Chapter 14: The Jade Hare’s Hunt

Hopping over the brook, Rachel gradually increased her pace, keeping to paths that drew her closer to the teens and gave the most moonlight. Her power and speed grew with every point added to her [Lunar Pool]; it was minor but noticeable, and the cloud cover was gradually giving way to a brilliant sky unlike any Rachel had seen due to the light pollution of Earth.

She broke into a sprint at 80% of her lunar capacity, ears lying flat, and easily found stable ground because her peripheral vision was in complete focus. The wind whipped her long ponytail behind her, and Rachel couldn’t wait to explore more of this new, powerful figure she’d gained. For some reason, she hardly felt the sting of losing her muscles, barely noticing as a sliver of azure light shone through the clouds.

Heartbeat racing, shirt pressing against her body, and smelling the lingering sweat of the teens in the air, Rachel burst through the underbrush to save them, causing Verna to squeak and stumble back upon seeing her blurred appearance as Rachel moved like a ghost in the dark undergrowth.

A silent goblin nocked an arrow and then loosed the string—time slowed, and she twisted her wrist to snatch it out of the air. Using the momentum to skip in a circle, her leg lashed out upon entering the bush the goblin hid in, and Rachel was shocked to hear a sharp snap as its spine broke.

That easy—I killed it?!

Carried through the thicket, a few scratches marred her skin from the thorns as she recovered, and her tail went stiff as Verna’s cry was cut short. She’d fallen onto a rock, hitting the back of her head.

"Hey! Ack..."

"Wha—Verna?!"

Shit... Not exactly how I saw this going in my head, she internally groaned as two of the goblins snarled and exited their hiding place to approach her, small knives drawn.

The pulse in her ears died a little as clouds covered part of the moon overhead, and she noticed only a slice of blue moon showing.

Buzz-kill... she internally grumbled at the sky as her strength slightly diminished.

Around a meter tall and green-skinned, the hairless creatures wore animal pelts, causing Rachel’s eyebrow to lift. Okay, so she was fighting skinny monster shrimps. Still, she didn’t feel an ounce of fear as she stopped to appraise them from a small section of pale moonlight that remained.

"How bad is it, Martin?" Rachel casually asked as the other two long-ranged goblins retreated a bit to prepare to engage her from a distance. "Smart buggers, aren’t they?" she snickered to herself, feeling her appetite grow with the reappearance of the blue light.

Martin couldn’t see her beyond the thicket she’d passed through with the ambushers, but the sound of a friendly voice stilled his rapid pulse. "Who... Umm, she hit her head on a rock—she’s bleeding! How many are there?"

Rachel was impressed he was adapting; he attempted to drag her out of the open and into some tall ferns. "Don’t worry about these guys; you just take care of your friend."

"Thank you; we owe you!"

An archer’s bald head turned in the teen’s friend’s direction, and Rachel snatched the slinger’s stone out of the air before flinging it at its distracted buddy to keep its attention. She missed, and they snickered at her aim, causing a spur to kick into Rachel’s heart and a wicked fire to ignite in her chest as they made faces to intimidate her, or at least that was likely their goal.

Dammit! My strength keeps increasing and decreasing with this bipolar sky, making me misjudge my aim. I’m getting too strong with all this Lunar Energy and the two moons.

A sly twist came to Rachel’s nose as the three knife-wielding creatures didn’t approach, instead opting to form a triangle around her and snarl while slashing the air threateningly; they were scared. Then again, if she focused on them, the archer or slinger might kill her; this likely wasn’t their first human kill.

She caught the black, dead eyes of the goblin a few meters from her, staring into oblivion, yet Rachel didn’t feel anything but chills for the fight to come, remaining in a casual posture.

Rachel passively twirled the arrow around her fingers while continuing to analyze her first encounter with these alien creatures, or was she the alien? The thought made Rachel giggle as the bright, azure moon suddenly illuminated the area, casting a sapphire hue on the sharp-fanged fiends.

By their paint markings, weapons, tactics, and apparel, goblins in this world had their own culture and intelligence; they truly were a threat in this world, though not to her.

From what she’d heard from the conversations between Martin, Verna, the merchants, and their few guards, goblins were almost always hostile toward humans. The taste of humanity was a delicacy to most monsters; to them, it was practically food custom-sent by the gods to deliver the most divine flavor. Collecting human teeth to wear as jewelry gave goblins status and honor in their colonies.

She wasn’t aware of a lot of fantasy tropes since that hadn’t been her hobby, so she couldn’t be sure if these creatures had any special abilities. It was for that reason she’d recruited Zoe, yet upon entering the azure rays, she didn’t want spoilers.

Another arrow loosed, and Rachel wanted to laugh at the speed—it was like facing the timid kids in dodgeball—she snatched her second weapon, but this one had a noticeable difference.

Poison? she theorized, noticing the dripping green goo on the point. I didn’t even see them coat it. Well done.

"You okay—do you need help?" Martin called back, making two of the goblins turn in fear he’d burst through the undergrowth—a point Rachel took full advantage of.

Tossing the arrows at the one keeping its beady black eyes on her, she dodged another thrown stone, hand snatching the left goblin’s throat like a viper, her other hand deflecting its panicked slash as she’d been taught in self-defense lessons.

"Haha. I think I’m perfectly fine—whoops," she giggled as she used the gagging creature to shield herself from the next poisoned projectile; its struggles hardly noticeable. "What will you... Oh?"

The remaining knife-wielding scouts moved to rush her as the slinger went for a horn, the archer aiming to attack the teen boy, who was busy caring for his friend.

"Way too smart," Rachel grunted, tightening her grip as the creature’s dirty fingernails clawed at her hand, drawing silvery blood; its eyes bulged, its windpipe crushed as she threw it at one of its advancing buddies.

However, instead of engaging them, Rachel dashed for the slinger, hearing them snarl, attempting to warn the goblin fumbling with the item on its belt. It looked up in time to see Rachel’s fist fracture its face, propelling it back two meters to tumble across the dirt and leaves.

The archer tried to stab her with a goo-laced arrow, but she simply grabbed its wrist and flipped it around to bury it in its own stomach; its face showed disbelief, and Rachel could smell its fear as it looked into her wide, illuminated eyes.

Rachel swiftly dispatched the last two by snapping their necks, somewhat disappointed by the outcome. Sighing, she studied her handiwork and the damage they’d done to her.

It wasn’t even a fight... It’s boring. I killed them, and I feel bored...annoyed. Maybe there is something about turning into a mythickin that turns you into a psychopath. If I’m not careful, I might lose myself in this heat...

Releasing another depressed sigh, she slid her fingers over the shallow cuts on her arm; her blood was now white, sticky, and thicker than it should have been, clotting quickly. Contrastingly, her fist was stained red from crushing one of the green creatures’ faces.

She could get wrapped up in fights, but this was a whole different level, and she hadn’t hesitated for a second. Then again, she might have died if she did—one wrong move could have been a dagger in her belly.

Martin stumbled through the brush, squinting in the dark until he saw her, eyes going wide. "Is it... The Jade Hare—you’re real?!"

Her ears drifted to the side as she turned to the awestruck teen; he looked to be around thirteen years old. "Hmm? Explain that to me... Verna is still breathing, at least," she mumbled, cleaning her fist on one of the goblin pelts before going to check on the girl.

"Umm. Yeah, yeah... I wrapped her head with what gauze we had... But, whoa, the Ranger Guild tells stories about you—the mythical White Jade Hare that shows up and kicks ass!"

"Hehe. Well, isn’t that something?" Rachel brooded, finding the medical care far better than anything she knew she could do; the black-haired girl’s breathing was stabilizing. "She’ll probably have a Grade 2 concussion... Dizziness, memory loss, confusion, ringing in her ears. Heh. She’ll probably be irritable. You’ll want to get her to that healer druid you have in the caravan."

"Right... Umm. We were sent here to—"

"I know why you were sent here," Rachel said, knowing she probably was coming off as omniscient and magical with her entrance, not that she was trying to be. "Why don’t you tell me what I want to know while your friend recovers."

"Mmgm... Martin—where the hell... Did you drug me again?! Who the—"

Rachel lifted an eyebrow at the young man, who swiftly shook his head. "It was a training exercise!"

"Uh-huh," Rachel hummed, showing the panicking girl an innocent smile as she backed away. "Hello, I’m Rachel, apparently the..."

"White Jade Hare?" she gasped, wincing with a groan while gingerly touching her head. "Ugh... What happened? Did I die?"

Rachel let Martin explain things to her as she went to study the corpses she’d left scattered about. The sapphire gleam in the sky was covered by the dark clouds, and more scouting parties were patrolling now, but their area seemed to be free from inspection.