GLITCH

Brainwashed

SHORELINE, Silver Island

Monday, November 22, 2500

11:20am (Few minutes earlier)

"Well, we made it here. Let's make this area our temporary base. Secure the perimeter, Enpicee."

"Yes ma'am."

We're currently in the northwest part of the island. We found an area which is safe enough for us to serve as our base. I tied my hair to a bun, and am wearing our guild uniform; a black full-body suit. I really hate wearing this since it's a bit uncomfortable, considering the fact that this type of gear isn't suitable to mage-types like me. I could only wear my mage set only if I get the requests that were posted on the mission panel. Of course, this "uniform" also applies to the team I'm leading right now.

Enpicee Rundome is my most trusted subordinate, a 18-year old male, with bluish-white hair brushed back and blue eyes; and can be seen as a skinny person yet he has a well-built physique and he's one of the most agile members of the guild.

Jerry Mousse, 18-year old person (this fellow never reveals the identity in public; only the guild leader knows of the true gender), a fellow petite, usually wears a hood and covered his/her face with a full mask, is a master of short swords and knife throwing.

Tama Ikaisen, the peculiar type of person (she loves watching R-rated movies), female, currently 19-year old, possessing lavender hair and purple eyes, is setting the tents. She may be a bit of a handful, but her expertise with martial arts is reigning supreme in the guild.

Pyre Simp, 17-year old male with red hair and eyes, is a fierce individual who is so focused on long range mid-tier fire attacks. He's usually dunce oftentimes though, so even with his looks, he always hid in the corner, staring at his crush. It's not my concern anyway, so be it.

Putting those aside, it's strange; this island is infamous for its dense mana readings, but for some reason, the atmosphere here is way too different than the rest of the places with the same readings that I've been. To be honest, this place is too quiet to be true.

Enpicee finished securing the area. The four of us went inside the tent to have some briefing about our mission.

While we're having the briefing we heard some loud music coming from a distance.

"That's strange, this place should be long abandoned. How come there's some lively music coming from afar?" Tama said as she raised her brow and crossed her arms.

"We should investigate it then. Will you allow us to do so ma'am?" said Jerry while waiting for my response.

I approved their request; Enpicee, and the rest went out of the tent. I stayed in the camp to try and contact the AGA.

I didn't know that the four of them were about to meet their demise if it weren't for an interception of a certain individual.

•••

I rushed to where the screams came from and found four individuals fighting against a horde of the people…which are in berserk. Two of them are down and have some deep wounds. Seeing them as civilians, they can't mistakenly attack them so they're currently having a hard time to deal with them. One of them who use a couple of short swords is parrying with someone who looks like an adventurer who uses a great sword. It made me curious as of why so I took a peek at that guy's status.

??? HP: 0/10900 MP: 0/0

Templar

STATUS CONDITION:

CURSED – a being which is possessed with a curse

LIFE QUENCHED – someone who had a thirst for life; own life is stolen and the body is now used as a living being; different from undead

Huh? What's going on here?

"Kuh! Why are these people keep attacking us?"

"Are they undead? We could just burn them all!"

"You fool…they still have lives! Their body is still warm, and it seems like the heart is beating normally. We must find a way to get away from here and report this to --"

Another trouble arises when the previously wounded allies attacked the other two. This ain't good.

"Sorry about this."

"What? Who are you –?"

I quickly positioned myself within the gap between the four and blasted the two away. I didn't kill them; I only used a percent of my glove's power.

"If you don't want to become puppets like them, follow me", I said while running away from the scene.

They followed suit and managed to flee away from the crowd.

"Thank you for saving us. I'm Jerry and this is Pyre", Jerry approached me as we're still on the run.

"Hello, good to see you guys. We're in a hurry though, so if you guys know a safe place, let's head there first."

"Of course, this way please", Pyre said and turned right.

We made it out of the forest and were now running along the shoreline. I kept my distance to the other two. It's better to be cautious than being lax. They seem to understand why I'm distancing myself from them so they ignored it.

Suddenly the ground I'm about to step on glowed.

"!?"

It's a summoning circle! Neither the two of them can't use summoning magic. The one named Pyre is a Pyromancer and Jerry is a Blade Master. Who could've done this?

The answer immediately showed up before me with a glare and murderous intent.

"Who are you and why are you chasing my subordinates!?"

"Calm down will you? Whoa...!"

I dodged a large boulder coming straight at me. It was thrown by the earth golem who came from the summoning circle.

"I'll have you confess your evil deeds!"

"Er…this sure is a great welcome for me. Very well", I said as I raised my left hand and launched an attack.

"200% Burst Shot."