Chapter Eight: Purging the Village

In the dead of night, sniffing the stench of decay in the air, the two hid in the backyard of a stone house. Alirise was concealed on the roof.

Cana, standing in the center of the courtyard, nodded at Alirise under the moonlight. He held the prince’s sword in one hand, while a thick wooden plank was strapped to his left forearm—his makeshift shield. Having successfully activated the effect of the [Silver Thunderbolt Guard Badge], his constitution had increased.

[Constitution: 6] + 1.

Because his constitution was so frail, every bit of improvement was felt vividly. A ringing in his ears began. Cana moved instantly, then froze. Such erratic, non-continuous movements might transmit information, but the giant bat could not discern the source. Like ghouls, giant bats were not very bright; they possessed little to no intelligence.

The squad that had just used sonar to scout the area would surely come to investigate.

And they did. The sound of the giant bat’s flapping wings was audible, flying low, barely above the rooftops. Two ghouls were sprinting in its wake.

Cana pressed against the wall. One ghoul stopped right at the wall's edge, exposing half its body as it peered around.

A flash of steel. The head flew high into the air. The sword was indeed sharp.

Having delivered the blow, Cana instantly lunged, thrusting the wooden plank against the second ghoul behind the first. Caught off guard, the creature was pinned to the ground.

The giant bat in the air shrieked and dove down. Before its talons could touch Cana, a weight landed on its back. The creature veered off course, and before it could adjust or comprehend the situation, a blade pierced its skull. Its body went limp, twitching only with reflexive muscle spasms as it crashed to the ground.

Before the carcass hit the earth, Alirise had already leaped from it. Landing beside Cana, she drove her blade through the skull of the struggling ghoul. The scouting party had been eliminated in less than ten seconds.

"We need to move," Cana whispered. The commotion would surely draw others; after all, there was no torrential rain tonight to mask the noise. Howls echoed in the distance.

The two quickly shifted their position. While passing through a house, Cana spotted something and grabbed two forks and a butter knife. As they emerged from the other side, a giant bat spotted them and gave chase.

The bat opened its maw to shriek, but Alirise, down below, spun around and hurled a stone she had picked up earlier. The stone whistled through the air, striking the bat’s head with such force that it embedded itself deep within the skull.

Seeing this, Cana stopped in his tracks. "We don't need to run anymore."

Once Alirise regained her form, she was far more formidable than he had anticipated. These were not game monsters that operated on data; a strike to the head meant instant death, not just a loss of hit points from a critical hit. There were no health bars to chip away at; every strike to a weak point provided a massive advantage.

Two ghouls rushed them from either side. The one charging Alirise had its head cleaved open before it could even strike. The one rushing Cana was met with a swift kick from Alirise, who had turned after resheathing her sword. As it hit the ground, a stone pierced its skull.

Cana stood by, watching the entire process.

"Your Highness, are you unharmed?"

"Er... yes, I'm fine."

Why bother with underhanded tactics or elaborate schemes? They should just steamroll them. The reality of a level gap was far more absurd than in the game. Cana mused, his perception of the world shifting away from his gaming memories.

"Awoooo!"

A howl pierced the night. A dark shadow leaped from a rooftop ten meters away. Behind it followed two more ghouls and a giant bat.

"Handle the werewolf and the bat; I can manage the two ghouls," Cana said, thrusting the butter knife he had grabbed into Alirise’s hand. Before she could ask, he added, "This is silver; it will suppress the werewolf."

He stepped back and retreated. Alirise didn't have time to question it. She hurled a stone to knock the giant bat out of the air—though it didn't strike the head, the impact was enough to bring it down. She then gripped her sword and faced the shadow.

So this was a werewolf? Alirise had never seen one, nor even heard of them. But the monster before her was unmistakable: a wolf-headed creature, standing upright like a man, yet covered in grotesque, visible surgical scars. She hadn't encountered one while fleeing earlier and didn't know its true strength.

She swung her blade with force. The werewolf, sensing danger, crossed its arms. A metallic clang rang out as the sword struck the bracers on its forearms.

*Strong, but weaker than me,* Alirise judged. Without hesitation, she pressed down with all her might, forcing the werewolf to retreat two steps. She quickly retracted her blade, ducked, and slammed her shoulder into the werewolf’s chest. The creature stood nearly two meters tall, far taller than her. As she collided with it, she drove the sword hilt upward into its chin.

The movement was fluid and lightning-fast. A quick slash left a wound on the werewolf’s abdomen. She rolled on the ground, narrowly dodging a swipe of its claws, and rose to her feet.

Alirise had assessed the situation: great strength, agile, and its hide was tougher than she expected, but its fighting style was devoid of technique, relying entirely on instinct. Remembering other vampire-spawned monsters, its regenerative abilities must be formidable.

*I must kill it in one strike.*

Taking advantage of the moment, she didn't idle. She picked up a stone while rolling and hurled it at the giant bat as it tried to take flight again. This time, it pierced the creature’s skull with lethal precision.

The act enraged the werewolf. It was a total provocation, a complete disregard for its presence. It howled and lunged.

*Short-tempered, then.*

She sidestepped the pounce and swung her blade, striking the werewolf’s claws. The collision sparked; the claws were incredibly hard. Alirise kicked the werewolf in the chest, sending it staggering back. She stepped forward, lunging with her sword, driving it straight into the beast's heart. Recalling the potential for regeneration, she drew the butter knife from her waist. Trusting Cana’s word, she didn't hesitate to plunge the silver knife into the werewolf’s chest as well.

"Gaaah!"

As the silver touched it, the werewolf let out a scream far more piercing than before. Alirise seized the chance and kicked the knife, driving it deeper into the wound, then pulled her sword free. The werewolf clawed frantically at its own chest, howling in agony, completely losing the will to fight.

*Is it that effective?*

Alirise was stunned by the result. She didn't hesitate further. She stepped forward, swung her blade in a half-circle, and decapitated the incapacitated beast.

She turned to look the other way. Cana had just used his shield to knock the final ghoul to the ground, finishing it with a clean swing of his sword.

Cana looked at Alirise, surprised that she had also cleared her side without a scratch. To think they had purged the entire village in such a short time.

*We really are quite formidable,* he thought.

He walked over to the werewolf’s corpse and looked at its chest under the moonlight. The butter knife was still embedded there, surrounded by a large patch of flesh that looked as though it had been corroded by sulfuric acid. He pulled the knife out and handed it back to Alirise.

"Your Highness, how did you know its weakness?" Alirise asked, unable to contain her curiosity. Without this silver knife, the battle would not have ended so easily; it would have taken several more exchanges to land a killing blow.

Cana, busy stripping the bracers off the werewolf, replied nonchalantly, "These monsters are the handiwork of the people in the royal palace. The root of the problem is a conspiracy by the royal family themselves."

"What?" Alirise stared at him in shock.