I flapped my wings high before I saw a woman with a immoral knight uniform, as it did, the inspect range was available and I began to use my appraisal skill.
Vanessa Katt
Skills: Hypnotic Magic, Tar Creation, Fire Spell.
Vitality: 100
Strength: 250
Defense: 100
Agility: 500
Mana: 100000
Even though Vanessa stats were just an ordinary human or a bronze-ranked adventurer, it's mana was intriguing. She was a mage, not a combatant, and as far from what I could tell, even not seeing her status card, I can tell that she has full mastery of her magic, especially the three skills that she possess. I used inspect on her skills.
Hypnotic Magic- able to hypnotize living beings and control their mind willingly.
Tar Creation- ability to generate tar related substance out of thin air.
Fire spell- ability to cast fire magic.
Hypnotic Magic stands out very well, the same magic that she used to hypnotize the cyclops from the ruins, the same magic that Alistair used to take me hostage. But these two other human skills made my jaw drop. These two skills synergize very well. Vanessa can generate tar out of thin air, at the same time, ignite it with her fire spell, basically like a working napalm in her hands.
But none of this would matter as I needed to collect my bounty as fast as I can, even if she wasn't Cameron, I would still kill her because she was part of the immoral knights who was working from the monsters, which is kind of a bum for me.
Vanessa was desperate. As I crested the ridge, I saw her scramble onto the back of a hypnotized pterodactyl, a prehistoric monstrosity with leathery wings that beat the air with a heavy, rhythmic whump. She didn't look back, instead, she kicked the beast into a steep climb, banking hard toward the jagged peaks of the Caria Mountains.
She thought the sky was her escape. She was wrong.
I tilted my wings, catching a thermal of hot air rising from the smoldering ruins below. My Blood Wings were more than just appendages, they were a manifestation of my will. While her mount relied on muscle and lungs, I was powered by the blood of my magic. I surged forward, a crimson streak against the black velvet of the midnight sky.
The pterodactyl let out a piercing shriek as I drew level with it. The woman turned, her face pale under the moonlight. She looked at my single, glowing green eye and the terrifying blood prosthetic I had formed, and her hand moved toward a dagger at her belt.
I didn't give her the chance.
I didn't want Vanessa life, not yet. She was a link in a chain that led straight to Cameron Gal. A dead knight tells no secrets, and the journal Sydney gave me was far too thin. I needed to know the layout of their camp, their numbers, and most importantly, why they were hypnotizing beasts in the ruins of Oakhaven.
I retracted my right wing slightly, sending me into a controlled roll that brought me directly above her. I could see the purple glow of her rings, the source of her hypnotic magic.
Using my prosthetic blood-arm, I reached down. I didn't strike; I lunged for the beast's harness. If I could ground her without killing the mount, I could isolate her far from her Cyclops sentries.
"Don't scream, you have exactly what I need." I thought
I prepared to force the Pterodactyl into a descent toward a high-altitude plateau. She was about to learn that the pretty girl from the Bureau didn't just hunt for gold, she hunted for the truth, and the truth was usually written in blood.
"Step away you freak!" Vanessa screamed.
Vanessa then threw hypnotic magic at me, preparing to hypnotize me, I wouldn't let that down, I learned from my mistakes. I immediately backed down as her hand didn't touched my face, it was a close call. But I still need to capture her alive.
I equipped my blood bow once again, using my other arm to pull the bowstring and fired a lot of blood arrows heading straight to Vanessa, instead of her, I aimed at the pterodactyl, hoping to capture her easily without in direct contact in her hypnotic magic.
Vanessa looked behind and saw several blood arrows raining through her, because of that, she activated her trump card.
The sky above the Caria Mountains turned into a chaotic theater of fire and shadow. My arrows of solidified blood hissed through the air, but the woman was more than a mere puppeteer. With a frantic gesture, she summoned a thick, viscous Tar Creation that coated the air around her, followed immediately by a spark of Fire Magic.
The sky ignited. The tar flared into a roaring curtain of orange flame, incinerating my blood arrows before they could pierce her mount. The heat singed my cloak, and the acrid smell of burning chemicals filled my lungs. Like she had a built in napalm from her hands, it was like a raining fire from the night sky.
Fire and Tar. A deadly synergy. If she hit my wings with that, the ichor would boil.
But I wasn't just firing to kill, I was firing to distract. While she focused on incinerating my projectiles, I dissolved the blood bow back into my marrow and molded it into a jagged, serrated blood sword that hummed with dark energy.
I folded my wings into a sharp arc, entering a terminal dive. The woman shrieked, spewing a glob of tar directly into my path. I twisted mid-air, the black sludge narrowly missing my shoulder, and used the momentum to drive my blade straight into the pterodactyl's neck.
The beast didn't even have time to scream. My blade sheared through scales and muscle, and my Lifesteal effect began to drink. The creature's flight became a frantic, lurching tumble as it lost its center of gravity.
The woman lost her stirrups. As the dying beast spiraled toward the jagged rocks of a high plateau, she was flung into the open air. She reached out, her eyes wide with the realization that her fire magic couldn't save her from the abyss.
I didn't let her fall.
I surged forward, my wings snapping open to arrest my descent. My blood-prosthetic arm shot out, my fingers locking onto the collar of her Immoral Knight uniform with the force of a hydraulic press. The sudden jerk nearly dislocated her shoulder, but I held firm.
I didn't let her hypnotic hands through me, as a single incantation spell would let me brainwashed. I wouldn't repeat that same mistake once again, I grabbed the collar tightly and her collar was left stranggling her.
I banked hard, gliding away from the falling carcass of the Pterodactyl. We landed roughly on a flat, windswept ledge of obsidian rock, thousands of feet above the ruins.
I descended and slammed her down against the cold stone, pinning her throat with my blood-arm. She gasped, her purple-glowing rings flickering and dying as her concentration shattered. She looked up at me, at the girl with the glasgow smile, the missing arm made of living gore, and the single, predatory green eye.
"Who... what are you?" she choked out, the smell of burnt tar still clinging to her clothes.
I didn't answer. I couldn't. Instead, I leaned in close, the shadow of my hood falling over her face. I reached into my purse and pulled out the Registry of the Condemned, slamming it onto the rock beside her head and pointing directly at the entry for Cameron Gal.
The message was written and all prepared, loud and clear, Vanessa read the book like she was being held hostage and this is what it says.
"Tell me where he is, or you become the next masterpiece of pain."