"Who are you?!"

Stella had a very bad feeling about the situation. Seeing that the person remained silent, she was sure that they do not have any good intentions.

​​

Then, she saw the person's weapon flashed due to the sunlight coming from the window, she also noticed the man's arm tattoo…

'Is he the murderer? What to do?!' She looked at the window she used to enter and calculated her steps so she can quickly jump if necessary.

As soon as she heard the man stepped forward, she no longer hesitated and escape through the window…

'Ugh! I shouldn't have gotten curious… No! If I didn't forcefully enter, no one would know the killer… I must find the guards quickly…'

After crashing on the ground, she quickly found her footing and run… However, the murderer seemed to be determined on ending her…

'Faster!'

For some reason, this neighborhood was empty so no one could see her attempt to flee… She tried to find cover but it seems that she was too slow compared to the man chasing her…

She heard the footstep getting close to her and as soon as she looked back, she saw the man's blade cutting down on her…

Stella decided to jump sideways to dodge the blade but due to this, her momentum was disrupted and she now had to face the murderer…

She couldn't see the man's face clearly due to his cloak. However, the man was definitely bigger than her uncle…

'Ugh… There's no way to outrun this man…' Stella could only fight for her life.

"Why are you doing this?!"

She shouted in an attempt to get someone else's attention… She was still hoping that the houses nearby still have some people inside who could help her…

"Why don't you answer?!"

Grraaa!

Instead of answering, the man growled and bared his teeth… The cloak covering his face was then removed by his movement…

She can now see the culprit's face… He has dark red eyes like a beast and he was even salivating… He doesn't look like a sane human at all!

Stella realized that words wouldn't be effective to this guy…

"I should've brought my weapon…" Stella regretted not bringing her hammer as she looked around for any weapon.

As she was now near the other wooden houses, she smelled the same scent of blood coming from there…

'Are they all dead? What going on here?'

Unfortunately, she didn't have time to ponder about it as the insane human tried to slice her again…

She poured all her remaining Spiritual Energy to herself to create a Shell Protection… It may not be effective just like how other Arcanists did it but it was enough to deflect a couple of strikes so she can retreat…

But the man doesn't just rely on his blade as he kicked the retreating young lady…

Baam!

She was hit on her stomach and crashed on a fence… Although she has a trained body through the years of smithing, a direct hit on her stomach was still too much for the young girl. Especially if it came from a full-grown adult that doesn't hesitate in his strikes…

'A-am I going to die here?'

Bleerggh!

She vomited a mouthful of blood… It seems that her internal organs were badly damaged due to that single strike.

'I promised that I would make the strongest sword ever… Urghh… Why am I so unlucky?'

Stella was very unhappy that she would just like this. Her dreams, her promise, and all her hard work would all come to an end just like this…

'I don't want to end it like this…'

She didn't want to give up. Her eyes were about to close as she heard the person coming towards her… With her remaining strength, she tried to call for help…

"S-someone, please…"

As soon as she muttered these words softly, she felt something on her hand. She unconsciously grasped the thing and heard some comforting words. The voice was telling her to agree with him to kill the human…

'Is this some kind of contract to the devil?' She asked herself but agreed in the end. Anyway, she will surely die at this moment.

At the very least, if she accepted the devil's contract now, it would help her kill the man and it would end the town's impending disaster…

Only this district was affected at this time... However, once the beast-like human started moving, it may kill a lot more villagers.

'Alright...'

After agreeing to the voice, she felt most of her pain disappearing like she was being healed… It felt really comfortable… Finally, due to her exhaustion piling up for several days, she lost consciousness after…

The last thing she heard was the scream of the murderer reeking with the scent of blood. She was unsure whether it was due to pain or just another scream of an insane person.

She didn't know how long had passed but as soon as she woke up, she was already in her room. She no longer felt the stinging pain on her stomach and it seems that she was fully healed even though she didn't use her Spiritual Energy to revitalize herself.

'What happened? Did uncle buy an expensive elixir for me? Oh, no…' Stella was sure that elixirs that could heal even her internal wounds would be very expensive. She tried sitting up and noticed that there was something new within her room…

"What's a wooden sword doing here?" She muttered to herself.

She tried to extend her hand to pick up the sword placed on the table near her but the door suddenly opened…

"Uncle?"

"Stella! Are you alright? Are you hurting somewhere? You still needed some rest, don't force yourself..."

Her uncle was suddenly beside her as he tried to make her lie on the bed.

"I-I'm alright, uncle… I'm not hurting…"

"It's just temporary medicine… It may still be effective so you can't feel the pain… You lost so much blood when the guards found you…"

"Eh? Oh, right… What happened to the culprit! Sir Venya is…"

"Don't worry… Venya isn't dead… It was thanks to your actions… That guy was lucky to have some binding magic tools in his collection... It bought him some time before you arrive..."

"Really! That's great!"

She only saw him lying in a pool of blood but didn't confirm whether he was dead or alive. It seems that the guards managed to save him in the end. She felt happy hearing that her actions prevented the man from dying…

However, how did she survive the certain death?