Episode 6- A Woman in a Strange Land
The warm sunlight brushed her face as a gentle wind ruffled her long, sleek brown hair. Feeling groggy, the young woman rolled over and opened her hazel colored eyes.
With a gasp she sat upright, she didn't recognize this place.
She was in a field full of thick green grass that swayed back and forth with the wind. In the distance she could see a large number of stone and metal buildings. There was also a strange roaring noise that seemed to increase and decrease randomly.
She got to her feet and noticed that her trusty sword, Arin, was laying on the ground neatly sheathed.
She picked the sword up then drew it from its scabbard.
"Oh no!" The woman exclaimed in disappointment.
Her powerful sword had been reset somehow. It was back to looking like a regular weapon rather than the mighty, fearsome magical blade it had been in her world.
She examined her own abilities, fearing that if her sword had been reset then most likely her powers had been too.
When she thought about her magic a large screen appeared in her mind. It looked like a hexagon shaped board game that was decorated with hundreds of small circles that were blacked out. Only one circle was illuminated, making it easy to read.
"Sword wielding," she muttered to herself.
It was as she feared, her powers had been reset back to level 1.
Feeling horribly confused and dismayed at how weak she now was, she realized she needed answers. This world didn't look like Gnaat. It was more… primitive in some ways but also more advanced in others.
She began to walk towards the giant buildings she had seen earlier, people must live around here. The plan was simple, find some locals then learn more about this new world she was in.
***
"Run! Get out of here!" The horrified screams greeted her as she entered the city. She saw a large group of children fleeing in panic from what looked like giant bullheaded creatures with humanoid bodies.
"What the hell?" The woman had never seen such monsters but one thing was crystal clear, those kids were in real danger.
Despite being iskai'd into a new body and a new world along with being reset to level 1, she couldn't just stand by while lives were in danger.
She may not have all of her powers but her sword, even in its base form, was still razor sharp.
The woman took off at a sprint, drawing her blade as she charged head first at the group of bull-like monsters. The children ran past her, still screaming at her to get away while she still could.
One of the bull-monsters managed to close the distance on a teenager in the back of the crowd. A large, tan thick muscled arm stretched out for the poor kid, inches away from securing its next meal.
Her sword flashed faster than the beast could blink. The severed arm flew through the air, trailing dark red monster blood behind it.
The woman wasn't finished though, she skidded to a halt before rolling towards the beast, her blade swinging upwards in a deadly arc.
The sword cut through the beast's belly, spraying blood everywhere. One monster down, six to go, the woman thought to herself.
With a grin she stood and faced the other monsters. They had stopped their pursuit when they saw the woman engage one of their herd members.
They snorted in anger, eyes black as night glared murderous intentions at the woman. She had felled one of their own, there would be no mercy.
The woman felt confidant, she could take these ugly monsters on. They were slow, stupid, and not very agile.
The woman crouched low, blade held at the ready.
They swarmed her as one unit, intent on tearing her apart. She dodged hooves, horns, teeth, and punches from the bull-men. Despite being such a low level now she found that her agility was still leagues above her enemies. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't seem to land a blow on her.
Her sword danced in between them, flashes of light glinting from the blade as she weaved a deadly path through the enemy. Bull heads rolled with sickening thuds onto the ground, blood sprayed and limbs flew. She was an unstoppable blade of destruction.
The battle was quick but decisive, the woman felt stronger. She saw that she had leveled up to level 3. A new ability on the hexagon shaped board was now lit up, 'hundred strike attack'. She could use the ability twice a day for now, it gave her extra damage with her sword as well as chaining hundreds of lightning fast sword strikes onto a single target.
Feeling good she cleaned her blade. The sound of something immense stomping towards her reached her ears, taking the wind from her sails.
Looking up quickly she saw another bull-headed monster with the body of a man. This one though, was pure white and was three times larger than the other seven monsters had been.
Its powerful muscles flexed as it walked closer, the clacking of hooves on cement was loud.
"You must be the boss," the woman said with a serious look on her face. This monster was definitely way stronger than the ones she already dispatched.
The giant monster simply roared as red light flooded its onyx colored eyes. She kept her sword held at the ready.
"Excuse me, sorry, pardon me. Just passing by," a male voice politely called out.
Both the woman and the monster had stopped to look at the strange man who appeared completely unperturbed by this epic fight in the making. He was walking between them, carrying several plastic bags of groceries.
"You need to get out of here, it's too dangerous!" The woman called out, she was concerned that the man might be blind, perhaps that was why he wasn't freaking out or running away.
"Me? Or the monster thing?" The man asked, staring up at the colossal bull-head humanoid.
What kind of question was that?
The bull monster roared with such ferocity that his voice cracked all of the windows in the buildings around them.
The woman grimaced, this was not going to be an easy fight.
The strange man though had other plans. The bull monster swung a huge fist at the man, intent on crushing him into the earth.
The punch failed to land; the man had blocked the blow with one finger as a giant cloud of dust exploded from behind him. The monster had used so much power that the kinetic energy continued to carry forward even after the punch was stopped.
The woman's jaw dropped, she had never seen this kind of power before. None of the heroes from her original world could have done something this brazen and lived to tell the tale.
The man frowned at the monster before saying, "That's incredibly rude."
The monster roared in anger, kicking a large hoof at the odd man.
The kick missed the man but it hit the bags he was carrying. Flour exploded into the air, mixed with sugar, as it formed a giant white cloud.
The stranger didn't hesitate as he immediately leaped into the air. His jump placed him at eye level with the giant beast, its massive eyes looking confused before the man flicked it in the forehead.
A thunderous crack ripped through the air as the beast's head snapped backwards. The monstrous body fell onto its back, crushing several cars as it landed with a boom.
"Now I have to go back to the grocery store. I already used my coupons too," the strange man said in a frustrated tone of voice.
The woman merely stood there, eyes wide, sword dangling at her side in disbelief.