BXBX NOVEL Chapter 97: I will kill you
He was one of the two big shots that bastard Julius Caytiffe depended on. A Reaper I was wary of when I picked a fight with Julius. With the report I sent, Savior would be pursued by the Mercenaries for an explanation.
His picture didn\'t do him justice, he was imposing and had a cold demeanor. I tried to quickly use {Reveal} on him, but instead of seeing his status, a stinging pain assaulted my eyes.
"What the hell?" I muttered as I closed my eyes from the sudden attack.
Clad in plain looking armor, he stepped forward and brandished his polearm at us.
"Krishna Sangan by order of the Saviors, die!"
His voice was frigid. His bloodlust gushed out like a raging ocean. The hairs on my body stood on end. It was like when I battled David, or the army of D-rank brutes. If I fought this man, I would die. I knew it almost instinctively.
Despite the fear in my heart, Krishna just laughed at his words.
"Are you the dog they sent? Was it my king? Or yours?"
King? Krishna was Asian, so the Revenant he called king should be Li Wudi The Peerless. But why would Li Wudi want to kill the Pajeet? I thought his problem was with David? Before I could figure out what to do, Robert invoked his {Fate}.
"Does it matter? {Blood Feast}."
Then I felt a huge amount of souls surrounding the Slayer. As if I were hallucinating, his eyes began to glow blood red through the visor of his helmet. When I looked up, even the dull glow of the sky turned crimson.
"I have heard of you, Slayer. It is said that when you summon this {Fate}, it means death for everyone present," Krishna replied.
"Aira, what is he saying? I have never read anything like that," I asked quietly.
[My Lord, my access to information is limited by your rank. Reaper Robert Acwellan, as a P1 Mercenary, has information that the Wraiths cannot see. Since Reaper Krishna Sangan is a Phantom, he probably has more clearance.]
"Shit, of course you wouldn\'t share all your info. Even my data had a gag order on it. But Krishna\'s statement is ominous."
Before Aira and I could understand, I noticed the Yuddha Rakshas coming into formation. They had serious expressions and their weapons were drawn. All of them were wielding manifested weapons that glowed silver.
\'Why would the Reapers start killing each other? I did it when during the enlistment and was punished for it.\' I debated internally.
Even the Mercenary Seeker duels required justification and approval. Why were the reapers, who were already outnumbered and outgunned, still aimed at each other\'s throats?
The insanity of it all caused me to come between Robert and the Yuddha Rakshas.
"Wait! Robert Acwellan, I am John Smith, a Priority 4 Mercenary. I have already responded to this dirge siren, why are you here and why are you threatening Krishna? We only have a few Imps left before the defense is complete."
Robert then shouldered his polearm as he began to chuckle.
"You talk too much. I have come for his head," the Slayer replied.
"But why?! We are all on the same side! Our enemy is the undead!"
Surprisingly, the one who denied my words was Krishna.
"Smith John, the reapers have never been of one will. I suspected as much when the flying undead reserved for floor 15 arrived on the 8th floor. My men cannot handle them, so we stayed here. Was this the Saviors\' doing? Or did your king send them?"
Dumbfounded, I tried to process Krishna\'s words. Hadn\'t I experienced something similar? Just earlier? The words of the beautiful wyvern came back to me.
\'Ja. It is normal beyond the 20th level. I do not know why they appeared, but they seem to want this zone badly.\'
Undead using tactics and items, Draugrs that should have appeared from beyond the 10th floor. What if these things were no coincidence? Did someone want Isolde dead? But why? She just minded her own business!
"Enough talk!" with his short words Robert charged at Krishna with his crimson shimmering polearm.
"Smith John! Stand back!" a Rajput knight pushed me back as they intercepted Robert. The Yuddha Rakshas shielders all jumped into battle with the Slayer. But in the next second, everything went south.
"Weak."
With deft movements, the armored Mercenary sliced off the arms of the intercepting Knights. But as if driven by pure fighting spirit, the dismembered Indians didn\'t retreat but threw their bodies at Robert.
"Wait! STOP!"
My cries fell on deaf ears as the inevitable happened. The bloody polearm sliced through the bodies of the brave men.
"{Sanguine Armor}," it said in a bored tone.
In a nightmarish sight, the spilled blood did not fall to the ground. Instead, it floated and coalesced into a floating river. The river of blood then hardened and began to cover Robert like an armor of crimson steel.
The allies of the men with shields became enraged and rushed at the Slayer with swords drawn! Arrows flew from the stands of the coliseum toward the mercenary.
"AHHH HOW DARE YOU!"
"{Carnival of the Damned}"
With minimal movement, Robert swung his weapon as he marched forward. Like flowing water, the resulting slashes tore apart the arrows and decapitated the Indians around him like meat puppets.
Not stopping there, his {fate} continued to mercilessly shred their torsos, legs, and arms. He didn\'t stop until they were all cut into small pieces like chunks of meat. In the short skirmish, the Slayer killed over 12 wraiths.
Tears began to fall from my eyes. In our brief time together, I knew how dedicated the Yuddha Rakshas were.
Maybe I was sentimental because I almost died, but those men deserved better. They fought night after night here in hell with no reward, no family, no peace.
But instead of resting, they were murdered by those who were supposed to be their allies. All the while, the whole world was squeezing itself dry to give birth to these Reapers.
"How could you?" I whispered.
Unconsciously, my hands began to clench so tightly that my entire body began to shake. To create new reapers, the entire world was sacrificed. To grow stronger, the Reapers fought without rest.
All because of the selfish actions of one man, their hardships lost meaning as their lives faded into nothingness.
"How could you?!" I repeated.
I knew I wanted to mind my own business after I died. After all, being a stupid hero got me killed in the first place. But the more I interacted with the reapers, the more I learned about them.
They like regular people had their own desires, dreams, and fears. Unable to stop myself, my mind suddenly became eerily silent, with only one thought remaining.
"I will kill you," I swore.
They were all born from deep regrets that defied even the grave. Every night, they fought the dead with their bodies while they fought the despair in their minds. It was far too unfair. What other group endured such hardship?
Each reaper was a resource more valuable than gold. I tried so hard and I saved what? like 6 people? And that fucking bastard murdered more than twice that number in less than 10 minutes.
"{Mage}, {Draw} M24."
Then I got down on one knee and took aim at Robert. Concentrating all the damage from {Suffer}, I prepared my shot. It was like pouring water into a bottle. My instincts told me how much energy the bullet could take.
Robert was still battling the Yuddha Rakshas as I prepared. Though I wanted to stop him, I didn\'t have the skills to engage him in hand-to-hand combat. I knew nothing of martial arts, my killing potential relied on my weapons.
All my victories were brute forcing with cheats and firepower. I got by thanks to the faster brain of {Reveal}. {Withstand} and {Endure} made me tougher. {Pack} and {Hike} made me faster. {Perceive} and {Listen} made me more responsive. Basically, I was just a souped-up civilian.
It worked because I was fighting zombies and newbies. However, I don\'t think I could win against veteran Reapers. The trashing I got from Zachary Lynch told me that I was still inexperienced in Reaper combat.
But the first step to solving a problem was acknowledging that it existed. I knew I had to start training at some point, but knowing my strengths was just as important.
I was not weak. I was able to fight on a level playing field and defeat my opponents because of three factors.
One, the diversity of my fighting styles from my {Fate} and {Kismet}.
Second, the types of guns in my arsenal.
And third, I had the ability to reset myself whenever I needed to.
Coming within range of a polearm user was just stupid. If even the Indians practicing Kalari couldn\'t stop him, what the hell could I do? Range and firepower remained my greatest strengths.
To put it in gameplay terms, this asshole was a barbarian who excelled at close quarters. Since I was a ranged assassin, the only way to win was with burst damage or kiting. So naturally, I had to stick to that.
As more and more Yuddha Rakshas dueled with Krishna, four Indians with Manifested {Fates} that glowed gold joined the fray. Unlike the others with silver weapons, they weren\'t killed in a single blow and prevented Robert from killing the others.
"These must be the other Phantoms present. The difference between them and the Wraiths is like night and day. I must coordinate with them properly."
[Krishna! Tell your golden boys to stay away from my direction. Pin Robert down and I will take him out.]
[Understood! Lieutenants, do it.]
The golds then began to attack the Slayer with frightening ferocity. Despite being outnumbered four to one, they couldn\'t take down the P1 Mercenary. I noticed that the Goldies were baiting Robert to turn his back on me.
"Hahaha. Sneaky bastards. Well done!"
No matter how fast you moved, you had to be able to move faster than sound to stop a bullet. With his back to me and his attention on the Phantoms, I couldn\'t have asked for a more perfect shot.
"Take this to the afterlife, bastard!"
I squeezed the trigger and fired my charged shot, the energy of {Suffer} was so powerful that the air itself bent like a wind tunnel as my bullet soared. A millisecond later, it buried itself in the back of Robert\'s head.
The sheer power of my bullet pierced the armor and blew his head off. But the next moment left me speechless. His headless body turned toward me, then pointed his finger.
{Tsk. Coward. You\'re next.}
He then continued to fight the four Phantoms without his head.
"What the fuck?!"