Chapter 13: Run Away and Hide

[HP: 30/65]

"Sophie...?" murmurs Alice, her mind unable to process a single emotion for this event. Confusion and shock at being attacked by Sophie, anger at being stabbed in the back by her 'companion', fear of what will happen next.

Seeing this betrayal, the bald knight simply laughs at how pathetic and ironic the whole scene was, the nameless soldier was instantly stabbed by the elf she tried to protect, "GYAHAHAHAHA! That's what you get for trusting these pointy-eared demons! How did you even become one of us, huh?"

However, suddenly, the soldier has a pale expression, as if he had seen a ghost, and then, a sound is emitted by 'Sophie': "Shhriiissk...!"

Alice uses the last of her strength to turn around and finally understand what disturbed the bald knight: That was not Sophie, her form was identical, but her face was dominated by silver eyes and an inhumanly large smile.

[HP: 27/65]

By pure reflex, the swordswoman extends her right hand to the side and screams with all her might: "D-UNEQUIP! EQUIP!"

Instantly, the sword is invoked in her hand with a reverse grip, causing the blade to pierce the creature's head without allowing it to react to the attack. It falls to the ground while writhing, but even in the face of death, its traumatizing smile still dominates its face.

"SHHRIAAIAIAAKKK!" screams the creature, as its body deforms revealing its real appearance: Its skin loses all color and becomes as pale as quartz, its limbs stretch and become thin like branches, a tail emerges from its back, and its head takes on a more reptilian shape, with the same silver and empty eyes, along with its fake smile.

[Experience: 200/225]

[HP: 24/65]

She falls to her knees in agony, with the sword still in her abdomen. "A Doppelgänger...? Wait, so the voice that I heard..."

The bald knight had his hands on his hips and was excited about what he had just witnessed "Wow! Cool technique, where did you learn it?", he walks calmly to the player, "I mean, obviously it's useless for someone like me, but our recruits are such idiots— I mean, inexperienced, a skill like that would suit them well. Come on, if you're going to die, at least do something useful for the kingdom and teach me this technique."

"Go fu—"

He steps on her head. Even without the [Fullmetal] his strength was almost 5x greater than Alice's, "Who do you think you are? To think that you can challenge me!"

[HP: 19/65]

Even with her mind screaming to get up, her body had no strength to stand. Half of her face was sunk into the ground, while the other half witnessed Solol taking advantage of the distraction Alice accidentally caused to cowardly flee.

[HP: 16/65]

"Ah well, if you think you're so great, I guess you won't need this," he pulls the sword from Alice's back, worsening her bleeding even more. "What a disgrace. Almost 1 minute against me, and you're already at death's door."

[HP: 10/65]

"Big talk for such a loud woman."

"No, no...!" the player was losing her breath. Her vision is dominated by images of her parents, which fly before her eyes like butterflies.

"Mom... Dad..."

...

"...Arthur...?"

...

"Eh? Still alive? Are you even human?" he raises his leg to finish the job. "Oh well, time for round 2!"

Until a piercing scream completely changes the atmosphere of the battle: "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

From the fog, Solol emerges screaming with his arms in the air, passing right through the two. The confusion momentarily dominates the bald man's mind, and footsteps are heard, multiple footsteps. And a sound can be heard: "Sssk sssk."

The soldier gets irritated, murmuring "Son of a...", while activating the [Fullmetal] in his arms and preparing a combat pose—consequently, releasing Alice in the process.

Feeling the relief of freedom, she tries to stand up, unfortunately, at most she manages to sit on the ground. But she doesn't give up and tries to get up again, until stopped by Solol, "Have you never been to a doctor you idiot?! Don't stand up, you're bleeding!"

Even though she knew he was right, Alice's stubbornness was stronger, "T-that guy... I'm going to kick his ass...!"

"I don't think that will be necessary..." he points ahead, where from the foggy chamber emerge a group of 10 Spiders, which before were chasing the Necromancer. However, upon seeing the bald man—with a much larger physical body—they instantly change targets.

3 of them try to climb over his body, but the Bald man impatiently removes them by grabbing their heads and throwing them to the ground with so much force that their eight-legged bodies turn into just a purple slime staining the ground.

Solol takes advantage of these seconds of distraction and makes a request to Alice: "Freckles, my gun, now!"

But his voice attracts the attention of a spider that had not yet joined the group in the charge. Seeing an opportunity to have more food, the trio advances on the pair. The necromancer continues to desperately beg for his weapon.

One of the spiders jumps towards his face, preparing to finish him off with a single bite of its venomous fangs.

"GIVE MY FUCKING GUN YOU—"

"E-equip...!" the moment the arachnid passes over the swordswoman, she invokes her sword, easily impaling the creature's head.

[Experience: 01/275]

Seeing the golden aura transcending from her body, all pain in her body extinguishes, every wound was erased. She jumps for joy, "LET'S FREAKING GO!", but she immediately gets disgusted when she sees the body of the spider on her sword. "Ewww..."

"Ok, what Deus Ex Machina just happened now...?", says the player extremely confused with Alice's instant recovery—who after almost dying, was now swinging her sword to get the creature off of it.

Coincidentally, the Bald man had just executed the last creature by crushing its head with punches. He turns around and sees in disbelief the girl completely recovered. He even rubs his eyes to make sure he's not seeing anything wrong.

The gentleman reflects, "But, she had a sword in her belly. That usually kills people, right? Unless... Did I imagine everything that happened until now? No, I didn't drink anything recently... So... Urgh, thinking too much hurts..."

While he was trying hard to understand what happened, Solol tries to signal to Alice that they need to escape, but the swordswoman was already walking towards the enemy.

"Why are you after the elf? And where is she? Answer both questions. Now."

His eyes widen, as if he had found an answer to a primordial question, "Of course! It's all so clear now! All the pieces fell into place! That's why I don't remember you, you're not even one of us! After all, it's common knowledge that Elves are worth more than diamonds."

"They do?"

Solol emerges more excited than scared, "THEY DO?!"

"And with that reaction, my highly complex theory was correct. However, if you think I'm done here, you're very wrong! Because I know what you really are... You're a Snail Demon!"

"... What?"

He breathes a sigh of relief, "Thank the gods, for a second I thought I would have to kill a allie. Now my conscience will be clear.", he snaps his fingers, transforming his arms into metal. "May the gods have mercy on your soul, for I will not, demon."