"Ow… My head is spinning. What kind of ritual was that?"
Lying on the ground, a girl who looks like a loli spoke as she rubbed her eyes for a moment before looking around. The area of a labyrinth she was all too familiar with was no longer in her sights.
What she saw was the atmosphere around her, and all she could think of was… Creepy. Two homes that look ruined and abandoned, no humans, spirits, gem people, or anyone she is familiar with nearby. As if she had just woken up in a haunted setting.
Torches light up in the distance, a dark sky that screams eerie, as if the fog that is everywhere wasn't scary enough. But she did see mountains in the distance as well, something that made her forget what she was just feeling and replace it with hope.
"Mountains… Am I… Actually out?"
She spoke to herself softly as she picked herself up and looked around. Sure, she felt a bit scared of her new surroundings, but that was mixed with the hopefulness that she was feeling as she wandered around the empty area.
"This place… I never saw it while being trapped… and the feeling I felt each and every day… It is no longer there… Hehehe… Hahaha!"
She could not stop herself from cheering out her lungs, she jumped up and down, running in circles, rolling on the ground in pure excitement, joy, and relief.
"Another world… I'm free! I can't believe it… No longer trapped in that place! Good riddance Infinite Labyrinth!"
She didn't care if her clothing got dirty, or would act like a child who had just been freed from being grounded while in their room; all she cared about was being free after being trapped in an inescapable prison, all alone, for so many years.
She once again lay on the ground breathing heavily as she took all of this in. A huge smile remains on her face as her brown eyes sparkle at the eerie sky.
"...So what next?"
She mutters to herself. She honestly wasn't sure what the next step was, but in full honesty, she did want to see if this world she is now in is the world she was summoned to. If that were the case, then she could see all her friends again, seeing them after being gone for so long.
But… If this isn't the same world… Well, she can hope that there are people who can help her as of right now… All she really got is her legendary weapon as a means to fight against any creature that attacks her. But at the same time could not damage any human.
She stared blankly at the sky for a few minutes, thinking of what she should do, and how it could be processed.
She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice something approaching her, and before the girl could blink, the thing was now looking directly at her. From her perspective, it was some humanoid creature that looked lanky, furry, and had a mask to cover its face. Oh, and it was also holding a wooden club.
The two stare at each other for a moment, neither making a sound or movement. Just staring. Until the girl has to speak.
"Hello."
"YA!"
The creature before her raised its club and was about to slam it down on her face until she blocked the strike in the nick of time with her legendary weapon, which seemed like a fishing rod.
She knocked the creature back a few feet as she quickly stood up and prepared to fight whatever she was facing. The creature immediately changed to her as the girl instantly prepared a skill. With no hesitation, she called out.
"Blood Flower Strike!"
A flash of light suddenly burst out of her fishing rod as the creature was immediately bleeding to death with cuts and wounds around certain points. As if the skill attacks all weak points.
And at the same time, the blood suddenly turns into flower petals. The creature cried in agony before falling to the ground dead. A notification pops up informing her that she earned 50 EXP. The girl signed in relief before noticing something was wrong.
"Strange, that skill cost more than it was… Wait… What happened to my HP, SP, and MP!?"
The girl shouted as, from her point of view, the three bars that should have been normal numbers, aka higher than what they look like right now. She quickly checked her status magic to see what was wrong, but what she saw horrified her to her soul.
Kizuna Kazayama
Class: other world Hunting Hero LV1
Equipment: Starter Rod (legendary weapon) ⭘▶◆x type ???
Other-world dress
Skills: Blood Flower Strike, Thrust Attack, Flying Sparrow, etc…
Magic: unknown
"My level…! All my progress…! All gone!"
The girl, now named Kizuna, collapsed on the ground in agony; the level she had worked so hard to increase had all now been reset.
"That warning! It means my level will reset when I'm placed in another world!?"
Before she performs the ritual after gathering all that she was able to find, a warning notification pops up before her, telling her that legendary heroes could not travel to other worlds, until it suddenly changes its mind, as it says a restriction will be placed once she does the ritual.
"The way to freedom definitely didn't come for free. There is always a price."
She mutters to herself as she can somewhat deal with having her level reset. At least all the bonuses she gained when she unlocked other forms were still attached, which means her stats were more than enough for her to handle enemies as long as they were creatures or monsters. As well as still use the skills she uses when dealing with them.
Nodding to herself, Kizuna approaches the corpse of the creature she just killed as she absorbs all the remains into the blue gem of her fishing rod. Once she finished, she noticed the forms linked to whatever she saw didn't mean the level requirements. Which means she has to level up to unlock them.
This caused Kizuna to sigh as she noticed the amount of EXP she needed to level up. Normally she would need to have 20 EXP to level up, but now she needed 950 EXP to level up. How did it once require 20 EXP all the way to 1000 EXP to gain a level up!?
"I'll deal with the leveling later, I need to find out where exactly I am. I doubt I'll be able to find someone here."
She decided to wander around the area as it was something she could do for the moment. But that didn't mean she was all alone, she had to fight more of the creatures she had just fought as she was gaining character experience points.
A few minutes later, she came across a pond as she could see a stone pathway in the water, which was visible enough to see. But she wonders where it leads to as she sees a stone pathway stop at the end of a unique square area.
She did look at the water for a moment, a surge of wanting to fish here nearly overcame her. She can see a few fish in the water, just telling her, begging her to fish them out. And with no hesitation, she threw her lure in the water, sat down on the ground, and waited for a catch.
She took a moment to look in the water to see her reflection.
She had brown hair tied into pigtails, was wearing a dress with a gothic lolita style, boots, and a haori coat that was given by her dear friend. Just thinking about her made Kizuna wonder how she was doing and how she felt when she was missing. The very friend she made when she came to the world she was summoned.
"Glass…"
Before she could say anything, her fishing rod began to move as she immediately reeled in whatever fish she was going to capture.
"Fish from another world captured!"
She said as she looked at the fish she caught, it looked raw, fresh, and looked… She wonders what meat this particular fish contains, tuna, salmon? Maybe once she cuts open the fish she'll find out.
"Okay let's see… The color is orange, so, salmon? I should give it a taste."
She ate the fish raw with no hesitation, with a few bites, and after tasting the fish, she confirmed that it was indeed salmon.
"Yep, that is salmon, years of eating the fish I caught definitely got me to tell which fish this is."
Other than anything else she found and consumed while being trapped, what she ate mostly was fish. Still, her enthusiasm for fishing didn't just stop at a single catch, she is determined to fish every fish out of this water spot! To hell with how long she will have to stay here!
She swore to herself that she would catch all the fish, then the next, and everywhere she went. No fish can escape from Kizuna Kazayama!
Immediately she put back her lure in the water and waited once again. As minutes passed by, the water no longer had any fish in sight. Nodding at her accomplishment she began to walk back to where she first woke up and make her way to… Wherever the road leads her.
At least she has food to eat in case she is hungry. Though this time she should make sure the meat was safe enough to eat, as what she had eaten earlier could have parasites in it.
While she was thinking of this, Kizuna didn't notice someone or something secretly following her. While she was walking back, Kizuna opened up her weapon book, checking to see which forms she could turn her hunting tool into. But the results weren't really great, as there are a few forms she can switch to, but with bad stats.
After checking for a few moments, as she was able to get back to the exact spot she woke up, she couldn't decide between the Sturdy form or the Tree Leaf form. She eventually decided to switch to the Sturdy form as her fishing rod also changed, as it now has rocks on some parts of her rod.
Nodding to herself as she began to follow the dirt path to wherever it might lead her, hopefully away from this creepy area. The longer she stays there, the feeling of being jumpscared by a ghost grows in her. Sure, her friend, Glass, is a spirit, but that is different in that world, so there could be a chance that this world actually has ghosts as literal vengeful spirits?
Like that ghostly spirit just in her view, having that… Smile expression…
"..."
Kizuna rubbed her eyes before opening them again but what she saw was now in front of her. Suddenly a jumpscare occurs as Kizuna jumps in fright before unleashing one of her skills.
"Thrust Attack!"
She makes an attempt to attack the spirit in front of her, but the spirit, who quickly notices what is about to happen, quickly dodges the upcoming attack. Kizuna just thrust her fishing rod as a shockwave of wind blades was sent to slice through the attack, but the spirit dodged them all by going underneath the ground.
With the sudden attack by Kizuna, it turns out there was someone else hiding, as they quickly realized what had just happened and tried to calm her down. But the moment they came out of their hiding spot Kizuna didn't hesitate in unleashing another skill of hers.
"Form One: Pit Fall!"
Out of nowhere, a pit about a meter deep was suddenly created as the person fell into the pit. Kizuna looked at the person who fell as she noticed that it was a person, a human girl by the looks of it.
She notices that her eyes are unique, with bright scarlet eyes with white, blossom-shaped pupils; faded red makeup painted at the corners of her eyes; and long dark brown hair fading to crimson at the tips, which is styled into two high twintails parted with a zig-zag pattern.
Her bangs are side-swept to her left, the layers framing her face curled inwards, and the layers behind curled outwards, with two shoulder-length locks of hair in front of her ears left loose. A black porkpie hat emblazoned with a wooden talisman, adorned with a red plum blossom branch in bloom, along with an indigo tassel tied in a looped knot.
She also wore a red shirt with a mandarin collar, a brown coat with a darker collar and sleeve cuffs, and black shorts with gold accents. Wears a pair of mid-calf length white socks, red straps with plum blossoms wrapped around the cuffs, along with low-heeled black dress shoes. Her fingernails are painted black, and she wears multiple rings: one on her left ring finger, one on her right thumb, and one on each of her index and middle fingers. A loose red bracelet on her right hand, though her long right sleeve usually hides it.
There was also a strange red jewel of some sort that was embedded in the back of her coat, along with long rectangular coattails, and golden brooches attached underneath her coat's collar and waist.
If Kizuna is very honest, the girl was quite pretty and possibly the same age as her despite the height difference. But suddenly recalling what had happened to her all those years ago, Kizuna had her fishing rod form turn into a tuna knife form as she put the edge of the blade in front of her face.
As much as she wanted to apologize and help the girl in front of her, she didn't want to risk it if something similar would happen again and be trapped once again in an inescapable prison.
"Who are you? And why were you hiding from that tree?"
Kizuna spoke as the girl let out a small "Ouch." As she looked up at Kizuna, she gave her a cheeky smile. Then a playful laugh, but mixed with irritation at what a plan gone wrong.
"Aiya~ Guess the prank ambush failed the moment it got started."
"...Prank?"
Kizuna started to lower her tuna knife, but still made her suspicious to keep the knife on the lower part of the girl's chin. This causes the girl to once chuckle as she looks at the knife in front of her then to the girl in front of her, having no sense of fear or feeling the possibility of being in danger.
"Yep~ It was just meant to be a playful prank but it seems you didn't take it well. You definitely scared Boo Tao with the attack you used before using this one on me. What kind of Anemo or Geo Vision do you have to use that kind of Elemental Skill? Or was one of them your Elemental Burst?"
The same spirit that jumpscare Kizuna appears behind the girl, now looking afraid of Kizuna.
"Elemental Skill? Elemental Burst?"
Kizuna wondered what the words the girl said were, were they skills? She eyed her before seeing that she didn't appear to be a threat, just a girl who seemed to love pranking people. So after thinking of the pros and cons, she gives in and offers a hand to her, which the girl easily accepts as Kizuna helps her up.
"Okay, you don't seem like a bad person, just a playful person with no sense of feeling threatened."
"Aiya~?"
The girl in front of her looked insulted, as if Kizuna was painting her as a clueless girl who wouldn't notice that even a knife would make her see the danger she was in.
"I'm more capable of handling myself. Even if I got this thing, my spear can handle the damage I deal to my enemies!"
The girl spoke as she held up the red gem Kizuna saw before she put it back as she summoned her spear out of thin air. A red spear with two pointy edges with a red orb at the center that looks irreplaceable and powerful. A unique-looking spear with an orb that looks similar to the blue gem but in a different color.
Something that shocks Kizuna, as she didn't see anyone even in the world she was summoned to, would make a weapon appear out of nowhere.
This got Kizuna thinking that she might have landed in the world of a different set of heroes. Which makes her wonder if the girl summoning her spear was a unique skill for legendary heroes she hadn't unlocked yet or maybe a special ability for vassal heroes that Glass or her other friend L'Arc hadn't managed to unlock.
She also wonders if the girl is the wielder of the legendary or vassal spear. Maybe luck was on her side today as she now has help.
"I have a question, where exactly am I? Are you a legendary hero or a vassal hero? And what is your name? My name is Kizuna Kazayama the Hunting Hero!"
She asks with hope in her eyes as the girl in front of her now looks confused, more than what had just happened moments ago. First the person named Kizuna attack her ghost friend then fall in a pit that she magically crates, second she was suspicious of her when she explained what she was planning to do, third she didn't answer her question of what she used of those attack, lastly after summoning her spear Kizuna now look at her in a new light, as if she have found salvation.
Thinking on how to respond, the girl finally answered.
"My name is Hu Tao… And may I ask what exactly you are talking about?"
The girl, now named Hu Tao, watches as Kizuna also looks confused about her question. Silence filled the area as neither could say anything nor know what to even do. Until…
The sound of a loud explosion was heard coming from a location where Hu Tao is certain that it came from Mondstadt. From what her special employee has told her, as it wasn't the first time she heard loud explosions during her time in Wuwang Hill, explosions would happen because of the daughter of a certain… Someone he knew, perhaps an acquaintance of his?
Any loud explosions can be heard depending on where the daughter would be heard unleashing her explosions, as for Hu Tao, it depends on where she is, like exactly where she is currently.
Should anyone manage to get a clear view of the location Drunkard Gorge, anyone would have seen several Ruin Guards falling and being destroyed by the huge explosions. Their cores were destroyed by arrows made out of Electro, and burn marks on some parts.
And a boy falling in the gorge after being launched away by using his Elemental Skill, only to be caught by a big shield that had suddenly appeared. It seems the commission that Naofumi took on in the morning is complete.