Arc 1, Chapter 10: Weak Point

"I can walk! That's enough!" Fumeko dashed up dust towards the city.

"Bunny huh?" Jotou saw her run off like a headless chicken.

"Jotou, get up, let's go!" Hotaru yanked her arm up. The two looked back and rushed toward the brunette. Not a single scratch on its shadow covered form. After a low chattering it began its chase once more…

Soon, the three were huffing down the path they came, "We can't let that thing reach further in, there's people!" Hotaru stated.

"What're we supposed to do!? Only magic can beat that thing and we don't even know what type! The next best thing we have is this thing!" Fumeko pointed to Jotou.

"Can you un-heal her leg?" her eyes glazed over in her sprint.

"DON'T! I'M SORRY!" Fumeko learned to keep her mouth shut—at least for now.

"Anyway! The easiest solution right now is to get with people. They'll know to run when they see that thing coming!" Jotou's hair came loose strand by strand.

The velatos had both pincers in the air clicking. Its chattering overpowering the sounds of the wood below them.

"We might die before that!" the increase of its footsteps kept Fumeko ahead of the other two.

"Jotou, you need to try something! How exactly did you two kill the last velatos?"

"We crushed its skull by pressing a giant branch over its head," maybe Jotou realized they came here with half a plan and a hope.

"What if it was the eyes?" Fumeko shouted out.

"Huh?" the two stared to her.

"Black shadow form, ruby red eyes—every velatos!" Fumeko puffed out, inhaling more air before, "What if it's not about 'enough force', more like a weak point?"

"That's… actually very clever," Hotaru's legs were giving out.

"Please, don't stop," Fumeko's grin faced back, running for her life.

"So…" Jotou gazed back to the velatos—eyestalks that were ruby red at the tip, "You want me to… run towards it… Too bad I don't have a stick," her face twisted.

"Maybe try something a little more piercing," Fumeko threw over the dagger to Jotou. Jotou fumbled holding her breath. She caught the handle tightly, breathing again.

Jotou glanced back to the velatos gaining on them… 'Am I really gonna…?' Then glanced to her new found companions… in this unknown world…"…Fine."

'I'll need a plan at least. Come on, you like chess, figure out a strategy here.

This isn't the same as chess.

Whatever!' "Fumeko, that thing seems to like you a lot. On the count of three, you run towards it too," Jotou instructed.

"HAH!?"

"Just trust me on this!"

Fumeko muttered something in contemplation… she gave out an agreeing sigh in response.

"Hotaru, can you do that invigorating spell again from afar? Like an AOE spell?"

"What's an ayowee? I don't think I can cast that type of magic," Hotaru raised a brow.

"Sorry, area of effect! It means, can you do that same spell, but make it rain on me and Fumeko?"

"Oh! Uh, uhm… I'm not used to casting at long range and it takes more mana to cast it like that, but I can definitely try! But if I use that spell, it'll hit the velatos too."

"Ugh. Fine, then it's gonna be just me and you Fumeko," Jotou conferred in the cacophony of panting breaths, wood and that thing chasing them…

"Wait! Jotou, your plan is to use me as a distraction while you go for its eyes, right?" Fumeko slowed down her pace to let the other two keep up.

"Right…"

"Then Hotaru, do your spell anyway. I have a feeling that thing's not going to be affected by your magic," Fumeko replied.

Hotaru thought for a second, "I- I had you pegged all wrong. Since it's a lower-level spell, it wouldn't affect a velatos that's said to only be defeated by higher-level magic casters. You're brilliant!"

"Wasn't exactly my thought or theory, but I'll take all of your praises regardless!" Fumeko gave a thumbs up.

"Save the compliments for later," Jotou's dead voice spoke up. Finding the adrenaline… "Three, two, one!" fists clenched, halting at their heels like tire tracks, they spun around.

Hotaru stayed a little back while Jotou slowed down, but even if she didn't, Fumeko's- "I DON'T WANNA DIE! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!!" -speed seemed to outclass both of them in general.

Seeing the brunette in purple screaming into the air—arms flailing—the velatos went for the easy prey whilst Jotou came for it from behind.

The creature's back was to the blonde, chasing Fumeko who had ran past it back towards the sea.

Fumeko wanted to run in circles, but the looming shadow gave her some trouble in that endeavour. "Rejuvenate!" Hotaru casted out from a distance.

"Drip… drip-drip-drip…" Blue specks formed overhead the three entities. Hotaru closed her eyes and concentrated harder, feeling mana pulsing through her nerves.

The specks turned to drops, drops turned to rain. Like a blue halo, the spell formed overhead. The light drizzle trickled onto their skin, making them feel a little vigour in their steps—allowing Fumeko to flail more violently and Jotou to reach the shell.

Jotou halted for a quick second. 'Am I really gonna touch this thing?'

"JOTOU!!!!!!!" Fumeko's ear-bleeding scream made Jotou's decision a lot easier.

Groaning, she placed both hands on the shell before boosting herself up onto the creature. Flat top, not squishy at all; it felt like a hard floor? 'Gross, gross, gross.' She couldn't see her feet, merely feel them as she sunk a little in the shadows.

She ran up the shell, readying the dagger. 'DISGUSTING!' She grabbed the right eyestalk, still cringing. It felt like stone or clay that hadn't completely hardened yet.

"Lights out!" she bent it down and jabbed it in the eye. "TINK!" Like glass, the ruby red cracked and cracked… before the hue faded into a grey.

"CREHaAaHhHh!!!" It threw its pincers in the air, completely forgetting about Fumeko who was still running in fear; its pincers thrashed down onto wood.

The planks breaking below only made Fumeko run faster and with the energy she was receiving, she was not about to slow down.

Jotou pulled down the other eyestalk, drawing back her dagger for a strike, but her hand paused. She stared into its eye; it was almost like, wisps of grey smoke danced within the ruby red…

'Pzzz!' Another shock-like sensation through her blonde hair. Jotou turned to the pincer coming straight for her in between its eyestalks-

"CLINK!" The dagger cracked the other eye as the pincer fell limp—almost immediately.

Not a sound, not a chatter… It slumped down, it's legs bent more and more. "SNap!" Till they broke. The shadow it was, dissipated into the air until the shell Jotou stood on disappeared beneath her feet.

"THUD!" Jotou fell on her ass. At least this one wasn't too far down… "Ow…" she moaned as the velatos that was the size of a shack, shrunk down to a creature no bigger than two human hands…

The orange crab-like shell had white spots while the body kept going, almost like a spinal cord with many legs.

The blue halo above them faded. Hotaru exhaled before approaching the fallen blonde in haste.

"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna- oh," with the commotion of crashing wood dying down, Fumeko halted in her step, her throat not even feeling the least bit sore as she panted.

Jotou got up, picking up, the whatever, by the end of its, tail? Body? She held it away from her face while the dead creature hung from her fingers.

"Oh, it's a centicrab," Hotaru recognized.

"Did it die and become a velatos or was it some random centicrab that got turned?" Fumeko breathed heavily.

Jotou stared, mouth agape at the two, looking back and forth, "A centi-WHAT!?"

_

The three of them awaited the clerk to confirm the kill. The centicrab was placed on a flat sheet of metal under an orb which scanned for traces; whatever the trace of a velatos was…

"Yup, this was indeed a velatos," he put the body in a container before his hand reached below the front desk. He turned the dials for a code for the safe underneath. "Here you are, one armite. Congratulations."

Fumeko immediately reached over to grab it only to be stopped by Jotou pulling her arm back. "Hotaru, you said you'd keep track of our treasures, right?" Jotou pointed with her eyes to the armite given.

"I did. I suppose I can keep track of our finances as well," Hotaru took the armite piece; two fingers gingerly held a rounded triangle that was gold in the middle and surrounded in platinum on the edges.

"Out of curiosity, how did you manage to kill this velatos?" the clerk adjusted his glasses.

"Trade secret I'm afraid," Fumeko examined her nails.

"We found its weak point was the eye. Maybe that's some useful information for the guild," Fumeko stared at her nails pouting, as Jotou answered.

The clerk, "Huh? That is peculiar. Many have tried to find a weak point and have definitely attacked a velatos' eye.

The eyes of a velatos don't differ in strength or resistance compared to its body. This information given to the guild would only put anyone who uses that advice in a grave."

Jotou and Hotaru shared a glance with waxed eyes, before their eyes narrowed to Fumeko. Fumeko avoided eye contact, "Hehe, we… we were just lucky?"