henluu.

-chapter seventy-six-
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VESTA

'A perfect headshot. A perfect kill.'

A LOUD screech and the siren fell, water sloshing. A number one appeared beside the Kill status and my points went to 12.

Loading the gun, I positioned the sniper rifle again, looking through the scope. Too tricky. The creatures flies up and swims back relatively fast. And on my direction, there are about five sea-human creatures with tails delicately appearing.

Napakahirap pang makita ang pagkakaiba nila. From what I've gathered, sirens looks almost like mermaids, save for their paler skin and a much more scaly neck. Some sirens like to adorn themselves with beautiful jewelry, like the mermaids. Their tails are of somewhat similar length, but the mermaid's are colorful, in hues of coral blue and emerald green while the sirens have a duller one.

And, well, the sirens are more terrifying than mermaids.

Binasa ko ang labi nang makita kong naghahanda ulit ang mga sirens at mermaids na tumalon pataas ng tubig. The Lake's water is clear, seeing the creatures looming on the depth is very easy.

My finger landed carefully on the trigger. There are three mermaids and two sirens, who will jump up on the same time but land with a difference in seconds. Narrowing my eyes, I studied each of them.

The first one jumped up, the perfect red dot of the rifle placing itself on its forehead. A mermaid, the corals on her pinkish hair is enough to define it. The second one went up and my finger clicked on the third one. Two sirens.

A splash in the lake, the fourth one jumped up and I shot on the fifth one again. Three sirens.

Nagulat ako nang magclick ulit ang daliri ko. My eyes widened as the bullet travel towards the siren I last shot, now screeching loudly.

Just in time for the siren's head to fall, the bullet pierced through it's hair and landed on the skull of another siren miles down. With an arrow on its shoulder, a golden one.

Four sirens. And one Chaska as angry as a bull.

Napasulyap ako sa kaniya nang ibaba ko ang baril. True enough, she was glaring daggers at me. Pretty face on an ugly frown.

Feyre would, for sure, clap loudly and scream in happiness. The others would too, with their great distaste for the guild. Na hindi ko pa rin magets hanggang ngayon dahil sumasabay lang ako sa trip nila.

Besides, Voldmir taught me to see what's interesting in their scowling faces.

Pero, naalala kong sinabi ni Solace na huwag kaming humanap ng away sa guild ni Astro. Feyre's incidents with them are already too much. And despite that, they still helped us travel to the North. We still owe them gratitude, kaya naman pinagbawalan kami ni Solace na magengage sa kanila.

Well, sana lang kaya ni Feyre iyon.

The guild is very much aware of her impatience and bad blood to the guild.

Kaya naman nagmouth ako ng 'I'm sorry' sa kaniya. Unlike my guild members, I don't take importance in my pride.

"Well, talaga ngang kakaiba ang mga members ng Oddcredibles." napabaling ako kay Luci nang magsalita siya. "We've always wondered what it is that makes your guild so interesting. The name? That's not the weirdest guild name in this game. Your guild leader? Well, she certainly is pretty and an amazing warrior. But-"

"Tangina, Lu, ang ingay-ingay mo." napatingin ako kay Adimus nang magreklamo siya. "Sabihin mo na lang na may rumors na kakaiba talaga lahat ng members ng Oddcredibles kaya ka naging interesado. Dami pang satsat."

"Alam mo, Adimus, napaka-attention seeker mo, ano. Wala naman sa usapan, pero sinisingit pa ang sarili."

Nag-irapan ang dalawa at bumalik na sa sariling ginagawa. Back to the preliminary quest like nothing just happened between them. Like they didn't just argue.

Ang weird ng mga players dito.

Kinapkap ko ang bulsa para kunin ang special bombs ko. This would make things easier. The bombs are made by Avi, and they are specialized for my gun. Kapag nailagay ko na ang bomb dito sa loob ng gun ko, pwede kong i-control ang range ng pagsabog niya. I can use it if I spot sirens grouping themselves.

Natigilan ako nang maramdaman ang bullets sa kamay. I'm certain they're long and round, like a test tube, and not like a vial with a thin neck. Dahan-dahan ko itong inilabas at tiningnan.

Oh, nice.

This is Feyre's poison vial.

Why the heck is it in my pocket?

I cursed in my breath when I remembered Feyre stealing my bullets earlier. I never realized she took my bullets to. Or no, if I didn't try and take it then I wouldn't have her vial in the first place. So, I switched them?

"Hoy! Hoy! Oddcredible ranger!" isang malakas na boses ang nagpabalik sa'kin.

I didn't notice. Natulala na pala ako sa pag-iisip.

I glanced at Adimus whose brows are furrowed.

"Okay ka lang?"

I nodded.

Nanliit ang mga mata niya. Sharp, dark eyes boring into mine. "Bakit ka natulala lang diyan?"

Umiling ako at bumalik na sa pagtingin sa lawa.

My main problem right now is what to do with the vial. Killing sirens with my normal bullet isn't hard but they take too much time. Especially when the sirens are in groups and they form a sound shield around them, the waves created by flying bullets and arrows becomes easy to deflect.

There are also sirens with far more durability than the rest. And they don't die with just one bullet up their foreheads. This is probably why special bullets are permitted to be used inside the quest.

And everyone around me are using them too. We only have an hour and forty minutes left.

Kinuha ko ang vacant bullets na ginawa din ni Avi. It's similar to my bomb ones, although wala itong laman. No gunpowder and other special magic mixed. Just a clear and empty tube.

Mabilis kong binuksan ang stash ng gunpowder with silver elf's magic. Inilagay ko ang kalahati nito sa empty tube. Then I opened Feyre's vial, which stenchef of poison and poured it to the tube. A loud puff appeared in the air in green smoke with silver glitters. Napaubo ako dahil dito.

Hinati ko ito sa lima ko pang empty tubes. Silver Elf's powder is a special type of gunpowder that pierces through thick skin. Ginagamit ko din ito sa bombs ko, ngunit maliit na amount lang. Five small drops of this and players around the explosion can die immediately.

Now the silver elf, paired up with Feyre's poison, will make... well, hindi ko alam. But I hope it won't be too bad.

I was hoping that the poison will slow the creature and make the powder's effect torture it. If the sirens will make contact with water, which the powder has a great reaction to, it will cause an explosion that will kill them upon contact.

Inayos ko ang bullet sa baril, then controlled the range of the explosion. It comes after the prior normal bullet I have. Kaya I tried to spot groups of siren while looking for a stray one.

A stray-

There.

Mabilis kong binaril ito. It was already weak, from the wounds I gathered from it's body. All it needs is a final bullet to die. Sorry sa nagpakahirap na patayin 'to.

Luckily, there are a group of sirens in the back of what I shot. A pop-up appeared signifying that my special bullet is loaded. Inayos ko ang baril sa balikat ko, letting it's weight be my ground.

"Target lock to five sirens." limang concentrated circle ang lumabas at sumasama sa galaw ng mga sirens. "Silver Venom Bullet loaded... Initializing... Ready to fire in five seconds."

My eyes narrowed when a mermaid jumped up behind the sirens, circling mid-air. The seconds ticked by and I clicked on the trigger when the it hit zero.

The lake was calm, save for the screeching sirens and the flying bullets or arrows. There were only small explosions from special-type bullets, as to not get the attention of other creatures and not kill any mermaids. It was an odd calmness, just seconds before the bullet hits.

And an explosion happened.

The ground shook with tremor and rough waves appeared, wetting all the players who stood by the lake. The clear blue waters disappeared and a smoke of green clouded the whole lake. Napakagat ako ng labi nang ilang segundo pa itong mamutawi.

It exploded. But I thought wrong, the small explosion I assumed covered the whole lake. Poison dripping from every end, becoming one with the water.

Luckily, wala namang change of status sa kills ko.

Pinag-aralan ko ang itsura ng ibang rangers. As expected, most of them are pissed. Patingin-tingin sila sa paligid at hinahanap ang isang ranger na nags-specialize sa poison element.

I glanced to my right and saw Adimus looking right at me with a smirk on his lips. I wouldn't put it past him to not know that I was the one involved. Siguradong nakita niya akong gumawa ng bullet.

To my left, Luci is cursing under her breath and murdering the person who made the explosion. She keeps on looking everywhere but me.

And behind her is Chaska in her most sweetest and murderous form. Nababaguhan talaga akong makita siyang ganiyan lalo na't pini-praise siya sa pagiging mabait kapag kasama ang mga guild members.

Napabuntong-hininga ako. From here, you can't see the lake anymore, and just a green smoke of poison. The timer will keep on ticking and we're left with nothing but this. Hindi ko din alam kung kailan mawawala ang smoke.

One of the ranger's disadvantage - blindness for their targets.

Pinikit ko ang mga mata at pinatalasan ang pandinig. If I can't see then I can hear. The movements, the waves and the splash of water when the creatures swim up.

Nakaka-kaba ang katahimikan. Para itong isang countdown - a silent timer for the worst to come.

Even the lake is calm. Tahimik at walang tunog ng tubig na umaagos. There are a few splashes but it was not loud.

It was... eerie.

Until the first screech came.

It was so loud and high-pitched that I staggered. Parang siyang isang white noise sa tainga ko - ngunit mas masakit ito at mas tumatagal. My head throb from the sound and my health deteriorated a bit.

Naging mabilis ang susunod na pangyayari. From my right, a siren in it's full rage, appeared from the smoke, with a loud screech. Sharp claws were slashed to the ranger standing and they stood frozen before they slowly disappeared.

Dahil sa nangyari ay naging alerto ang lahat.

And that successful first attack encouraged the other sirens to attack.

Now it's not just shooting sirens anymore, it's already a dance while the mermaid's sings.

I kept my toes grounded, as I looked left and fired my gun. Isang siren ang lumabas at nahulog sa lupa.

This may be a cheat but my bullet, mixed with the silver venom, is an instant kill.

Oh well, it's only a matter of strategy.

Mabilis akong gumagalaw, at tanging ang mga tunog lang ang nagbibigay sa'kin ng paningin. I fired bullets after bullets at every screech and every movements that I could detect.

The battle the sirens wage made notice to the mermaid. It happened when the first mermaid appeared out of the smoke, beautiful face now morphed into an ugly one, with scales on their cheeks and fangs out. Their voice, once as sweet that can tempt sailors, now but an ugly cry that pierces through the ears.

The ranger staggered on his feet, bows up to protect itself from the mermaid's fangs. At that, the siren appeared, claws towards the man's stomach. The ranger disappearing after a few seconds.

Dahil sa pagkatulala ko sa nangyari ay hindi ko napansin ang isang siren na papunta sa gawi ko. It was silent when it apparead, claws ready to mark it's target.

But the creature fell down when a sharp string pierced through its skull. Napasinghap ako at napatingin sa sa kanan. There stood Adimus, facing a floating piano with strings flying at every direction.

Ngumisi siya. "Welcome."

Tumango ako.

I didn't notice his weapon. So he's a bard-ranger then.

The smoke is staring to fade. Medyo nakikita na ang tubig ngayon at ang mga sea creatures na tumatalon pataas ng tubig.

A chill ran down my spine when my gaze landed on the center of the lake.

Isang siren ang nandoon, patingin-tingin ito sa paligid. Then it stopped and swam back down. Kumunot ang noo ko. There's something wrong. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong. My perception for danger is always good, and right now, something is not right.

"...Adimus..." tawag ko.

Nakita kong nagulat siya dahil tumigil ang kamay niya sa ibabaw ng piano keys.

"Oh?" he tried to make his voice sound normal but it only came stiffly.

"Something's... wro-"

Naputol ang sasabihin ko nang pumasa-ere ang isang napakagandang boses. A voice both enthralling and terrifying. It was different from a mermaid's song that sings for the sailors. This... This sings for the sea.

Bumalik ang paningin ko sa sentro ng lawa. The siren is there. And it looks like the creature was the source of the sounds.

The mermaids stop to look before swimming down. The other sea creatures followed, hiding themselves beneath the water.

And before I could blink, barely noticeable soundwaves flew in the air, mixing with the silver powder and venom. Flying towards-

Nanlaki ang mata ko. The sirens began to follow the melody, echoing the terrifying song. They splashed on the water, tails becoming a horrifying dull white, claws sharpening and their hissing grew louder. The song was coming towards us.

Before, the sirens were the prey that we were hunting. Then it became an equal battleground where they are weakened and we were blinded.

Now, the sirens turned the table, becoming the predators that they were.

The siren sang a song. A song about our death.

I raised my gun and swallowed hard. Quickly loading all my bullets, I tapped on my frenzy skill. Umilaw ang may paanan ko at nakita ko ang pagbuff ng mga attributes ko.

Well, I just hope I can survive this quest and I'll tell on Solace that Feyre stole all my bullets, causing me a disaster.

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-chapter end-