Chapter 249: Head of the Day
Alexandra caught it between two fingers and pulled it from the curious mouth.
"That isn’t food."
The left head tried again.
Alexandra tapped her nose. "Still no."
On the right, Kumoe looked embarrassed on her sister’s behalf.
Alexandra scratched beneath that chin. "You’re still winning."
They left Forest Hidden while the academy slowly woke behind them. More players appeared beneath the Light Tree, and NPC workers opened shops, carried supplies, and called greetings across the wooden paths.
Kumoe trotted beside Alexandra with all three tails swaying. Every few minutes, she veered toward a new smell because the curious head had spotted something. The other two usually complained until she returned to the road.
Alexandra kept Kumoe out of her personal sub-space. The trip offered an easy chance to train, and she preferred having the wolf beside her anyway.
Their route took them toward Cascade Valley, which looked different now that Night Espresso had claimed it. Guild markers stood beside the main paths, while small groups hunted monsters or transported materials between gathering sites.
A few players recognized Chaosgraphy and glanced curiously at Kumoe, but nobody approached. Alexandra was happy to keep it that way.
Beyond the busiest routes, she turned onto a narrow hunting trail that followed a shallow stream. Pale grass and wet stone covered the ground, and the rumble of distant waterfalls traveled between the cliffs.
Kumoe stopped so abruptly at a bend that her paws skidded across the damp earth. The left head lifted, ears aimed toward the brush.
"One point," Alexandra said.
A lean monster crawled from beneath a tangle of roots. Soaked bark and tightly woven reeds formed its body, with rainwater dripping through the gaps between its wooden ribs. Two more shapes shifted behind it.
[Rainroot Hound Lv. 60]
The first hound lowered itself with a growl. Alexandra drew both swords and glanced at Kumoe.
"Let’s see if you can keep that point."
The monster lunged, but Alexandra stepped inside its reach and cut across its shoulder. Her first sword opened a deep line through the wet bark, and the second struck the same wound before it could twist away.
A Pride Mark appeared above the hound.
The other two split apart and came at her from opposite sides. Kumoe moved first, the curious head clamping her teeth around the wounded hound’s rear leg and dragging it off balance. Red light spread from the bite, leaving the monster more vulnerable to Alexandra’s attacks.
"Good girl."
At Alexandra’s back, the second hound leaped with its claws extended. She twisted aside, but one claw still raked across her upper arm and opened a shallow wound.
The sleepy middle head opened one eye.
A soft green pulse spread from her muzzle and wrapped around Alexandra’s arm. Warmth flowed through the wound, and her HP began climbing before the hound had even landed.
Alexandra glanced at Kumoe. "One point for the middle."
The head yawned without interrupting the regeneration.
The final hound disappeared among the roots and ferns instead of joining the attack. Its wet body blended into the growth until Alexandra lost track of it.
"Next point goes to whoever finds the ambusher."
The curious head tested the air, while the middle kept the green pulse running. A moment later, Kumoe’s right head turned toward a patch of ferns behind them and barked sharply.
Alexandra pivoted just as the hidden hound burst from cover. Its jaws snapped shut where her side had been.
"Two points."
The right head looked almost bored by the praise.
"Good. If you see something before I do, don’t wait for permission."
One white ear flicked toward Alexandra’s voice.
Rather than chasing the ambusher into the brush, Alexandra used its momentum to slip around it and return to the first wounded hound. Both swords struck the same red-marked flank, adding a second Pride Mark and then a third.
Kumoe’s right head barked again.
The red mark around the hound’s wound flared brighter, while the green light around Alexandra’s arm strengthened. The damage amplification and regeneration had both doubled.
A pair of claws swept toward Alexandra’s face. She ducked beneath them and answered with two more cuts against the same wounded target.
Five Pride Marks burned above the hound.
The curious head bit its rear leg again, refreshing the marks before the opening could disappear.
Alexandra lowered her stance.
"Mine."
Alpha Rend carried her through the monster in a flash of crimson light. Both swords tore through its center, consuming every Pride Mark and splitting the soaked wooden body apart.
The hound collapsed into broken bark.
Kumoe charged the second monster before Alexandra had fully stopped. Three sets of jaws snapped at its legs and neck, forcing it to turn away and expose its flank.
The last hound rushed Alexandra from behind, but the right head warned her again. She spun, caught the charge between her crossed swords, and threw it aside.
"That settles today’s winner."
The right head’s ears rose.
Alexandra and Kumoe pressed the remaining hounds from opposite sides. Kumoe’s bite made every wound more punishing, while the middle head’s regeneration finished closing the cut on Alexandra’s arm.
Another bark from the right strengthened both effects, leaving the hounds with no clean way to escape. Alexandra’s final slash cut through the last monster’s neck, and its body broke apart across the wet ground.
The final kill pushed both of their nearly full experience bars over the threshold.
[You have leveled up.]
[San Kumoe has leveled up.]
Warm light ran through Kumoe’s body, puffing her white fur outward before it settled again. She shook herself the instant the glow disappeared and sprayed water across Alexandra’s armor and face.
Alexandra slowly wiped one cheek.
The curious head looked delighted with herself. The sleepy one had already started yawning, while the right turned away and pretended innocence.
"You did that on purpose."
Three tails wagged.
Alexandra sheathed her swords and sat on a flat stone beside the stream. Kumoe crowded in front of her, all three heads tracking the hand that reached for the snack pouch.
"Today’s Head of the Day is our suspicious little genius on the right."