Chapter 190: Chapter 190: Fighting Without a Word
The carriage finally approached through the dense fog, stopping beside her. Though she couldn’t make out its appearance, she could still sense its opulence.
A woman’s seductive voice drifted from within. "Nicholas’s Blood Slave?"
Faye Yardley remained silent. She figured she could probably take the woman in the carriage, but it was obvious the woman could control that huge swarm of bats. ’Fighting a Summoner would put me at a serious disadvantage.’
"Ma’am, have you seen Count Nicholas?"
"Heh. You’ve got some nerve. Since you have his scent on you, I won’t make things difficult for you."
With that, the carriage started moving again. The bats bypassed Faye Yardley, flanking the carriage as it gradually receded into the distance.
’She just left? Just like that?’
’That woman knew Nicholas, but she left before I could even ask her more questions.’
Faye Yardley had no intention of stopping the carriage. Those bats were even bigger and more terrifying than the ones that had flown over earlier.
’Even if my Combat Power is decent, I don’t want to fight a huge swarm of bats. Besides, there’s still that unknown woman in the carriage.’
Less than five minutes after the carriage left, the sound of hooves came from ahead again.
Through the thin mist, a figure clad entirely in black appeared before her, riding a Skeletal Horse.
If the woman in the carriage had treated her like a stranger, this man in black radiated pure malice toward her.
Faye Yardley immediately prepared to attack; she had already figured out how to evade the Skeletal Horse’s assault the moment he charged.
Just as she expected, the Skeletal Horse charged straight at her. But just as it got close, it stopped abruptly, its front hooves rearing high as it let out a long, piercing neigh.
Faye Yardley took two steps back, leaped up using a roadside tree, and twisted around to stab at the black-clad man on the horse with her blade.
CLANG!
After the crisp sound of impact, there was another THUD-CLINK. The black-clad man’s longsword had been split in two by Light Wound. The sound of the larger half of the blade falling onto the stone path reached both their ears.
A coarse, hoarse voice growled, "Die!"
Faye Yardley let out a cold laugh. Using the force from the clash of weapons, she spun in mid-air and thrust her blade out again.
This time, not even the hilt of the broken sword in the man’s hand remained. Light Wound cut directly into his hand.
Dark red blood immediately gushed out, sending the man into an even greater frenzy.
The cawing of crows suddenly erupted overhead.
Then came the sound of frantic flapping as a flock flew over in droves.
"Dammit!"
Having landed a blow, there was no way Faye Yardley would let him escape. Without hesitation, she fired her left Arm Crossbow straight at his neck from point-blank range.
She had thought there was no way he could dodge it, but the man reacted with surprising speed. He twisted his body, allowing the Arrow from the Arm Crossbow to graze his neck as it flew past. Still, the Arrow left a gash, and blood began to seep out.
With no purchase in mid-air, Faye Yardley drove the small silver blade concealed in her left palm into the bones of the Skeletal Horse.
The Skeletal Horse immediately reared back again, screaming in pain.
Using her left hand as a pivot, Faye Yardley flipped upside down, kicked the man in black, and used the momentum to launch herself up. She somersaulted and landed securely behind him on the horse. Light Wound, in her right hand, had already sliced through his neck. His head fell to the ground, rolling several times. Dark red blood began to fountain from the headless neck.
Faye Yardley yanked the body off the Skeletal Horse. Sitting on its back, she looked for all the world like its new master.
The Skeletal Horse circled restlessly on the spot. Faye Yardley didn’t bother looting the corpse. The fight had come out of nowhere and ended just as quickly. She didn’t even know who her opponent was.
[Killed Lumina Tax Collector. Reputation with Lumina has decreased.]
’The guy riding the Skeletal Horse was from Lumina?’
’Is Lumina really a city of light?’
’So there’s a reputation system with cities, huh?’ Faye Yardley wasn’t too concerned about it.
’After all, the guy came wanting to take my life. Am I supposed to just let him kill me for the sake of some so-called reputation?’
’What a joke.’
’If Lumina is full of powerful people who kill on sight, then it doesn’t deserve to exist.’
’Of course, that’s just my own opinion,’ she thought. ’This place might have its own set of rules.’
Faye Yardley considered that the woman in the carriage was likely from the Vampire Clan, while the man she had just killed was probably a normal human.
As for why his mount was so cool, or why he, seeing another human, was filled with such malice and attacked without a word—only he would know the answers to that.
After a moment’s thought, to prevent the corpse from attracting any carrion-eaters, Faye Yardley was kind enough to set it on fire.
The firelight was dazzling. The Skeletal Horse paced about uneasily, snorting.
A human body shouldn’t burn to ash so easily or so quickly, but from the moment it was lit to the moment it turned to dust, it only took about three minutes.
In the end, all that was left besides a pile of ash was a round bead that faintly reflected the light.
"A relic?!"
The word had barely left her mouth before Faye Yardley dismissed the idea. ’He wasn’t some enlightened monk. How could he produce a Shariputra?’
She thought for a moment, then used her fishing rod to hook the bead and pull it toward her.
[Obtained Information Pearl x1]
Faye Yardley’s jaw dropped.
She was truly stunned. She already had four of these in her storage. ’So this is where they come from?!’
’That’s actually kind of terrifying.’
Still, she put the Information Pearl into her inventory.
Perhaps there was a special way to extract the specific information recorded in these pearls, but she didn’t know how yet.
A light breeze blew past, carrying the ashes away.
It left behind a floor of gleaming gold and silver coins.
Tsk tsk.
’He was a tax collector, all right,’ she mused. ’Look at all the Gold Coins he dropped.’
Faye Yardley didn’t stand on ceremony. She swept them all up and deposited them into the system.
This time, her haul increased by 570 Gold, 62 Silver, and 33 copper coins.
’But for a tax collector, shouldn’t he have some form of identification? Don’t tell me that burned up too?’
GROWL~
Her stomach rumbled with hunger. Faye Yardley sat on the Skeletal Horse and continued along the road toward the nearest town, in the direction Monty had indicated. At the same time, she took an onigiri from her inventory and began to slowly nibble on it.
’This Dungeon is so unfriendly. It actually messes with your sense of taste, making delicious food feel nauseating in your mouth.’
It was only through sheer willpower that Faye Yardley managed to force herself to swallow it.
She struggled to finish the one rice ball, but even with the Skeletal Horse at a run, there was still no sign of civilization.
’It was a day’s journey on foot. Even if I was delayed a bit, I’m on horseback now. My speed should definitely be faster than my slow walking pace.’
’So why haven’t I arrived yet?’
She looked up at the sky, which was growing increasingly gloomy.
After putting on her black cloak, Faye Yardley felt that even the Skeletal Horse’s running speed had increased.
