The Rising Of The Hero Of Daggers

(5) Crossed Paths

Crossed Paths

It's been almost a month since the Four Heroes have been summoned to the newly world and the next Catastrophe Wave was closing in on time. All heroes spent each day training and as of now, that's exactly what the secret fifth hero was doing. 

"Shadow Strike!"

The wolf-like creature fell to the forest floor, bleeding out. Umiko let out a breath and felt her body slump a little. 

"You okay, Umi?" Hyde asked from her side, also breathing heavily from the fight that had just occurred. His young friend sent him a reassuring smile and they both turned back to the dead monster in front of them. 

"The next wave will be here in a day or two. I hope the other heroes are training their hearts out." Umi said. The other heroes crossed her mind every now and again as the days before the next Wave began to come to an end. 

Umiko suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Hyde smiling down at her. 

"Don't think to much about it." he reassured. "Besides, if you can't work with them in the end, I'll gladly help." 

Umi felt herself smile at her dear friend. "That's good to hear." 

"Righto! Let's get this mess cleaned up! What d'ya say?" 

Umiko nodded and they both began to rid the body of the wolf creature they had killed. As they were disposing it, Umi noticed a small blue crystal-like rock in the chest of the beast. She picked it up and inspected it. The item appeared as "Unknown" in her vision. 

Strange...

She grabbed one of her daggers and placed the crystal into the black gem of the hilt. Not a second later, a new skill and dagger were added to her list. She quickly stood from her crouched spot and held both of her daggers out, the daggers she had when she first arrived into this world. She closed her eyes.

"Death's Dagger." she summoned in a monotone voice and a bright light appeared in her hand. 

Once she opened her eyes, two black new daggers were in her hands. Where the blade met the hilt, a black skull with two electrifying blue eyes took its place. The black coloured blades were jagged and at the bottom of each hilt a chain connected to the other. 

"Wow! I haven't seen those daggers before!" Hyde awed and Umiko smiled at him. 

"I just got them now from this wolf." she explained and put away her blades to continue disposing the body. 

"I wonder how much we can get with this fur." the blue-haired boy mumbled, feeling the skin of the dead creature, checking its worth. 

"Considering it was pretty tough to take down, I'd say a lot." she grinned. 

Once they finished up collecting what they could, the travelling pair left through the dark forest. Both were still injured and in pain; Hyde had a limping leg and Umiko had gash on her arm that had scabbed up in dry blood. 

"Man, I am really looking forward to a bath now." the purple-eyed girl sighed tiredly. She didn't mind doing missions and fighting, but there were times that she'd wished she had time to do more girl-like things, as well as have more female friends. 

At the same though, I'm happy with where life's at with me. I don't mind working like this. I mean, if I didn't, I might have turned out like my old self. Whimpy and weak. Can't have that now, can we?

The two friend's exited the dark side of the deeper forest and were on their way back towards Castle Town to their cottage. They were a few miles away from the exit until they heard rustling. Both looked in the direction of the sound and then at each other. With a nod, they unsheathed their weapons and waited as the rustling got closer and closer.