For what felt like several minutes, April was reading the new, updated HUD, trying to piece together what she was seeing. And while her first reaction had been to question reality, the second one was regarding an entirely different bit of information she had learnt.

  It stung her, demanding an immediate response. “I am not that old!” she protested. She was twenty… Twenty-something. It was around 28, but the timeline became somewhat jumbled after she had joined the Project. She most definitely wasn’t five hundred forty-two years old!

  “Shh!” the green-eyed woman hissed. “Are you crazy! We have to move!” She had come to her senses and began to dispy professionalism. “What is this pce? It doesn’t feel like a dream.” She tried to wriggle her way out of her captor's hands.

  But April’s grasp didn’t waver. She was still fixated, her mind finding another line of text she wanted to question. “Is it calling me stupid?” She eyed the six next to the word ‘Intelligence.’.

  “You are stupid!” The green-eyed woman realised she wasn’t strong enough to free herself from April’s clutches and spped her upper arm. “Let me go, stupid!”

  The resounding eagle cry above their heads reminded April they were in a precarious situation. She tightened her grip on the squirming woman and began running, hearing the wings bsting somewhere above the trees.

  “You are touching!” The woman kept struggling.

  April looked back into the green eyes, unamused. “Because you keep moving.” She increased her pace, zipping through the trees, spotting a naked human here and there. They were also slowly waking up and increased the chances of April getting away.

  “I can run myself, stu-”

  After purposefully running through a bush, causing several branches to sp the woman and shut her up, April sharply changed direction away from the battlefield. She hoped that keeping closer to the mountain would increase her chances of getting away.

  But the woman wasn’t done. She spat out the leaves and pinched April’s wrist. “I can run!”

  “You are slower!” April considered if she should just drop the annoyance.

  This did shut up the woman for a moment. She carefully looked around and then at the ground, realising just how fast April was moving. “Fair point.” She conceded and finally stopped wiggling. “You are still touching.”

  “Just your thigh,” April couldn’t believe the woman’s priorities.

  “Your fingers brushed against my breast,” the accusations didn’t stop.

  “Hard to believe with the size they are,” April shot back, trying to sense where the eagle rider was. He was still pursuing them somehow, despite the thick foliage hiding them.

  “What does that mean?” The woman’s voice dropped low, taking on a dangerous tone.

  “It means your—” April spotted an excellent spot where she could drop the woman and forget she existed. “Never mind.” She decided against continuing the verbal sparring.

  “Rude,” the woman narrowed her eyes, then looked up. “It’s diving.”

  April then heard the cracking of the trees and the splintering of the branches as a gigantic bird skimmed the top of the trees. Her danger sense ran arm again, and she dove forward, avoiding something that hit her previous position. The momentary gnce back showed a charred, smouldering hole.

  The woman expressed April’s thoughts. “Was that magic?” She gasped. “What? That’s impossible!”

  “Maybe it is the sound?” April tried to increase her pace even more. “Maybe it is tracking us by sound?”

  “It’s an eagle, dumbass. It probably can see us.”

  “Why are you so annoying?” April's path veered into more bushes, spping leaves and small twigs into the burden’s face.

  To that, the woman didn’t have an answer. She opened her mouth and then closed it before speaking again. “Emma.” She muttered and pointedly kept looking up.

  “April,” she curtly replied, deciding it was the woman’s name. “Can you see it?”

  “Sometimes. Try rapidly changing directions several times.” Emma suggested. “While we keep silent.”

  April held back the biting words, deciding to try the suggestion. She didn’t have anything better, anyway. And after almost a minute of running, it became clear the eagle was still stalking after them.

  It hurt to admit, but Emma was probably right. They were not being tracked by sound. “It has to die,” she concluded, keeping her running direction unpredictable. It had helped to keep the pursuer from raining down more of those deadly bolts.

  The simple sentence startled Emma from her sky observation. “What do you mean?” She questioned. “Do you have a method? Do you know what is happening? Where are we?” Her voice held hope, but…

  April shook her head. “No. No to all of your questions.”

  And Emma shuddered, voicing another question, “Why did you take me? Why didn’t you kill me just like you did to the General?”

  “Ah,” April pondered how to answer. She had wondered if Emma had simply not recognised her. “Is this the time?” She passed a naked man who gaped at them before calling after.

  “Probably—” Emma almost bit her tongue as April vaulted over a rge root in their path. “—not.”

  April nodded, trying to find anything she could use as a weapon. Perhaps a rock? She had spotted some through the trees, closer to the mountain she had jumped off from, and they looked promising. But it would mean she would have to run through a more open area to get them, as the trees were much sparser in that direction.

  It was now apparent the raider would not leave them be. April had to get rid of him before more joined. “I have to kill him,” she resolved herself.

  “How?” Emma couldn’t see it. “He is in the air! Flying!” She kept tracking their pursuer's movements whenever she could.

  “I am dropping you.” April suddenly did a ninety-degree turn. “Hide.”

  As she passed a rge tree, April unceremoniously shoved Emma behind it and continued forward without looking back. She had feared the eagle rider would first finish off her annoying burden, but it turned out unfounded.

  The pursuer kept following her, resulting in another jump to avoid a fiery bolt. To April’s relief, those seemed to be getting weaker, meaning the man couldn’t mindlessly keep bombarding her.

  April weaved through the remaining trees as they became sparser closer to the mountain. She gnced up, meeting the gaze of her opponent, who was keeping his halberd raised high while forming another bolt in his other hand.

  Clicking her tongue, April realised he was biding his time. She gnced behind the eagle rider, finding his comrades in the distance yelling something to the people they kept finding in the bushes and all over the mountain. She dourly noted they weren’t attacking.

  “Oh,” April realised she was mistaken as one of the distant raiders sunk several bolts into the forest. It seemed these raiders had orders to attack whoever didn’t comply with whatever they were demanding. Which didn’t spell good news for her as she didn’t pn to follow whatever “Where was my chance to comply?” She gred at her opponent.

  Wherever the overall situation was, April knew they were past the moment of talking. She still sought an outlet for her anger, and the eagle raider seemed to be insulted by her ability to avoid his pursuit for so long.

  Seeing the man wasn’t attacking right away, April decided to lure him in. She entered the rockier area, and upon passing a suitable rock, she rolled to grab one that was suitable for throwing in one hand while hiding several smaller ones in her other palm.

  The roll hadn’t been enough, as the rider kept his eagle still. His arm did twitch, showing he had almost attacked, but that was not what April was now focusing on.

  Upon acquiring the rock, April’s HUD had updated, fshing momentarily, making her take a double look.

  Equipped:

  Head—[NONE]

  Neck—[NONE]

  Torso—[NONE]

  Left arm—[Rocks (Common)]

  Right arm—[Rock (Common)]

  Left leg—[NONE]

  Right leg—[NONE]

  The change threw April off her beat, and she actually misstepped, nding herself on something sharp—her ankle twisting slightly as she lost her bance. With her footing gone, she knew the raider would take the chance.

  April exhaled, suddenly pnting her feet and turning around. She hefted the bigger rock in her right arm, pulling it back and unching it against her opponent. Her movement was wide and filled with power, but slow and left her an easy target.

  The eagle cried, tilting to the side to avoid the heavy projectile shooting its way. The raider grinned as if mocking April before dispying confusion when she jumped towards him along the rock.

  They were at least ten meters apart, and it gave the raider the perfect chance of striking. While his eagle evaded, he shrugged, dismissing April’s move as desperate, and struck, unching the prepared firebolt towards her.

  Which was exactly what April had pnned for. She opened her other palm, revealing the rest of the rocks, and threw them right at the bolt before it could pick up speed. She watched her projectiles fly and impact the spell, causing it to explode like she knew it would. These bolts always exploded on impact.

  The eagle released a mournful cry as the fmes singed its feathers. The detonation of the bolt formed a screen of fmes, blinding the rider as he struggled to hold his bird afloat.

  But it was too te. The eagle’s feathers continued to burn, fming brighter, and it fpped its mighty wings to put the fire out. It didn’t listen to a single order as the primal fear overtook the bird’s brain; it suddenly spun, and its rider excimed in shock as he found himself in a freefall with his panicking beast moving away while trying to save itself.

  April reached the maximum height her jump could bring her and began to fall together with her opponent. They locked their eyes, the man rotating himself and nding with unexpected ease, showing how powerful his body was. He did frown and buckle but was uninjured otherwise.

  Something April was eager to change. Her nding was more stable, allowing her to move first while her opponent steadied himself with his halberd. She dashed forward, kicking up another rock aimed at the man’s face.

  The raider intercepted the incoming projectile with his halberd by moving it in front of his nose and then grabbed it with both hands. His gre was intense—filled with anger.

  “Unhappy to lose the only powerful thing between your legs?” April taunted, hoping the tone would rey the mockery.

  But unexpectedly, the man understood just fine. “I will show you my thing once I am done with you!” He roared, falling into the simple trap and committing himself to an attack.

  The man thrust his halberd forward, aiming at April’s chest. His movements were masterful, but the slight trembling betrayed his actual state.

  April guessed the man had been injured by the fall more than she had thought. Or maybe he was just tired from the previous aerial battle above the armies and the following pursuit, where he threw several powerful bolts at her.

  The leather armour covering the man’s body protected all the obvious weak spots well. His thrust was compact and quick—not allowing her to grab the weapon. But April was quicker. Nothing her opponent did escaped her eyes. She stepped in, avoiding the axe bde’s swipe by ducking under it and grabbing the polearm’s shaft.

  At this point, April realised she was also stronger as the man failed to pull the weapon out of her grasp, and that was the st mistake he made. She suddenly released her hold, and as the man lost bance in surprise and fell back, she jumped forward, mounting him.

  April punched, her knuckles destroying the man’s nose with a satisfying crunch. His arms filed, trying to push her off, and she punched again, this time his neck—fttening his windpipe. The next punch shattered his jaw. The fourth one took out one of his eyes, and the fifth one didn’t come. The man was dead, his body colpsing.

  “I need a bath,” April murmured, lifting herself from the ground as she tore a piece of the leather armour of the man and tried to wipe the fluids from her skin. “You are here.” She duly noted Emma stumbling out of the woods. “We have to move. His friends are coming.” She kicked the corpse.

  Emma gaped. “How?” She couldn’t believe the sight. “How did you… Can you use magic?”

  “No,” April shook her head. “I am just better at being human than you.” She joked but cringed when it didn’t nd. “We have to go.” She shook her head and leaned down to grab the halberd.

  As April rose with the weapon in her hands, another update fshed on her HUD.

  [Name: April Forth Age: 542]

  [Strength: 21 (+1)]

  [Dexterity: 25]

  [Intelligence: 6]

  [Endurance: 19]

  Equipped:

  Head—[NONE]

  Neck—[NONE]

  Torso—[NONE]

  Left arm—[Ishey Halberd (Uncommon) +1 Strength]

  Right arm—[Ishey Halberd (Uncommon)]

  Left leg—[NONE]

  Right leg—[NONE]

  “Huh,” April noted the halberd was a two-handed weapon and the +1 next to her strength stat. “So this is now a thing…”

  Enkiari