Chapter 188: The Strange Man of Darkness
Chapter 188: The Strange Man of Darkness
The orc fell to the ground. It couldn't survive all the attacks that suddenly landed on its body. With the few last rough breaths of life, it let out a final, guttural roar before falling silent.
A loud sound of celebration came from the nearby forest, coming from the person who was lucky enough to get the final hit.
Then, a five-strong group walked from the forest, led by Leland and Violet.
"Sorry, bud, no hard feelings, right?" Leland said with a grin.
"You bastards!" Roberto cried out. "Fucking kill stealing scumbags!"
Leland crouched in front of the deceased orc with a smile on his face.
"Are we really letting them get the monster parts as well?" Terry whispered.
"It's stated in the rules that we cannot steal the monster parts." Ryan said. "Unfortunately, we have to abide by the rules."
At that moment, Adam's whip-like kick sent Leland flying back into a tree with a loud thud.
The tree shook heavily and almost collapsed from the collision.
"What the hell are you doing?" Violet stared at Adam with shaky eyes.
"We aren't allowed to steal the monster parts, according to rules." Adam said and slowly lowered his leg. "However, it is fine as long as no one finds out about that."
"You plan on killing us?" Violet scoffed.
"Bingo." Adam lunged forward and drove his sword forward.
"Ice Wall of Syberia!" Violet jumped back and created a thick wall of ice in front of her, blocking the sword.
"The kill stealing is usually considered taboo in the New World as it often leads to many deaths."
Adam said and cut through the wall of ice with a single swift strike.
The ice of the wall crumbled in front of him, revealing shocked Violet on the other side. "It could lead to an all-out war; that's why greed like that is so dangerous."
With another slash, he cut deep into Violet's shoulder and ran the blade across her chest. "Ah!" Violet let out a piercing scream and slowly fell backwards, her eyes wide with horror. "Violet!" The bow-wielding men of their group screamed in shock.
"Violet..." Leland whispered, staring in disbelief at the blood pooling around her.
He wanted to go help her, but he then noticed that there was a sharp branch sticking out of his waist. It looked like it had pierced through his skin when he crashed into the tree.
He pulled it out with a cry of pain, then tossed it onto the ground and approached Violet, but then his gaze saw Adam's eyes, and he froze.
The Kiryoku inside him wanted him to prioritize his own survival over all else.
Adam stepped closer to Violet and raised his blood-soaked sword.
"No..." Leland, ignoring the warnings his Kiryoku gave him, took a step forward to protect Violet.
"You fools, shoot the arrows!"
He shouted at the three young men, who were just standing still like dummies and not doing anything to help Violet.
After hearing Leland's voice, the three young men finally snapped out of their shock and began shooting arrows at the enemy.
Adam raised his shield and easily blocked the arrows. He didn't even stop walking as if nothing had happened.
"Fireball of Burneria!" Leland screamed, and the flames shot out from beneath his skin, engulfing the surroundings in a blaze of fire.
Then, a fireball the size of a small car flew towards Adam like a fiery comet from hell.
"Push." Adam pointed his hand at the fireball and made it stop in midair.
"Grrh!" Leland's veins bulged in his forehead.
He drained all of his mana to push the fireball forth, but nothing he did seemed to work! 'His Magick is stronger than mine? That's impossible; I am specialized in Magick!'
Their level of Magick mastery was of the same level. Level 2. However, Adam had a higher system level that eventually decided everything.
Violet groaned and slowly opened her eyes, then saw the disgusting sword wound on her chest.
"Minor Healing..."
With a gentle whisper, her bleeding stopped, and the flesh started to slowly mend itself back together.
She then stood up, well trying to, but immediately fell back on her knees.
From her kneeling position, she pointed her hand at Adam and created a spear of ice that was
as sharp as a real spear.
"Ice Spear of Syberia!"
Adam frowned and then pushed the fireball back at Leland.
Leland was completely caught off guard and wasn't fast enough to react.
The fireball exploded against his face, leaving a burn mark and causing excruciating pain. "Leland!" Violet cried out.
"Give me that." Adam sheathed his sword and used his skill-Pull-at the ice spear, and it came flying straight at him but stopped just inches away from his chest.
"My ice spear!" Violet's eyes shook.
Adam grabbed the ice spear, then jumped at Leland and drove it into his chest, which froze everything it touched, including his organs and the beating heart.
Leland gasped in a shock, but instead of ordinary breath, cold air left his mouth in a chilling
mist.
"Leland!"
"You... fool." Leland said while staring at Adam. "You know what you did? I am part of the Tier 1 guild; they'll avenge me."
"You two must understand a few things about this world." Adam said. "The guilds at the top of the hierarchy only care about two things-longevity and strength."
"And?" Leland coughed blood and felt his life slipping away.
However, before dying, he wanted to hear his words.
"You don't possess strength great enough of making them care. Second, longevity. They
aren't planning on making enemies out of S-ranker for you two.
"It's not like you two are some never before seen geniuses either."
"Agh..." Leland lowered his head and closed his eyes. "I suppose that's true. They did send us here since we weren't learning fast enough in the Imperium City. Fair enough, I guess."
With that, he collapsed on the ground.
"No..." Violet gritted her teeth and summoned another ice spear. "Ice Spear of Syberia!"
Swoosh!Nôv(el)B\\jnn
With a flash of steel, Adam cut through her throat with his sword.
She choked on her blood and quickly died, the ice spear turning into a puddle of water right
beside her on the ground.
[You killed 2x Ordergiver]
[150 XP Acquired!] '75 XP from both; they must've been peak Ordergivers.'
The three young men of their group looked frightened and wanted to turn away and run away.
At that moment, they heard a cough near them, and when they looked over to the person that had coughed, they came across angry-looking young men.
"So, you want to kill steal, huh?" Roberto cracked his knuckles and smiled in a chilly way.
The friends of Violet and Leland paled.
For the following minutes, their screams reverberated throughout the forest.
...
In the world of darkness that lacked sun and light.
Leland aimlessly walked ahead in the distance. He could see a door of light there, and he wondered where that would lead.
He didn't stay behind to wait for Violet, even though he believed that she was not going to
survive either.
As he kept moving his legs, he suddenly saw another silhouette in the distance.
The silhouette was just sitting in the middle of the darkness, his posture a complete mess, as
if he had been sitting there for months without end.
Leland didn't want to talk to him and just walked past him, but out of curiosity, he turned to
look at the figure.
He couldn't tell who it was because of the thick beard and the dirty clothes. However, his eyes were blood-red, caused by the constant exposure to the darkness. "Weirdo..." Leland shook his head and walked away, leaving the strange man behind in the
darkness.