historical

Alice attacked. Her eyes were as calm as her aura. She swung her scythe as the dark blade swept toward the snake.

The monster reacted immediately. It twisted and easily dodged the blade. Alice attacked again, but suddenly the snake's tail came crashing down on her. She reflexively raised her scythe above her as she blocked the blow, but she could hardly keep from falling. Her legs trembled, and cracks appeared on the ground.

"Huh, I thought she could easily take a punch like that." Wain muttered.

"Well... She's only fought me before. She's probably not used to fighting against a monster, especially snakes. It has no arms or legs, just a long tail and a pair of sharp fangs. By the way... we might be in trouble..." Ern's eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Erza stared at him.

"Damn, if that snake is poisonous, Alice is going to be bad, we might not have the right medicine."

"Shall we go save her?" Wain hesitated.

"No. She'll make it. If she can't overpower that snake, then shame on me as a teacher. True...I've never trained anyone before, but could that be a problem?" Ern shrugged.

"Poor kid..." Erza shook her head.

"It'll be all right, I'm sure." Ern thrust his chest forward.

Wain, Ern, and Erza watched the fight, so the other monsters couldn't attack, Alice had to deal with the serpent on her own, no one would interfere with them.

'Damn! I've blocked many blows from Ern, but I can't handle one tail!' Alice exclaimed to herself as she fought off another blow.

"Girl, use my power to its fullest, and we'll cut this snake into sashimi. You have such a powerful weapon, and yet you don't use it, it's incredibly stupid." Dormant Stalker uttered.

"I'm not sure... In past times, it's worked for me by accident!" Alice exclaimed.

Whoooooosh.

The snake turned as it opened its jaw wide and spat a sphere of venom at Alice.

Alice's eyes went wide as it instinctively ducked to the ground, landing on a twine. The poison sphere fell behind her, the venom eating away at the ground like acid.

'If it hit me... Shit! I've got to do something.'

'We can do it, just trust me.' Dormant Stalker said. There was a connection between them. They could communicate through telepathy.

"Great, this snake has acid type venom. Now we definitely won't need an antidote." Ern nodded confidently.

"Surely you're her teacher...?" Wain looked at him, puzzled.

"I'm not sure about my decision to go to the Forgotten Forest of Elves anymore..." Erza muttered.

Alice got to her feet as she rushed toward the snake. The monster spat out several more spheres, they should have hit Alice for sure, but suddenly her eyes flashed, and she turned into a dark flash.

Swinging her scythe a few times, she shattered the poisonous spheres and came close to the serpent.

'Come on!' Dormant Stalker exclaimed.

Alice attacked.

The scythe blade plunged into the snake's tough hide and cut through it like a sheet of paper. As she applied more force, Alice stepped forward, and the blade went further. She ripped open the snake's belly. The monster died with horrible cries.

"What an abomination..." Alice looked at her hands. They were stained with blood like the rest of her.

'That's no problem. We've accomplished our task.' Dormant Stalker muttered.

The eye on the scythe closed as the dark armor disappeared along with the dirt and blood left by the snake.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Claps were heard behind her. Alice turned to Ern, he was clapping his hands slowly with a smile.

"Well done, there were a few mistakes, but all in all, you did fine."

"Yes." Alice nodded.

"Okay, let's go. We've wasted too much time on this already. If I don't get to the Forgotten Forest of Elves as soon as possible, I might be in trouble." Wain waved his hand.

"You did well." Erza said calmly.

"Soon, you'll be able to fight stronger monsters without difficulty. It's only a matter of time." Ern walked over to Alice.

He took her in his arms, and they all headed together.

Alice's town was in the same direction as the Forgotten Forest of Elves, so as they approached, Alice could easily figure it out.

During the night, they passed through several forests, mountains, and even ended up in a small desert area.

"It's there!" Alice exclaimed as she pointed to a lake in the distance.

"Your town is on the shore?"

"Yes. I hope someone managed to survive..." Alice bit her lip.

"We'll see. The only way to survive in such a situation is to hide. Maybe someone actually did it." Wain muttered.

"Let's go!" Ern exclaimed as he turned into a blue flash.

Although finding survivors was very important to Alice and Wain, Ern and Erza wanted very much to see more of the humans. They were only familiar with Alice and Wain, which was already a true miracle for most. The humans were a mystery that only a few had touched yet.

They ran at top speed so after a couple of minutes they had already covered over ten kilometers and finally saw the city.

It was small, but enough for several tens of thousands of people to live here. Smoke was coming from some of the houses, the destruction was still there.

Wain ran forward. He peered at the buildings like it was some ancient artifact.

'It can't be... Everything here looks the same as in my past two worlds... The humans definitely built this city... It's like I'm back home for a moment.' Wain muttered inwardly.

The houses, the roads, the infrastructure, the lampposts, the stores, and more, were all very different from what Nord, Terrin, or Virfal looked like. Only Arkadale and Overion were similar, but the city in front of them was not completely destroyed, only partially.

A few skyscrapers were still standing, they were virtually intact, but the farther away from the center, the lower the houses were and the more significant damage.