Chapter 19: I Might Be A Monster, But I’m Still Me

Rachel set her ground as he tried to pull them out of the cave. "Wait! Find the sword—and, umm...his earrings."

"Unbelievable," Anthony jokingly sighed, helping her to a wall before moving to the corpse of the hobgoblin. "You’re fashion shopping right now? By the way, kids in this world are freaking tough," he mumbled, gesturing at the determined children, holding daggers, clubs, or rocks as they searched around for the sword Rachel wanted to be found.

"Seems that way... I hurt...everywhere," she groaned, realizing it was more about her overexerted muscles than her wounds.

"Dude was tough? And...did you kill all these goblins with your bare hands?" He gave a forced chuckle upon seeing some of the damage she’d done to them. "Intense. I only dealt with a few weird blue ones that shot ice at me."

"Aww. That sounds a bit fun. I didn’t have any blue ones. As for this guy, he probably could have killed me if he was smarter. It was kill or be killed; they were kidnapping kids to eat, too," Rachel muttered, rubbing her split knuckle. "Honestly, Zoe’s the MVP; that sword comment gave me the idea to lead him here."

Scanning the bodies, Rachel’s mouth drew in; Anthony seemed to be less freaked out about the sight, but the domestic cat might get a tad scared at her brutality. "We...probably shouldn’t tell her about all the gore, though."

Anthony raised an eyebrow while appraising her handiwork. "Yeah, you might need to see a therapist." He gave a dry laugh. "I’m sure she’ll squeal when she hears how much help her advice was to you."

"Found it!" a small girl called, redirecting the topic as she grunted and reached into a crack to extract the sword.

Rachel smirked and flexed her tingling fingers. "Excellent."

Forcing herself up, she collected the earrings from the dead hobgoblin; an acceptable prize for her victory.

I guess I should thank [Bringer of Misfortune] because that is BS.

Rachel eventually allowed Anthony to carry her back to the carts as she began to lag behind; she hadn’t realized how tired she could get after such a short but intense fight, and it showed she really had overestimated herself. The moonlight helped to ease some of the throbbing, but it wasn’t a total cure.

Zoe and Anthony fussed over her wounds; Rachel didn’t see the big deal, though, since they’d mostly stopped leaking out all over the place, and the druid offered some relief, mending her more serious ones. Word had spread about her via the two in-training scouts, and, to all of their shock, a hooded man revealed himself to be the prince of a kingdom to the south.

The reward for rescuing the children came in the form of a sealed letter that would allow them an audience with the king of the nation—a chain quest, as Zoe put it—and the merchants gave Anthony a keg of beer, but the true prize was what happened when they said their goodbyes.

* -- * -- *

[Level Up - Level 4]

[1 Stat Point Added; 3 Available]

* -- * -- *

[1 Feat Extension Available]

* -- * -- *

[Lunar Pool - Advanced to E-tier]

[Mental Acceleration - Advanced to E-tier]

[Strategic Mind - Advanced to E-tier]

[Lunar Cap - Advanced to E-tier]

[Divine Lunar Surge - Advanced to E-tier]

[Divine Beast Empowerment - Advanced to D-tier]

[Bestial Instincts - Advanced to D-tier]

[Bringer of Misfortune - Advanced to D-tier]

* -- * -- *

Practically all of her Feats had gained a tier, and she’d leveled again; the same was true with Anthony and Zoe, showing quests were a very optimal way to gain EXP.

On their way off the road, following Anthony to the exit location, Rachel hummed, looking up at the bright moons overhead. Tonight certainly had been eventful, and she’d learned a lot about her transformation.

"So, Zoe, you were saying we all get experience as a group?"

"Mhm!" the cat-girl chimed, jumping forward with a gleam in her slitted eyes. "It’s actually amazing—like, for real! Insanely OP! You have an EXP multiplier, Anthony has the training zone, and I have, heh, well, the power of pop culture! Or, eh, well, more isekai and fantasy culture. We’re totally an awesome team!"

"Hehe. Right." Rachel plucked at her sports bra as they left, glad the druid managed to get the splinters out of her back. "How’s it look?"

"Uhh...not great," the girl hissed, eyeing the big barrel Anthony carried. "So, I’ve never had alcohol... I’m, heh, underage—but...we aren’t exactly on Earth or the US, so..."

"No can do, cat-girl," Anthony said, shooting her a sad smile. "Maybe another time, but we need to go; the penalty for not exiting after the quest is done—like, soon—is not fun."

"Oh?" Zoe asked, eyes going big. "What is it?"

"Eh...I’ll let your imagination go wild."

"Aww! Don’t do that to me!" she groaned. "Ugh. Whatever..."

Anthony’s gaze shifted to the bundled sword in Rachel’s hands, along with the silk bag carrying the earrings inside, which the merchants gave her. "You plan to use them?"

Rachel shrugged, catching Zoe’s curious eyes. "I’ve learned the importance of weapons, and adding more skills to my resume isn’t a bad thing."

"Mmh. I don’t know if swords are your...style," he muttered, probably thinking back to how she’d brutalized the goblins. "I’d think more of a, heh, hammer."

"A big one!" Zoe cut in. "Yeah, that would be perfect for you; it’s like...required for, eh, long-eared protagonists in stories!"

Rachel’s chest shook with laughter at the save. "That would be pretty cool... I’m just too light, though; I’d be thrown around everywhere."

"Oh...I didn’t think about that," the cat mumbled, ears falling flat. "B-But fantasy weapons can make up for that, right?"

"Maybe. Let me know if you find one. Anyway, it just seemed like a waste to leave them."

"True... Uh, so my advice totally saved you, Rachel?" she asked, face practically glowing as she turned to her. "C’mon! I want more details about the hobgoblin fight! Oh, and we should do more quests—this was amazing for levels. I’m pretty sure we’re getting close to level 5!"

"How can you tell?" Anthony asked, letting out a short grunt while putting down the barrel to slash the air with his weapon to open up a portal back to Earth.

"Just a hunch; I was doing some research in that mind space—ah! Rachel..."

The girl’s tail went stiff as she exited the portal first, and Rachel followed, dropping the bundled sword on the ground to hold up her hands; Anthony did the same once through, causing the beer in the barrel to slosh.

"What’s—huh—woah! We come in peace!" he laughed.

"Nice and easy, fellas," one said, holding a radio to his mouth. "This is Alpha Team; we have unexpected guests from a portal in the library. Requesting backup and orders. Over."

Over a dozen tough military men surrounded the library—Green Berets—aiming very large guns at them and wearing deadly scowls. If that wasn’t enough, sitting at the table they’d left was a black-haired girl, wearing a steel muzzle and staring at them with bright red eyes—they’d found themselves right inside the vampire holding area.

Thanks, [Bringer of Misfortune], Rachel internally cursed.