Hexbound Apocalypse [LitRPG Apocalypse] (Book 3 Finished!)

"What did you just say?" Hazel muttered, keeping her eyes trained on Tine.

The battle mage Elf faltered for a moment, noticing the strange tone in her voice. She then answered, although hesitantly.

"I-I said their names are Hazel and Evelyn Thatcher. Our lord asked us to search for these two individuals."

Hazel took in Tine's words, letting them linger in her mind for a few moments. So, she wasn't hearing things then. She really was looking for her and her mother...but why?

Dozens of questions flooded Hazel's mind, but before her thoughts could spiral any further, she took a deep breath and focused on one thing at a time. And right now, she needed to know how she knew about her and her mom and why they were looking for them.

"You said before that your lord told you to search for them?" Hazel questioned.

Tine nodded. "Yes."

So, they were searching for Hazel and Evelyn at the orders of someone else. Considering that Hazel or her mom knew a lot of people, that meant this "lord" that Tine was referring to was someone they had to be close with. And she had a pretty idea who.

"Who is your lord, then?"

"He is the Druid Lord."

"Is he a member of your tribe? As in an Elf like you guys?"

She shook her head. "No, our lord is human. However, he is a member of our tribe. If only by name until it becomes official."

Hazel leaned her head to the side, curious about what that meant. However, she shook her head and focused on the task at hand.

"What's his name? His real name."

Hazel could already tell who this Druid Lord was. There was only one person that she knew who would have such a name and also know her and her mom. But she needed Tine to tell her before she jumped the gun.

Tine then responded to her urgent question with a scowl, surprising Hazel a bit.

"And why do you wish to know our lord's real name?" She glared while raising her voice a couple of octaves. "I don't believe our deal to cooperate included revealing such information."

Hazel paused for a moment, realizing her mistake. She could tell that Tine was very close to this Druid Lord. So much so that she was willing to travel all the way here just to search for two individuals.

That was why Hazel knew that to avoid any further misunderstandings or conflict, she couldn't keep the elf in the dark regarding her identity. Not when her brother was clearly looking for her and their mother.

"Because..." She reached for her veil and pulled it off, revealing her face. "I'm one of the individuals you're looking for."

Because she took off her Arcane Veil, she shut her eyes to prevent the Evil Eye's ability to affect the elves. And to avoid not being able to see, she immediately summoned her Astral Eyes. When she did, she noticed that both Tine and Runa were staring at her with widened eyes.

"You..." Tine muttered. "You're the woman from the picture our lord drew..."

"He gave you a picture?"

Although she asked that, it should've been obvious that he gave them a picture of what she and Evelyn looked like. There was only so much that her brother could say to describe their features. And knowing Damien, he would've said a couple of rude remarks about her either as a joke or it just slipped out. Either way, drawing them was a smart move on his part.

"He did." She said while pulling out two sheets of paper, both with drawings of a person on them, and handed them to her. "He drew these, so we would know what you and Evelyn Thatcher looked like."

Hazel scanned the sheets through her astral eye, taking note of her brother's drawing.

"His drawing skills have certainly improved," She smiled. "He even got my nose right this time."

Damien was very skilled at drawing. He developed this skill due to his obsession with anime and video games. He was always drawing characters and the like that were inspired by his preferred pop culture. It got to the point where he even did commissions, making OCs and book covers for comics and novels.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Before the apocalypse started, Damien planned to go to college and become a video game graphic designer. His original dream job was being a manga illustrator, but he quickly realized that wasn't going to be easy and went for the alternative option.

Looking away from the picture, Hazel stared back at Tine. "Okay, so now you know that I'm one of the people you were searching for. Allow me to make a proper introduction. My name is Hazel Thatcher. Nice to meet you."

"U-um, I'm Tine Havard," She stuttered before gesturing over to her sister. "This is my sister, Runa Havard."

Runa nervously waved at Hazel, still surprised about who she was. Hazel waved back with a kind smile.

She didn't expect such a scenario to occur like this. Especially with everything that was happening. She also had so many questions regarding what her brother was doing and how he ended up in the Great Forest of Meir.

"Anyway," She turned to face Tine. "Since it's me and my mother you're looking for, I'm assuming that your lord is my brother, correct?"

Tine firmly nodded. "Indeed. I believe he would've come here himself if he wasn't so busy with what's happening in the Great Forest of Meir."

"How did he end up there, anyway?" Hazel questioned. "Were you perhaps part of his party when you guys finished your tutorial dungeon and he got sent there as a result?"

Considering how a similar situation happened with Hazel and Astrid, she figured that this was what occurred.

"That's correct. We didn't know at the time until the system told us at the very last moment."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened with me and Astrid. We tried to cancel our party so one of us wouldn't get sent to the wrong location, but the system didn't let that happen. Resulting in Astrid getting stuck here after leaving the dungeon."

She still felt guilty for dragging her partner away from her home, even if she had no clue that was going to happen when they defeated the boss monster. Thankfully, with Tine and Runa before her, they now had a chance to return to the great forest of Meir. If anything, Hazel had an even better reason to go there now.

"Okay-?!" Hazel was cut off by the sound of explosions occurring from behind her.

When she spun around to look at where the noise came from, her eyes widened upon seeing the hospital building in chaos, with players storming inside and causing a lot of chaos. That was when she remembered something.

"Shit, I forgot about Zoe and the others..." She muttered in a panic.

Nycteris, how is everything in the building?

Everything...is fine. But the two guild leaders...are struggling against a dark elf...while I am taking down any...players currently inside the building.

Alright, you keep doing that, bud. I'll go help Zoe, then.

After telepathically communicating with her familiar for a moment, Hazel looked over at Tine and Runa for a moment.

"So, I need to help some people inside that building over there," She said while pointing at the hospital. "Could you guys just stay here while keeping an eye on that guy? It should only take a few moments."

The two elves spared a glance at one another with a bewildered expression. Hazel knew that her request might've been strange, but she didn't have a lot of time to explain.

"Understood," Tine then nodded. "Since we have confirmed that you are Hazel Thatcher, we will listen."

Hazel smiled. "Thanks. This will only take a minute or two. One of that guy's allies responsible for betraying Astrid is in the building, so I need to get him before he either kills my friend, flees, or maybe even both."

Without waiting for a response, Hazel faced the building and used telekinesis to propel herself over there. She didn't even spare a glance back at the elves and simply focused on the hospital in front of her. While rocketing toward the building, she placed her veil back on while zipping through one of the windows, entering the hospital with ease.

Landing on the floor, her eyes darting around the area before she conjured several Astral Eyes and sent them out so she could quickly locate where Zoe was. Thankfully, she discovered that the guild leader was one floor below her. Through her astral eye, she watched as Zoe and another player with white hair were facing off against a buff and armored dark elf.

According to his status, the dark elf was Esil. As for the other player, she was Mara Grisel. She felt that the name was familiar for some reason, but put the thought aside to focus on her main objective. Which was saving Zoe from Esil.

Not wasting any time, she zipped toward the massive hole in the center of the floor she was currently on. Descending from the floor, she landed right in front of Zoe and the other two players as they continued their battle.

As soon as she made her entrance, the three players paused to take note of her appearance. Zoe looked immediately relieved while Mara and Esil looked rather confused.

"It took you long enough," Zoe said with a small grin on her face.

"Sorry about that," Hazel apologized with a light chuckle. "Those Orcs were a bit...peculiar to deal with."

She wanted to tell her about what happened with the Orcs from the village, but decided to hold off on that and focus on something else. Her eyes then trailed over to Esil, who was staring at her with a puzzled expression.

"Hello, Esil," Hazel said with a calm yet ominous tone. "I'll give you one last chance to surrender before I resort to using force. Will you do that?"

Hearing this, the dark elf scoffed. "Like hell, I'm listening to you!" he then aimed his weapon at her. "I don't know who you are, but if you want to make me submit then-!?"

Before the dark elf could finish, he let out a pained grunt while abruptly collapsing to his knees as if something was pushing him down. Meanwhile, her eyes flared a bright purple color through her veil as she glared at the dark elf.

"As I said before, Esil," her tone sounded more ominous as she said his name. "I was going to give you one last chance to surrender. Since you didn't take my offer...I have no reason to hold back against you."

Esil struggled to break free from Hazel's Telekinesis, but either thanks to Zoe and Mara exhausting him or her high mana count, the dark elf was unable to break free. He strained his head up to look at Hazel, only for fear to be written across his face as he stared into her eyes through the veil, feeling her glowing purple eyes piercing right through the cloth and directly into his very being.