章 11: 11: As a reincarnate, I like the stat points.

As the night wore on, more and more cursed spirits approached their location, but the talismans Samus had arranged proved their excellent quality by maintaining the energy field that prevented their entry. Although the blonde noticed a decrease in their integrity, they would hold up well if things continued like this until nightfall.

But as if it were a cliched plot from some novel to demonstrate the protagonists' abilities, things could not go that easily. Soon, the trio could feel something huge and powerful approaching them. And they could even feel the mighty tread of what appeared to be a huge creature.

It could be called an ogre in the manga of Berserk, a colossal creature, large, heavy, and with a head resembling a phallus, clearly marking the realm it belonged to, the Qliphoth where Slan reigned.

This creature approached the group, trampling all the monsters and spirits attracted by the cursed mark on Guts's neck. When it was in front of the energy field Samus had set up, it probed it with one hand, and a sizzling sound and smoke came from the contact, but the damage didn't progress much further.

"Looks like it's the final boss of this wave," Samus said jokingly, though only she, Ciri, and Puck understood, leaving Guts uncomprehending.

"I don't understand what they're talking about, all I know is that guy feels incredibly strong," Guts commented as he tightened his grip on his sword, knowing that things could get much more serious as it was obvious that the energy field would not withstand the strength of this new creature.

"Its appearance is certainly peculiar," Ciri said, somewhat interested in how rare monsters looked in this world, even if there were rare creatures in their home universe, she doubted that any would have such a peculiar shape as this one.

"What worries me is what this kind of creature is doing here, it's still very early and I haven't noticed a large amount of anomalous energy nearby," Samus expressed her concern over the presence of this new monster.

Perhaps in the future, when a certain white-haired boy cosplaying Batman would wreak havoc in the world, this kind of creature would be common, but now it was not so common, she thought. His brief but important presence in this world had changed the causality that Skull Knight talked so much about, bringing unexpected changes like this to the world.

The idea that it might not only make this world much more dangerous but also attract the attention of those pesky guys, made her uncomfortable. Even though Griffith was undoubtedly much stronger than her, it wasn't a source of fear for her, she just didn't want to mess with them, not now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a thunderous sound and the shaking of the earth, the ogre had slammed his fist into the energy field, causing it to shake, then repeated the action several times before causing visible cracks in it.

Knowing she had to get going, Samus began pulling test tubes out of her personal space and drinking them quickly. Gradual Mind Restoration Potion, Gradual Stamina Restoration Potion. Potion of Increased Strength, Increased Agility, and Increased Perception.

Finally, she took a small sip of a golden potion, different from the other potions, as she did so, a strange wind lifted her hair and the energy of the environment became much easier for her to manipulate, although there was a big complaint in her mind.

I know it's a good opportunity to test my potions, but that one was very expensive, it's not every day you can increase your energy sensitivity with little left over, that drink cost me months of work selling beauty potions," Samus' thoughts were running very fast, but her attention was still focused on that ogre and the cracks in the energy field.

"Ciri, your agility is much better than ours, help Guts take care of the obstacles, leave the big monster to me, I've been itching to hit something the whole time and he's perfect," Samus asked Ciri without looking at her, her attention fully focused on the monster whose fist was shattering the energy field she had created.

"Have fun," knowing that although the monster was strong, it would be no match for a Samus who had completed her buffs, Ciri flashed and teleported to a spirit that looked like a harpy, slashing its wings with her twin blades.

Guts, for his part, attacked a multitude of walking corpses with his massive Dragon Slayer sword, wielding it with such ease that it seemed light. With each slash, the tainted blood and evil energy of these monsters washed over his weapon as anger, vengeance, and pain fueled his determination against these creatures.

Unbeknownst to Guts, his sword was acquiring a capability that was quite appropriate for the situation he found himself in, a capability to wound supernatural beings. It was as if the constant use against those creatures tempered it in that direction. And who knew, maybe in the future it would be used to fight a dragon, as its name suggested.

Samus, on the other hand, unhesitatingly lunged at the monster, using her alchemical staff as a club and her right hand to smash into the ogre's heavy footprint. A shockwave emerged from the contact between them, kicking up dust in its wake.

The ogre didn't stumble, just calmly lowering its foot before kicking at Samus, who deftly moved to the right and aimed her left palm at the creature. Samus controlled the surrounding energy to perform an alchemical reaction that produced faint electrical sparks in her hand.

With a gesture, a thick blue beam erupted from her hand and slammed into the monster's body, causing it to scream in pain. Samus simply crouched down slightly, touching the ground with her left hand and manipulating the surrounding energy again.

Earth spikes suddenly emerged from the ground, impaling one of the ogre's feet and making it scream, but she knew that wasn't enough, this creature had a rather high regeneration capacity, so this wouldn't be enough. Taking advantage of the enemy's lack of attack due to its pain, Samus jumped at it, kicking it hard in the chest, knocking it backward, but still not making it fall, just making it focus on her again.

The ogre pulled a tree from the ground and threw it at her, forcing Samus to make a quick decision: either dodge sideways, giving the ogre a chance to harass her with more trees or rocks, or run forward using a technique she had just mastered.

Well, Samus is like her father, she loves new experiences and strange choices, so she ran forward, sliding to avoid the tree trunk that fell behind her a short time later, and now had a chance to fight the monster head-on again.

With her heightened perception, she knew that the ogre was having a hard time walking because of the wound on his foot, which was healing but still left him somewhat incapacitated, so she kept running at him, leaving him no choice but to use his hands to attack. Samus used her alchemical staff to meet the ogre's incoming fist, and if anyone saw her face, they would notice the smile on it.

"Good! That's what I wanted!" shouted Samus as she was thrown backward, leaving furrows in the ground, barely able to stand as she sent the full force of the blow through her body. Her right hand felt numb, but she could feel her blood rushing.

She let out a war cry as she held her staff in both hands and swung it straight down into the air, aiming it at the ogre that had come even closer. A strong wind pushed the monster back a few steps, causing it to lose its balance, which Samus took advantage of by running and jumping on it, this time delivering several swift kicks to its chest.

"As the Sea King said, let each blow be heavy, with the intent to finish your enemy," and so it was, the kicks to the monster's chest were delivered with extreme force and murderous intent, finally causing the monster to fall to the ground with blood in its mouth.

Samus was drenched in sweat, her blonde hair no longer confined to a simple ponytail and constantly sticking to her forehead, but she was there, smiling. As she felt the effects of her potions begin to wear off, she leaped into the air and fell toward the ogre's head with the alchemical staff in both hands.

The sound of her weapon clashing with the monster's skull was not pleasant to hear, but she just stood there for a few moments before returning to strike at the monster again and again, using her weapon as an excellent club.

The monsters in this world were ruthless, and if you were a woman, they were even more dangerous to you because they seemed to have an obscene obsession with the female body in this world. So she took revenge by smashing the obvious phallic head of that monster, expressing some complaints she had when she read the Berserk manga in her past life.

She continued to smash the hideous monster's head until the sound of a galloping horse echoed through the forest. Samus and Guts's battle with the ghosts was over, and it was time for the person who was taking advantage of all the chaos to appear.

The Skull Knight.

Samus looked up into the distance and saw two pairs of bright lights approaching, they were the eyes of this creature and his mount, who approached the group, although he stopped at a prudent distance. The knight looked around at the mangled, burned, and bloodied surroundings, as well as the wreckage.

He glanced at Guts, then at Puck, pausing for a moment at the little elf, who brought back memories of an acquaintance. Then he looked at Ciri, sensing the OD in her, one with a different nature, more wild, chaotic, alien. That startled him a bit, but it wasn't until he looked at Samus that his glowing eyes seemed to waver for a moment.

"You... you have changed the flow of causality to a course that I have not been able to observe, and no doubt neither has she. Your existence is like throwing a torch on tar, changing and destroying everything, but maybe that's not a bad thing," the knight said, breaking the silence that had settled in.

"Well, I've been called beautiful, cute, genius, wildly muscled, but never a torch, so does that make me a hot chick?" replied Samus with a teasing touch, a smile on her lips, and a suggestive pose, placing her hand on her butt and looking shyly at the Skull Knight.

The scene would be acceptable if it weren't for the fact that a girl covered in dust and blood was facing a skeleton in armor riding a horse. Ciri just slapped her face, feeling that Samus had ruined the whole serious atmosphere the strange visitor had created.

"You again, always late..." complained Guts at the presence of Skull Knight, who did the smart thing and ignored Samus, focusing his attention on the swordsman.

"I wasn't on time, I was when causality demanded it, but now that I can't see the usual courses, maybe... I can make it on time next time," Skull Knight said, causing Guts to frown.

He was no fool, he guessed from the Knight's previous words that the arrival of beings like Ciri and Samus had altered causality, or 'fate' as this force was crudely called. It made him feel better in a way, it might be more complicated in the future, but it was a chance.

A real chance to get revenge.

Samus, on the other hand, pulled out a talisman from her personal space. Talismans were generally like futuristic access cards, they were rectangular and made of metal, with dense lines and symbols on them, as said in the previous chapters, someone not being able to understand them would get a severe headache.

Furthermore, even if someone understood their purpose, they could never be duplicated due to the technology, the operation, and the encryption. Samus then broke the talisman, releasing a wave of energy that could be felt by all because its purpose was so blatant.

What she broke was an evaluative talisman, and what that energy was doing was just that, openly invading other people's privacy to evaluate them and translate them into specific data.

Since I don't have the ubiquitous Observe ability, let me make my version, a super annoying one that shows others how to use it, just to make them uncomfortable," was Samus's thought at the age of 13 when she created this kind of talisman.

Then she pulled out a holo tablet from her stash and projected four screens with various data that appealed to those present.

"I didn't think there would be such insolence with such frivolous motives," Skull Knight complained, but his eyes never left the statistics.

"I felt groped," Guts joked, feeling that he could trust the girls after fighting hordes of monsters and ghosts, so he relieved the uncomfortable feeling with such a joke.

"As blunt as ever," Ciri commented with double meaning, she had experienced the same thing before and no matter when she asked, Samus never changed the way her talisman worked.

This was what the four of them and Puck saw.

[Samus Aran Farnsworth]

[Strength: 2.5. Stamina: 3.0. Agility: 2.5. Intelligence: 3.5. Spirit: 3.5. Perception: 3.0.]

[Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon].

[Strength: 2.0. Stamina: 2.5. Agility: 3.0. Intelligence: 3.0. Spirit: 3.5. Perception: 3.0.]

[Guts 'Dark Swordsman'].

[Strength: 3.5. Stamina: 3.5. Agility: 2.5. Intelligence: 2.0. Spirit: 3.5. Perception: 2.5]

[Skull Knight].

[Strength: 4.5. Stamina: 5.0. Agility: 5.5. Intelligence: 6.0. Spirit: 6.0. Perception: 6.0.]

There was silence as everyone checked their stats until a booming voice was heard throughout the area, welcoming the incoming sunlight of the new day.

"Where are my stats?" This question, apparently directed at the cruel but unanswerable world he lives in, came from Puck.