down puts both our lives at risk."

Gently holding both her hands by the wrist, Kairo released his cheeks from her hold and agreed "You're probably right. I'm more of a risk than help at the moment."

To which Holly suggested "How about this? You rest up in that building over there, don't move a muscle. I'll be back in about an hour with food for both of us. Then, later we swap out. You hunt our dinner and I rest?"

Without giving Kairo a chance to respond, Holly dragged the dazed young man into the nearby building and hid him behind some rubble.

"I'll be back!" Holly assured him before running off

Seeing that Holly was no longer in sight, Kairo sat on the ground with his legs stretched out as he looked to the sky letting his mind drift. Before he knew it, his eyes were closed. But his mind was anything but resting.

The words of anger were running around in his mind. The noise would not stop. It went on a loop. He could hear him, Edgar in rage screaming at him.

"What have you done? Did you not hear me!? I SAID, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" again and again these words haunted him till he opened his eyes

Breaking out in cold sweat, he needed to be sure. Kairo commanded "System, open achievement window."

Following his command, the achievement window opened once again showing him all the conditions he met to unlock "Provoker of the Night Sky".

"Hunted creatures that roam the night. List them."

"Request approved. Answer, Minotaur."

"Harbors the hatred of a species empowered by the moon. List them."

"Request approved. Answer, Werewolves."

"Killed the kin of a species/creature empowered by the moon. List them."

"Request approved. Answer, Werewolves."

"System, specify."

"Request Denied. Reason: Request was vague."

"Name of the creature I killed."

"Recalibration Completed. Request approved. Edward Argentum."

"Elaborate. Edward was not a creature empowered by the moon."

"Request approved. Answer; Edward Argentum, father of Edward Argentum; werewolf."

"Urgh!" Kairo grunted as he angrily slammed his clenched fist onto a wall

Coincidentally, Holly returned with stacks of monster meat in each arm witnessing Kairo throwing a tantrum.