After a few moments, the armour was entirely melted as even the dummy was gone. Thankfully, the effect seemed to end just before touching the ground, leaving behind a small metal stump for where the dummy was.
Before she could even comment on the attachment, Shiro felt a stab of pain in her right hand as her bow shimmered slightly and ejected the withered finger.
“Ah!” Crying out in surprise, Maria dashed over and grabbed the withered finger before it could touch the ground.
Furrowing her brows, Shiro glanced towards her system.
[Due to the incompatibility, the withered touch shall be ejected. Fusion cannot be attempted again unless you wish to risk damaging the bow.]
Seeing this, Shiro sighed.
“Seems like I cannot fuse the Withered Touch with the bow anymore. Since if I do, I risk damaging my bow.” She said to Maria who furrowed her brows but eventually nodded her head.
“I suppose that is to be expected.” Maria sighed.
“So I’m guessing Withered Touch only works with compatible weapons. Do you think I can put two attachments on one weapon?” Shiro asked while summoning Nivlim.
“Oh that could work. Are you sure you want to try though? I thought it would damage the weapon.” Maria asked. She was all down for experimenting but she was worried about Shiro’s reply since she was the one with the weapon in the end.
If a blessed weapon was broken, one that was enhanced by her own sentient blade, her heart would hurt too.
“Mn, it’s the first time so it should be fine.” Shiro nodded her head.
Thinking about it for a moment, Maria handed over the Withered Touch once more.
Placing it on top of Nivlim, Shiro watched as the same fusion process began but was stopped half way.
“Hm… seems like it cannot finish the process. Perhaps each weapon can only have one attachment. For Nivlim, your blade is its attachment so unless I remove it, I don’t think I can apply the effects of Withered Touch.” Shiro shook her head and passed the finger back to Maria.
“I see… that’s some valuable information. I’ll need to focus on making some good attachments then. Since each weapon can only have one slot including blessed weapons, the attachment has to be top of the line with their effects.” Maria noted some a few things into her notebook before shutting it close.
“Thank you for your help.” She smiled.
“No problem.” Shiro nodded head her with a chuckle.
“I’m a bit of an experimenter myself so I understand your desire to see some new combinations.”
“Oh? What do you experiment with?” Maria widened her eyes with at the pleasant surprise.
“Mostly some experimental weapons and skill combinations. I’ll tell you more about them next time I have the chance but for now, I’ve got some rats to deal with.” Shiro chuckled.
Remembering that Shiro did indeed have two stalkers right now watching their movements, Maria frowned slightly.
“Do you want my help?” Maria offered.”
“No I’ll be fine, fufu.” Shiro shook her head.
“Are you sure? I can fend for myself you know? I know I don’t look like it but I have three divinities.” Maria pouted slightly as Shiro paused in mild surprise.
“Are they all tier 1 divinities?” She asked.
“That’s pretty rude. My third divinity is tier three Hephaestus, second is tier two Heracles and the first was Perseus.” Maria revealed as Shiro paused for a moment.
“I see… Honestly I’m surprised. But don’t worry, I can deal with them.” Shiro smiled.
“If you say so. If they give you any trouble just come towards the workshop and I’ll deal with them.” Maria shrugged before going back to her work.
Nodding her head, Shiro started to make her way out of the blacksmiths and towards the city gates with the two mysterious people still following behind her.
Narrowing her eyes, she figured that she might as well travel towards the tower if she could. That way, she can make her way towards her goal while dealing with the stalkers behind her. The only two stalkers that she mildly accepts in this life is Lucius and Nan Tian. And even then, she’ll beat the crap out of Lucius if he stalks her again never mind these two f*ckers who had decided to end their lives prematurely.
Checking her mental map of the area, she understood that travel towards the Tower of Ouranos takes around two months or so by foot and a month by carriage. If she was flying at full speed while taking a few shortcuts thanks to air tunnels, she should be able to arrive within a week or so.
Standing on top of a boulder, Shiro glanced off into the distance to see if there was anyone going to interrupt her before smiling.
“So are you going to come out? I know you’ve been stalking me since the city. My question is why? After all, y’all seem pretty eager to take my head.” Shiro grinned and turned around with Nivlim in her hands.
Feeling the gazes on her flicker for a moment but no one came out, Shiro understood that they were probably not going to show themselves.
However, they had made one mistake and that their intent was clear as day, allowing her to roughly guess where they were.
‘They’re probably newbies who thought my bounty was easy.’ Shiro thought with a small smirk.
Unfurling her wings, she crouched down slightly before dashing towards them at top speed.
Seeing this, the two instantly recognised that she knew exactly where they were.
Reacting quickly, they tried to bring out their weapons but Shiro was faster.
Twisting her body, she threw Nivlim as hard as she could towards the closest assassin’s head.
Raising his hand just in time, he managed to block her weapon with his sword but that was the wrong move. Grinning at his choice, Shiro activated one of Nivlim’s effects which allowed her to shrink the chain whenever she wanted.
Dragging herself towards the assassins, she kicked towards the second assassin before grabbing the handle of her blade.
Using her spare hand to wrap the chain around the first assassin’s head, she flipped over his body before shrinking her chain some more.
“GAHH!!!”
Feeling the metal crush his throat, the assassin widened his eyes as tears started to form. Before he could even cry out for a second time, Shiro swiped her sword against the back of his neck, causing blood to gush out as this distracted the second assassin long enough for her to enter his range.
Kneeing him in the stomach, she stabbed her sword inside his mouth before dragging it up and over his head, cutting the upper half of his body in half as he kneeled down dead.
Flicking her sword, she wiped the blood off their surface with a small smile.
“Mn, this sword isn’t bad. The armour penetration is rather handy.” Shiro muttered as this allowed her to kill them quickly without them being able to react. If they were able to react quicker and use their divinities against her, they might have stood a chance.
Unfortunately for them, if one wanted to go against Shiro, they’ll need to mask their presence completely. And even then, her danger senses were extremely keen. There had been very few moments where she was taken off guard during a battle.
[Er… huh… Well… That’s certainly a brutal way of battle. I’ve always wondered what you’ll be like battling against humans since I haven’t seen you do it yet but I have to say, I feel sorry for them. Unlike monsters, you seem more proficient in killing humans.] Quella’s familiar said with mild surprise since she had thought that Shiro would be on her way but instead, she had just killed two people.
“Well what can I say. I’ve had more experiences with killing humans after all. The kill ratio between human and monster is rather… one sided I suppose?” Shiro chuckled softly while rummaging through their bodies to see what they could have that might give away their identity.
Hearing this, Quella only stayed silent since she wasn’t going to ask how Shiro had more human kills than monsters.
There were very few useful things other than some coin pouches, a set of emergency medicine and a single poster.
Reading the poster, Shiro frowned.
“What kind of bullsh*t is this?!” She gritted her teeth and scrunched up the paper.
[What’s on it?] Quella asked curiously.
“They gave this lady a motherf*cking low ass bounty of just 25 gold dead and 40 gold for alive. Am I really weaker than a Minotaur? If anything, give me a 100 gold bounty or something. Tch, so stingy.” Shiro complained.
[. . .]
