Chapter 46: Sir Guardian

Chapter 41: Sir Guardian

Without waiting for whatever was moving in the darkness to come at me, I held the baseball bat out in front of me. When I focused on Umbrella’s surface, the black metal rippled, and short, sharp spikes began growing from the thick end of the bat.

I swung the weapon through the air several times to test its weight. It had become slightly heavier than a normal baseball bat, but if one of those creatures jumped at me again, I would be able to deal more damage with a single hit.

"Now that’s more like it."

Leaving the shattered creature and its teddy bear behind, I began following the stone-paved path buried beneath the ice. The path ran between ruined structures and continued deeper into the forest.

A thin layer of ice cracked beneath my feet with every step, and the sound of the breaking pieces echoed between the trees. I tried to move quietly, but the ice covering the stones made that almost impossible.

The shallow wound on my leg was still aching. Umbrella’s armor had already sealed the damaged section, but after the attack earlier, I had started mistaking every shadow for another creature.

After following the stone path for a while, I stopped and looked around.

Everything looked the same.

There was nothing to guide me except snow-covered trees, collapsed stone walls, and ancient roads buried beneath the ice. Since I had no idea where the core was, all I was doing right now was wandering around aimlessly.

I raised my head and looked at the dark sky.

"Oiii, you son of a bitch! After putting me in this situation, at least tell me what I’m supposed to do!"

My voice echoed through the forest, but nothing happened for several seconds. Just as I began to think the system would completely ignore me, a small window appeared in front of my eyes.

[Destroy the Nexus node (Overlap Core).]

"I already know that!" I growled. "Where is the core? Which way am I supposed to go? At least tell me that!"

The system window disappeared without answering.

"That was really helpful..."

Normal Nexus users could sense the Nexus energy radiating from an Overlap Core. Even if they couldn’t determine its exact location, they could instinctively tell whether they were getting closer to it.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a normal Nexus user.

I didn’t even have a Nexus.

I couldn’t distinguish between the energies that people in this world could naturally sense, nor could I tell whether the core was nearby or kilometers away. If I was heading in the wrong direction, I could wander through the forest all night and unknowingly enter the territory of stronger creatures.

"System?"

No answer came.

"Hey, I know you’re still there."

The only response I received was the silence of the forest.

I looked at the spiked bat in my hand and took a deep breath. The system had sent me here, then told me to destroy the core and left everything else to me.

I really was alone.

Since there was no better direction to choose, I continued following the stone path. At least this man-made road had to lead somewhere. If I reached the center of the ruins, I might find the Nexus node or another way out of this place.

I continued for around ten minutes without encountering anything. As the silence around me grew increasingly unsettling, I noticed several silhouettes moving in front of the remains of a two-story building in the distance.

I slowed my steps and raised the baseball bat.

Two people were walking toward me from the other end of the stone path.

From their silhouettes, I could tell they were an elderly couple. The man stood slightly hunched over, while the woman held onto his arm and walked beside him in small steps. The edges of their long, worn coats were covered in ice.

Their faces remained hidden in the darkness, so I couldn’t see their expressions.

The first creature I had encountered had looked like a child. The fact that these two looked human meant nothing.

"Don’t come any closer!" I shouted.

The elderly couple stopped at the same time.

The way they moved in perfect unison made me even more suspicious. I raised the spiked bat over my shoulder and kept my distance from them.

At first glance, the creature disguised as a child had looked almost flawless, but after getting closer, I had noticed that its face had no eyes. Its ability to speak had also been limited to repeating a few words.

If this couple were the same type of creature, a few simple questions might expose them.

"What are your names?" I asked.

The old man turned his head toward the woman. After staring at each other for several seconds, the woman began to stammer.

"M-Mary..."

The man’s answer came a little later.

"John."

They were extremely ordinary names, but at least they had understood my question and given different answers. Without lowering my bat, I took a few steps toward them.

"Where do you live?"

The old man tilted his head slightly.

"I don’t understand."

"Tell me where your home is!" I raised my voice and pointed at the ruins behind us. "You weren’t living in this fucking park, were you?!"

The woman’s fingers tightened around the man’s arm.

"W-we..."

"Tell me!"

The elderly couple suddenly fell silent.

As the cold wind blowing through the forest made the edges of their coats flutter, they both lowered their heads. For several seconds, the only sound came from the branches scraping against each other.

The tension between us continued to grow.

I tightened my grip on the bat with both hands and took one step back.

"I’m asking one last time. Where is your home?"

Both of their heads rose at the same time.

The old man’s mouth tore through his cheeks as it opened. The woman’s jaw dropped all the way to her chest, revealing rows of sharp teeth inside their mouths.

"Damn it!"

Both creatures lunged at me at the same time.

I swung the baseball bat in panic. The spiked end struck the side of the old man’s head, producing a sound like something dry breaking apart rather than bone cracking.

The force of the blow sent his body flying sideways, and he fell onto the ice-covered stones.

However, despite its elderly appearance, the second creature was much faster than I had expected.

Before I could raise the bat again, it crashed into me. My feet couldn’t find any grip on the slippery ground, and I fell flat onto my back as the creature landed on top of me with all its weight.

The moment I turned my head aside, its enormous teeth sank into my shoulder.

"Ahhh!"

As its teeth dug into the section of Umbrella covering my shoulder, the thin layer of armor began cracking under the pressure. The creature’s lengthening fingers transformed into sharp claws and scratched at my chest, tearing through the black armor as they tried to reach the flesh beneath it.

I tried to move my right arm, but it was trapped beneath the creature’s body. When I tried to push its neck away with my left hand, one of its claws struck my arm, and the pain in my shoulder spread through my entire body.

There wasn’t enough room to use the bat.

"Get off me, you old bitch!"

I focused on the section of Umbrella covering my right palm. The body of the baseball bat turned into black liquid and flowed over the armor toward my arm before forming a short dagger in my palm.

Gritting my teeth, I raised the blade.

The moment the creature bit my shoulder again, I drove the dagger into its eye.

Its shrill scream echoed in my ears as its entire body went rigid. Its claws scraped against my armor one last time before losing their strength, and the creature’s weight collapsed on top of me.

I pulled the dagger from its eye and tried to push its body aside. Since I couldn’t move my left arm, I had to do it using only my right hand, and it took several attempts before I managed to free myself from beneath it.

I didn’t try to stand.

Lying flat on my back on the ice-covered stones, I tried to draw as much air into my lungs as possible. My heart was pounding uncontrollably, while the pain spreading from my shoulder had reached my neck and left arm.

I turned my head slightly and looked at the wound.

Umbrella had already started sealing the damaged section, but several of the creature’s teeth had pierced the armor and reached my shoulder. Blood from the wound formed thin trails across the black surface, while my left arm refused to respond despite my attempts to move my fingers.

White Serpent could speed up the healing process, but it couldn’t make the wound disappear instantly.

Right now, I couldn’t use my left arm.

As I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing, both creatures’ bodies began losing their color. The faces of the elderly man and woman melted away, their coats merged with their skin, and within seconds, they had both transformed into white, faceless silhouettes.

"So you were both the same kind of shit..."

From now on, I couldn’t easily trust anyone I encountered.

Just as I was trying to gather enough strength to stand again, I heard a hesitant voice from a short distance away.

"E-excuse me..."

My eyes suddenly opened.

I shifted across the ice and looked in the direction of the voice.

"Are you a Guardian?"

A little girl was standing beside a collapsed stone wall.

The blue tips of her white hair and her blue eyes gave the little girl an unusual appearance. She wore blue pajamas covered in small rocket patterns. One of her feet had a slipper on it, while the other stood barefoot on the ice. She trembled from the cold as she clutched the hem of her pajamas tightly with both hands.

I gritted my teeth and looked at her.

"Again?"

The child took a frightened step backward.

The moment I saw her, I thought she was another trap, but her pajamas and the question she had asked made me worried. If she had been asleep in her home when the Overlap formed, she might have been dragged here along with the altered area.

On top of that, she could understand what I was saying and ask a proper question instead of repeating the same sentence.

Even so, I had no intention of repeating my first mistake.

Using my right elbow for support, I painfully pushed myself upright.

"Oiii, what’s your name, and where is your home?"

"C-Cecilia," the child said in panic. "My name is Cecilia."

"Then where is your house, kid? Where do you live?"

Cecilia quickly turned around and tried to point toward the other side of the ruins. However, as her gaze moved between the trees and collapsed buildings, the hope on her face disappeared.

She slowly lowered her hand.

"It was here..."

Her voice grew weaker as her shoulders dropped.

"Our house was supposed to be here."

I let out a long sigh.

Her answers were natural enough, and her body had none of the flaws I had seen in the first creature. Her face reddened by the cold, her trembling lips, and the way her frightened eyes searched the surroundings all looked far too real.

If the child standing in front of me wasn’t a monster, then she was a real child I couldn’t leave here alone.

I reshaped Umbrella and formed the spiked baseball bat in my right hand again. I planted the end of the bat against the ice and used it for support as I stood, but the pain in my shoulder made my breath catch.

When Cecilia took a step forward as if she wanted to help me, I raised the bat and stopped her.

"Oii, just so you know, if you try to attack me, I’ll kick your little ass."

The fear on the child’s face was replaced by admiration. After examining my black armor and spiked weapon from head to toe, her eyes shone with excitement.

Umbrella’s appearance as it completely covered my body must have reminded her of the costumes worn by the Guardians she had seen on television.

"Of course, Sir Guardian!"

My eyebrow twitched slightly.

I wasn’t a Guardian.

I didn’t even have a real Nexus, and two creatures had nearly torn me apart only a few minutes ago. Even so, when I saw the hope on the child’s face, I couldn’t tell her that.

Dragging the spiked bat across the ice, I began moving along the stone path. As Cecilia followed me with small steps, I positioned myself between her and the forest.

I let out a long sigh.

As if keeping myself alive wasn’t already difficult enough, I now had another burden to carry.