Travellers - An Isekai, Cultivation Fantasy

As she laid there, she couldn't help but think back to that fateful day again.

…

"AAAAH!" screamed Astoria.

The minotaur stopped chewing on the rabbit and gazed toward them.

'Idiot!' Drake cursed, but he didn't have time to scold her. Minotaurs were onis, and therefore stronger than regular demons. Drake didn't even want to give any instructions. He just wanted to run.

Grabbing hold of a petrified Astoria, Drake ran at full speed. The minotaur huffed a puff of smoke and looked at them with bloodlust.

However, it didn't move, it just stood there, eating the rabbit.

'How is this possible?' Drake thought. Could it be that it is not interested in us? Maybe it is already too full and tired to chase after them? Drake had no clue, but he didn't dare to slow down.

"ROAR!" boomed the voice after some time as it rapidly approached the two siblings. They were but children, how could they outrun a minotaur?

Drake cursed in his mind while speeding up. The two were running carelessly, allowing various sharp branches to scratch and destroy their clothes. Some even wounded their tender skin, resulting in bleeding gashes.

But Drake couldn't care about that now, he had gotten a head start, and he was going to use it. He ran as fast as he could while dragging his sister along.

Even though Astoria was older, she was now terrified, and her body wouldn't obey her commands, making her slow down. However, Drake pulled her along with all his might, and given her own adrenaline rush, she barely managed to keep up.

However, their desperate run couldn't match the speed of the minotaur. Even though they had a few minutes head start, the minotaur was extremely close now. Drake could feel its heated killing intent on his back.

He gritted his teeth and kept running before suddenly stopping in front of a cave. Without hesitation, he took a rock from the ground, chucked it inside, and fled. The cave's opening was large, but the rock's movement created loud echoes along the cave.

Drake knew they couldn't outrun the minotaur. In fact, under normal circumstances, the minotaur would have caught up to them by now. However, the minotaur was slower than his predictions, and it didn't take him long to figure out why.

The minotaur was injured!

He wasn't sure when he looked earlier, but he saw a large gash on the back side of the minotaur's leg, oozing black blood. Drake didn't know if it was an injury and if so, how severe it was, but seeing that it was slower than normal, he realised that it was definitely a severe injury.

That must be why it had appeared in the outskirts of the Beast Woods. It had likely been in a losing fight and had to run for its life. Due to that, it was also extremely hungry, making it prioritise eating rather than chasing them.

From his readings, Drake remembered that this cave was home to a servant class demon bear. Drake wanted to make the two fight and use that chance to escape. Drake prayed that it would be powerful enough to buy them enough time to run. Of course, if the demon bear wasn't home now, then he could only curse his luck.

Luckily a different roar quickly resounded from within the cave as a black fiend flew out. It noticed Drake and Astoria run away, but the minotaur was a far greater threat to its home, so it ignored them.

The minotaur had just caught up when it was faced with the demon bear.

The demon bear stood on its rear legs, making it taller than the minotaur. It stared viciously at the minotaur and roared. The minotaur had infringed upon its territory, this was an unforgivable crime!

The minotaur didn't back down and roared back. Its body glowed red as it grew in height. Its muscles expanded so much that it looked like they were going to tear through its skin. Its claws grew several times longer and two large canines poked out of its mouth. It now stood even taller than the demon bear and looked far more fearsome.

This was its Berserk ability!

If it had used it earlier it could have easily caught up to Drake and Astoria. But, it had underestimated them.

The demon bear was momentarily stunned but soon charged towards the minotaur.

Drake was rejoicing at the success while Astoria finally realised that Drake had had a plan the whole time and that they had a chance to escape now.

The two started to run even quicker.

The minotaur stomped its feet into the ground. The demon bear pounced at the minotaur, but the minotaur reacted faster and caught the bear in a headlock. It twisted its body, smashing the demon bear's head into a tree.

The bear roared in pain and struck out with its claws. By chance, its claws struck the wound on the minotaur's leg causing fresh blood to flow. The minotaur roared and its grip unconsciously loosed. The demon bear took the chance to break free and retreated.

After a brief respite, the two beasts began fighting to the death once more.

Many large projectiles were sent flying from their fight and some of them landed in the direction of the two children. They tried their best to dodge, however, they were extremely exhausted. Just as they dodged one boulder, a large tree came crashing down.

Drake reacted instantly and pushed Astoria away. However, it was too late for him.

The tree landed heavily on his leg.

"AAAAH!" screamed Drake.

Astoria's face was aghast. 'OH MY GOD!' She wanted to scream but another voice interrupted her.

"Help me!" Drake yelled as he fought against the overwhelming pain and tried to lift the tree.

"Yes… okay!" she replied and tried to lift; however, the tree didn't budge.

Astoria stopped and panted for breath.

'What are we going to do now!?'

She felt like crying.

What was supposed to be a casual walk with her brother had turned into a nightmare, and it was all her fault!

'If only I didn't want to chase after the rabbit, if only I didn't stupidly scream and attract the minotaur's attention, if only I had jumped out of the way of the falling tree myself… this wouldn't have happened!'

To her utter amazement, Drake had come up with a plan at each moment, but now, that Drake was stuck under a tree!

She couldn't rely on him for this, she had to finally make herself useful and move the tree – but she couldn't!

Astoria caught her breath and bent her knees, placing her hands at the bottom of the tree.

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"MMMOOOOVVVVEEEEE!" she cried, but the tree wasn't budging.

She was supposed to be responsible for him, yet he had been the one always protecting her!

'Why? Why am I so useless?' she yelled in her heart.

She tried to move the tree with all her might but it was so heavy.

'Why? Why? Why? Why? Why can't I do anything right? Even though Drake is giving his all to protect me!'

Somehow, maybe as a result of her self-criticism, her emotional turmoil, the never-ending rush of adrenaline, or all of them combined, she felt a sudden influx of strength.

Slowly, she lifted the tree by a small distance. She couldn't maintain it for long, her hands were shaking, and her knees were about to collapse. But before that could happen, Drake dragged his leg out.

Astoria dropped the tree and it landed with a loud thud.

…

Back in the present, Astoria was lying still in her room, thinking about how she had failed everyone.

Lightning struck outside her window, the light illuminating Astoria's dark figure, collapsed on the floor.

However, her face was twisted into a creepy smile.

'That's right. Why am I making this so complicated?' she thought to herself.

If being weak was the issue, I just need to stop being weak!

Thinking so, she started chuckling, then giggling, then laughing like a lunatic looking at the ceiling, which was soon drowned out by the sound of heavy thunder and rain.

A few days later

"What is going to happen to the intruder, master?" Astoria asked. She was now in Henry's room, serving him his meal on his table.

"As you know, he refused to give out any information till the very end. So, father has sentenced him to die. He will be executed tomorrow morning."

"I see, that seems fitting for someone who tried to steal from you, master," Astoria replied calmly.

Henry started laughing.

The treasury was not his property but belonged to the whole village and was headed by his father. Still, Astoria insinuating that the treasury was his, made him feel like he was the chief, and he became very happy.

"Yes, yes, you're right as always Astoria! People who try to steal from me should be taught a strict lesson, haha!" He laughed.

"Of course, master! I was wondering, master Henry, chief Byron said that the intruder was stopped by a puppet along with the twin blades? Forgive my ignorant self, but I have never heard of a puppet before. Do you know what it is master?"

"Of course, I do!" Henry beamed. "Puppets are not living beings. They are similar to an artifact. You can make them perform a specific task, anything from chores to fighting. For example, the puppet in the treasury is set to attack anyone who enters the treasury without an authentication badge."

"Oh, oh I see! You are so smart master, you know everything! Thank you for telling me, I have never heard of this before," Astoria exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement as she fawned over Henry.

"Haha, no worries. It's no surprise that you don't know about this. Ever since the Grand Calamity, the knowledge to make puppets has been lost. The only puppets in existence now are the ones left over from that era. Hence, they're extremely rare," he tried to reply casually.

"Wow master, you are really the most knowledgeable man I have ever met," she said with a look of adoration. "But I have another question master, if you don't mind me asking."

"Ask away!" Henry responded cheerfully, starting to eat his meal.

"Is it not possible for an intruder to create a fake authentication badge to trick the puppet in the future?" She asked worriedly as she refilled the side on Henry's plate.

"That's impossible," Henry mumbled, stuffing himself. After gulping down the food, he continued, "There are only three badges that the puppet is programmed to recognise and detect. So, if it doesn't detect one of those specific badges, then it will attack."

"Oh, I see that makes sense! So, I'm guessing your father keeps all the authentication badges for safekeeping?" she asked innocently.

"No no, my father has one of the authentication badges, but the headmistress has the second badge. As for the third one…" Henry reached into his pocket with a smile and pulled out a small, circular, metallic disk with weird symbols carved on it.

"Oh wow, master Henry! You have access to the village treasury?" Astoria asked in amazement.

"Of course! Who do you think I am? I am the future chief this village, it is only natural that I have these things," Henry replied, nodding to agree with himself.

"Wow, master, you are actually too incredible!"

"It's just a small thing," Henry replied modestly.

"Still, I'm glad no damage was done, master. But what if someone else tries to infiltrate the treasury? If a tempered body martial artist was able to open the treasury, sneaking past two steel body martial artists, then what if a steel body martial artist tries in the future? Is chief Byron not going to increase the defences of the treasury?"

"Dad would like to do that, however, currently we just sent out some of our best martial artists for the expedition. And moreover, the outskirts of the Beast Woods are becoming more and more dangerous each day so we are having to dedicate more manpower to protecting our village and are also having to send out larger groups for hunting to make sure no accidents happen. Hence, there isn't much that we can do to increase the defences now. But after a few years, once the Beast Woods situation is dealt with, father will increase the defences."

"Oh, I see, that makes sense, Master Henry," Astoria said with a cute smile as she refilled his glass of water.

Later that night.

Astoria tip-toed her way down to the prison. The village didn't keep many prisoners, so the security wasn't too tight here. Still, she didn't want to be spotted by all the prisoners and guards, so she kept to the shadows and hid behind corners whenever a guard was passing.

Finally, she entered the location where Sam was kept.

It was deep into the prison, and there were two guards always stationed in front of his cell. After running away the first day, she continued accompanying Henry during his interrogation of Sam. She watched the guards torture Sam without blinking.

Did she like it? No. Was it still painful for her? Absolutely.

However, she chose to watch anyway. Seeing him get tortured reinforced in her mind how cruel this world could be.

If she wanted to survive, she had to be worse. Crueler than everyone, stronger than everyone.

So, every day after watching the guards interrogate Sam, she would then give the guards refreshments and compliment them for 'working' so hard. She would massage their arms and shoulders to make them feel better, so they could 'work' better the next day.

She hated the guards to the core and was disgusted and repulsed by their very existence. Yet during their interactions, she acted like the sweetest, kindest, and most loving and innocent young girl she could.

All for this moment.

"Who goes there?" yelled the guards, unsheathing their swords upon hearing footsteps. It was quite dark so they couldn't see properly, but they couldn't let anyone through.

They could see a figure forming in the darkness, carrying a dim lantern. They had their swords raised, ready to attack.

Out stepped Astoria.

Looking at the guards with their swords ready to cut her apart, she was startled and almost fell over.

"Sorry! It's just me!"

"Miss Olivia!" gasped the guards and one of them immediately rushed to support her and prevent her from falling.

"What are you doing here at this time?" asked the second guard confused.

"Well, I couldn't tend to you this afternoon as usual since I was very busy, which is why I wanted to make up for it now," she said taking out two loaves of bread and some fruits.

"Oh Miss Olivia, you needn't trouble yourself for us!" said the guard closest to her, but he took the food anyway because he was starving.

Both the guards dropped their swords and started munching the food like hungry wolves, feeling grateful.

"Thank you very much miss!" the second one said.

"Yes, thank you. This food is deli-" The first guard stopped halfway and started coughing.

"Ha! Eat slowly if you don't wanna choke on your own food, stupid," the other guard mocked.

But he didn't stop coughing, and the coughing only became worse.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok-"

Suddenly, the second guard started coughing too. Then the first guard collapsed to his knees and coughed out blood. He finally realised what happened and looked at Astoria in disbelief.

"What… did… you… do…?" he gasped, trying to reach out to Astoria.

However, she just stood there calmly with a smile as she watched the light fade from his eyes. His hands numbly fell to the floor.

Soon the other guard fell to his knees too, but he was resisting.

Astoria placed her lantern on the floor and slowly walked to the unconscious guard. She picked up his sword and then, with the same smile on her face, stabbed him in the throat.

Blood splashed all over her lower body.

The remaining guard who was barely alive didn't know how to make sense of this. He wanted to scream but no words would come out. He saw Astoria pull the sword out of his friend and look at him with a smile.

The same smile that she always gave him. Before, he found her smile to be beautiful and refreshing. However, now, as she walked over to him with that same smile, and a bloody sword dragging across the floor behind her, he was terrified.

That smile… that was the smile of the devil!

Whoosh!

That was the last thought he had before Astoria swung the sword across his neck.

Blood squirted all over her body, arms, face, neck, everywhere.

She didn't have the strength to behead him in one go. So, she used all her strength to remove the sword, before swinging it again. And again.

And again.

Each time she struck, more blood squirted out. Finally, his head separated and rolled in front of her feet. She spat on his dead face and stomped on it with her foot.

This commotion woke Sam who was previously unconscious. After so many days of torture, he had already given up. He had no will to live. He just wanted one good night's rest before being put to rest forever.

So, he was surprised to hear a commotion outside his prison cell. The single lantern on the floor provided dim lighting to the dark prison. And just waking up meant his eyes were blurry. It took a few seconds for him to adjust.

But nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

The girl he was all too familiar with was standing outside, looking at him longingly.

But in that moment, she didn't look like the pure, innocent girl he knew.

Covered in blood, with two dead bodies on the floor, a bloody sword in hand, a severed head under her foot, and with a deathly smile to boot - she looked like a goddess of death.

"I've come to save you!"