In a single, fluid motion, Beatriz drew her spear.
The goblins froze—only for a heartbeat.
Then, snarling, they lunged.
One moment, she stood still.
The next—
CRACK!
The first goblin's head slammed into a tree, skull imploding from the force of Beatriz's spinning heel kick. No blade. No magic. Just raw, brutal power. The body dropped lifelessly, its bones snapping beneath the fall.
"She didn't even use her weapon…" Elrick muttered, stunned.
The remaining goblins shrieked and charged, jagged daggers raised high.
But Beatriz was already in motion.
To Elrick, it was like watching a high-speed action scene in real life. She slipped between the goblins in a blur—smooth, calculated, untouchable. Her spear came down in a single, sweeping arc.
Fssshk!
Two goblins fell apart mid-sprint, cleaved cleanly in half.
Three seconds.
That was all it took.
Elrick stood motionless, staring at the mess of bodies and blood. He wasn't nauseated. Surprisingly… he felt fine.
Maybe it was the adrenaline.
Maybe it was the fact that goblins didn't feel human.
They were monsters. Threats.
"That was… insane," he whispered.
Curiosity crept in.
Can I check her stats?
He focused on her, imagining the old character window from the game. A soft chime echoed in his mind, and a glowing blue UI flickered into view.
> Beatriz
Level: 1
Strength: 15
Agility: 20
Constitution: 15
Endurance: 10
Spirit: 15
Elrick's brow furrowed.
Elrick frowned slightly. Those aren't the exact numbers from the game. Slightly tweaked. Rebalanced, maybe. Adjusted for this world?
"The moment I saw her name and title, I knew it. These summons… they're from the game I was playing before I got pulled here."
Turning his focus inward, he summoned his own window.
> Elrick
Level: 1
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Constitution: 2
Endurance: 2
Spirit: 1
He blinked.
"…Dang. I'm that weak?"
No wonder she looked at him like dead weight.
As he studied the screen, Beatriz stood nearby, arms folded, her crimson eyes fixed on him—silent, cool, unreadable.
Then her gaze shifted.
One of the bisected goblins caught her attention. Embedded in its chest was a faintly glowing crystal, barely the size of a marble. Pale light pulsed from within.
She walked over slowly, drawn to it by something… instinctual.
Without a word, she drew a short dagger from a hidden sheath and knelt beside the corpse.
With surgical precision, she cut the crystal free.
It was dull, cloudy—yet something about it hummed with quiet power.
Then she moved on, harvesting the others with the same methodical efficiency.
Elrick watched in silence. She didn't flinch. Didn't question. She just worked.
But as he looked at the crystals, something stirred in him.
A pull. Subtle at first. Then stronger.
Warmth bloomed in his chest the longer he stared at them. A craving—not physical, but instinctive.
"Beatriz," he called carefully, "do you know what those are?"
She stood, holding a crystal between two fingers. Her eyes flicked to his.
Then, without warning, the crystal dissolved in her hand—disappearing in a soft flicker of light.
She narrowed her eyes.
"…I don't know what it is," she said coldly. "But it gave me strength."
She stepped toward him, holding out another one.
He hesitated. Took the crystal.
It was warm. Alive, almost.
"So… like experience points?"
"Maybe," she replied flatly.
"…How do I even absorb it?"
She tilted her head, expression blank. Then, with a whisper of sarcasm:
"Inject mana into it. Obviously."
"I don't know how to do that," Elrick muttered.
Her expression didn't change.
Still, she waited.
After some frustrating trial and error—and a few impatient comments from Beatriz—he finally felt it. A thread of something inside him—mana, maybe—reached into the crystal.
It vanished in a pulse of light, warmth spreading through his body like a gentle current.
Elrick exhaled sharply.
"Finally!" he grinned, holding up another crystal—only to pause.
He looked at it, then at Beatriz.
"…Here," he said, offering it to her.
She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I figure it's smarter if you level up first. You're the one actually keeping us alive."
Beatriz stared at him a moment longer, eyes unreadable.
Then, silently, she took the crystal—and absorbed it.
She turned her back to him.
"We need to find a human settlement before dark," she said coolly. "You won't last long out here."
And just like that, she began walking again—spear in hand, eyes scanning the treeline like a predator.