Shaun was currently, very, very annoyed.
The decision the U.N came to for showing unity as a race was for the six strongest teams to form a Raid Group and battle the second Demon Lord together.
Clearly, Clayton was against such an action, but most of the other members of the Assembly believed it was a necessity and pushed the idea forward.
Planning the battle was something those Adventurer teams had to do together, however all six groups had their own issues.
The Russians were slightly distrusting of the Americans, the Brits were composed of insane people and their leader, the Saudi Arabians disliked Russia, America, and the British due to previous transgressions by all three countries.
For the other three, the Japanese were comprised of school teens, the African’s had a team set up that had one wonder how they got so far, and the Americans were reluctant to work with another group due to knowing there would be issues.
And seeing as Shaun was the Guild Leader of the country where all six teams were currently in, it was up to him to make sure the battle was a success.
Currently, he was meeting with trouble.
“Hello, Agent Fife… we meet again… I noticed that our British friend is missing though.” Trouble’s other name happened to be Albert Ivanov, the Guild Leader and Champion of Russia.
Shaun was well aware of his Russian counterpart, having met each other more than once over the years, along with that annoying Seer Clements.
“He refused to come to America at this point. Said something about a vision instructing him to take a certain flight, eat a taco, and then use the restroom on said flight.” Shaun was still wondering about that whole situation.
“…Are you telling me he was involved in that incident where the waste refusal on that flight dropped and landed on a building that just so happened to host some terrorists in the middle of planning their next attack?” Shaun had much the same expression on his face when he heard that Agent George Clements of MI5 somehow took out a terrorist cell with a heap of shit. Literally.
“Anyway, moving on. We need you to work with the other five top teams and kill the next Demon Lord. Given that you’re a military man, I can assume you’re willing to work past your dislike to play nice?” Shaun’s question was rhetorical, given by the scoff sounding out of Albert.
“Of course, though… I’m curious Fife… why are you not also the Chosen of America? I do not know you as a weakling.” Albert’s words were respectful but at the same time, they both knew that Albert’s respect was limited to Shaun.
“I’m spread thin as the Guild Leader already, I have a kid on the way in the next few months, I help out the President with his tasks and Dungeon Dive myself. Not to mention that Clive kid is actually higher levelled than I am.” Shaun admitted, leaving Albert looking at the American agent with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, congratulations on the child, know the gender yet?” Albert asked, leaving Shaun to shrug.
“No clue, I’m hoping for a boy, less hassle. If it was a girl I’d have to viciously harm any boy that talked to her.” Shaun admitted half-jokingly as Albert gave a small chuckle in agreement.
“True, I haven’t had any children but I’ve heard quite a few complaints. But still, that Clive guy is level thirty two… he any good?” Albert’s question was loaded with suspicion…
Obviously he was fishing for information, but Shaun didn’t really care.
“In human to human combat, not that good. But as an Adventurer, he has an excellent mind for it. Constantly thinking about possibilities and ways to better his exploration of the Dungeon.” Shaun admitted that, at least as an Adventurer, Arthur Clive did deserve the title of the best, at least for now.
And if Arthur’s swordsmanship Skill kept increasing, he’d eventually reach the point where he’d be able to fight against other human beings yes… though most would worry about whether or not Arthur would be capable of such an act mentally.
Shaun notably considered Arthur capable of harming his fellow human beings, easily. Arthur liked to play peacekeeper from what Shaun understood, however that did not equate to weakness…
Once Shaun heard from Grey about a time when Arthur was being robbed… instead of panicking or handing over his things, Arthur waited until the person came close enough to quickly hurt them.
Regardless of Arthur not being strong (this was before Red Sky Day after all) the act of fighting back shocked the robber into leaving, knowing that Arthur would fight back was a drawback.
Granted, the mere act of aggression messes with other people, and a previously compliant person suddenly being aggressive and attacking would be a shock to anyone.
But hearing the story, Shaun understood that it wasn’t that Arthur was incapable of harming other beings, but that he only acted under certainty or when it was a last resort…
But he did act. And that was the difference between one who fights and one who runs.
“From what I hear, he contributed the Soul Theory as well as his team being the provider for every complete map your country has of the Dungeon... he's worth it then. I’ll follow his lead, but if I were to be a higher level…” Albert warned as he stood, walking away from the tired Agent.
“Alright… one down, four to go…” Shaun already felt tired just thinking about dealing with the other teams…
Unfortunately for Shaun, his day was about to get a whole lot worse.
“Sir, we found another body with its spine turned into metal… however there was now a message left behind.” Agent Grey walked into the room with his words, indicating the urgency of the matter.
“Well, what was the message?” Shaun asked as he stood, walking out with Grey following him.
“The killer wrote that they want to meet you sir, at this location.” Handing over a note, Shaun looked at the address and mentally matched it to his map of Manhattan.
“This is at Central Park isn’t it? There’s not a lot of ambush and escape options from there… and yet they still wishes to meet me face to face, meaning it’s either a trap, they will leave behind another message, or they are that confident in their escape… probably the latter, serial killers are typically either egotistical or shy away from confrontation, and give this note, the killer is one of the ego-centric ones.” Shaun analysed quickly, with Grey taking notes while following.
While Grey wasn’t around often in the Guild, he was essentially Shaun’s secretary and protégé, hence why he was told to take notes of anything worth knowing, which was a lot according to Shaun.
“Sir, should we set up the confrontation? According to the note, they will be there in about twenty minutes.” That was another worrying thing to Shaun, the killer was quite certain that they would find this body and note at this exact moment to give Shaun ample time to get to the meeting point.
They were either compromised, unlikely given the strict criteria for entrance to the Guild, or this killer had some way of estimating their movements and planning accordingly…
This killer was an intelligent one… the ‘confident’ tag was firmly tacked on in Shaun’s mind at this point.
“Don’t bother, I doubt this killer would show themselves without having some defence against snipers and containment, in fact, given that the killer is an Adventurer…” Shaun paused.
“This killer might have, with the assistance of their Metal Element, reached the point of bullet-proof skin.” Shaun opened the door to his Ford GT without opening the other door for Grey, instead rolling down his window.
“Grey, keep our people away from the area, I doubt I will be fighting the killer at this point.” Shaun was pretty certain of this fact…
A killer like this would rarely if ever get caught while they were prepared. As Shaun was approaching a meeting point decided by said killer, he knew there would be no element of surprise on his side.
Within five minutes Shaun’s car was parked at the outskirts of the park, walking to the point in the park designated by the killer…
According to the instructions, Shaun was to meet the killer at a bench overlooking a pond, and finding such a place, Shaun sat down, waiting, though not without paying close attention to the area around him.
Ten minutes after sitting down, Shaun noted a man walking to the bench, wearing a hoodie, faded jeans and sneakers, the man looked like someone who had something to hide…
Except that the hood was not on, and he was even waving calmly to Shaun, letting Shaun know exactly who he was.
“Hello there, it’s an honour to meet you mister Guild Leader of America-sir.” The man’s tone was whimsical at best and mocking at worst as Shaun nodded to him.
“Yes I am, and you must be that serial killer going around turning the spines of your victims into metal.” Shaun replied in a deadpan, getting a chuckle from the killer.
“Yeah, I wanted a calling card that made me unique from the other guys, and I figured using something only available to Adventurers would make it obvious. Do I have a nickname like those guys on cop shows?” the killer asked, taking a seat next to Shaun without care…
Though Shaun wasn’t that stupid, he could tell the man was always in position to escape, even considering the reach of Shaun’s Sword of Light.
As he was about to activate Hunter Eyes, the man suddenly had a knife in his hand.
“I wouldn’t do that, I’d like to keep my abilities private…” Shaun consciously kept his eyes from accessing his Anima, and the knife vanished from the hands of the man.
Judging from the weapon, the man was a Thief Class Adventurer, meaning his Dexterity would probably rival or exceed Shaun’s around the same level…
Movement speed was determined by a combination of Dexterity and Strength, with Dexterity determining accuracy and Strength the force with which a person moved…
If they both attacked at once, at this close a range Shaun would definitely lose out.
“Very well… and no, in real life we don’t give nicknames to every killer we come across, though some call you the Adventurer Killer.” The man’s smile turned into a frown.
“That’s boring, I mean, I’ve killed Adventurers but they’re not my only targets… then again I’m sure it was meant to call me an Adventurer, right?” the man’s smile reappeared and Shaun nodded, not comfortable with this situation at all.
No one would look at this man and think ‘killer’. His smile was surprisingly genuine, and other than his strange grey eyes, there was nothing odd about the man that would draw the eye…
Not only that, but this man had something about him, something that attracted the eye and got people to pay him attention, Shaun could tell when some people walked past, unable to hear the conversation, but glancing at this killer without meaning to.
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He was charismatic… and possibly insane, a horrible combination.
Okay, I can tell, you don’t really want to be around me, I can understand that, I’m the ‘bad guy’ and you’re the ‘good guy’. So I’m guessing that you’re wondering why I called you out?” the man asked, waving at a blushing woman and her friends began to giggle about the wave…
Really charismatic apparently.
“Of course I am. If it weren’t for the fact that we are in a public place and I don’t know your abilities, I’d be attacking you.” Shaun admitted, not really wanting to deal with this killer for longer than he had to.
“Sheesh, you’d think I killed someone you knew… did I?” Again, Shaun was thrown by how open this man was being with his emotions, he was genuinely curious on whether he murdered someone Shaun knew.
“No, you did not. Nonetheless you are an enemy to the current status quo.” Shaun admitted that this man, despite his irregularities, would have been an excellent asset…
If it weren’t for the man killing innocent people of course.
“Yeah, I get that. Well, I honestly called you out to just do an exchange of introductions really, and another minor thing.” The man stood, stretching as he did so before twirling to face the still seated Shaun.
“I am a being without a name, though I have been called patient twenty three, and on occasion ‘boss’. I was part of a secret government super soldier program known as Project Pennhurst.” The words of the killer got wide eyes from Shaun, the killer smiling as he clapped.
“That’s a nice expression, I love surprises. Though that reaction also lets me know you’ve heard about it before… whatever. I am the strongest of the survivors of that place.” This changed a lot…
Shaun had gotten confirmation on what Project Pennhurst was a few days ago from Clayton, who had found the files…
It was an absent thought made by Theodore Roosevelt almost a century ago, but discarded as inhumane… then the first World War occurred and suddenly it was much less inhumane compared to the enemy, and as such as started up by President William Howard Taft as a last resort.
The idea was that, at the time of its initiation, psychopathic individuals were stereotyped as wanting to hurt both themselves and other people, and while today that thought was considered incorrect, at the time, that was the belief of many.
The absent thought Theodore Roosevelt had was that if ‘psychopaths’ wanted to hurt people, why didn’t they go hurt the enemies of their country.
Again, it was an absent thought, immediately retracted by ‘Teddy’ due to how inhumane it was to force those with instabilities to be soldiers.
Again, the first World War changed that idea, and thus Pennhurst was created, an asylum for the insane, hiding that it was training psychotic soldiers to be dropped into enemy land and allowed to kill as much as they wished.
Pennhurst continued its ‘training’ even after Taft left the Oval Office, and did so up until nineteen eighty seven, where the public face of Project Pennhurst was given intense scrutiny and found to be torturing and treating its patients inhumanely.
The public face of Pennhurst was shut down, however the training for ‘super soldiers’ continued…
At least, until the day before Red Sky Day. That was the last report given before all communication ceased.
Clayton was disgusted upon finding out this information, but it was not openly shared with every president, and was treated as a last resort.
And now this killer claimed to be a Project Pennhurst soldier, the strongest even…
“That… is some worrying information. Why are you telling me that though?” Shaun asked the killer, ‘patient twenty three’ why the man felt the need to share this information with Shaun specifically.
“I said that I’m the strongest survivor, not the only survivor. There are others who escaped with me on Red Sky Day, survivors who follow me… essentially, I’m going to be stepping into the world of organized crime with a group of newly super-powered people who enjoy hurting others.” The man’s words got a glare from Shaun, the killer raising his hands almost in a placating manner.
“Easy there… sure, we kill people, but we have standards, no children, and I’ve actually set a limit on how many people they’re allowed to kill in a week.” Shaun didn’t quite know how to explain to this man that everything he was saying was only digging the hole deeper.
“I still haven’t heard a reason why you told me this.” Shaun added, the man stepping backwards as Shaun stood, maintaining a certain distance from each other.
“I wanted to introduce myself to a ‘rival’ of sorts, and figured that now as the perfect time to do it… one last thing though.” The man looked to the pond while thinking.
“I am the leader of the Pennhurst survivors, and we have a bone to pick with America. We’ll be gunning for you, that president, anyone high in government… and even that Chosen.” Shaun looked at the man, who was no longer smiling as he finished.
“…Do you really think I’ll just let you walk away?” Shaun asked, noting that there were less people in the vicinity as he summoned his Sword of Light, his Hunter Eyes activating at the same time.
“No, but I’m a bit confident in escaping.” Shaun could immediately see why as the killer summoned that same knife with the serrated back, a top hat appearing on his head…
Shaun’s Hunter Eyes were not working correctly on this killer, but Shaun did get five bits of information.
One, the killer possessed two Anima.
Two, the killer’s dagger was one of his Animae named Razorback and did heightened damage to humanoid beings.
Three, the top hat was the other Anima, named Killers Fashion, it increased all of the stats of its owner by a small percentage.
Four, the killer’s stats, from highest to lowest were: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Endurance, Vitality and finally Wisdom.
Five, the killer was… level thirty seven.
“How the hell are you that highly levelled?” Shaun’s concern was very real, considering he was level thirty one, the highest bar Arthur until now, and yet this guy was five levels higher than Arthur?
“Well, you guys can’t monitor every single Dungeon entrance… I also, unlike Adventurers and you Guild employees, have no reason to exit the Dungeon for too long… I’m especially thankful for those ‘safe zones’ as they finally allowed me to sleep without needing to create a tripwire.” The implications were severe, this man practically lived in the Dungeon bar trips to the surface to get supplies and manage his followers…
Thinking quickly, Shaun established that his opponent had about forty two more stats than himself, not counting the boosts to his stats.
It was a bit of a gap, but Shaun could work with it, as he rushed forward, stabbing out with his sword, finding himself blocked by Razorback.
From there it was a bit of a blur, there was a lack of time to think in the middle of the fight due to the speeds they were operating at, but Shaun held himself surprisingly well against the stronger killer.
Though neither was really paying attention, the area around them was now definitely vacant, something which could be attributed to the sudden appearance of weapons, the knowledge that they were LEV-holders, or perhaps the occasional missed magic attack which rent gouges into the earth around them.
The battle was a short, but violent one as both Shaun and the killer degenerated from using only sword/dagger wielding and start including punches, kicks and grabs as they attempted to maim the other, and it was only after throwing the killer more than a few metres away that Shaun had a moment to catch his breath.
“Wow! What a rush! I’d love to continue this little dance, but…” taking a pause in his words, it allowed Shaun to hear the police sirens approaching as he cursed under his breath… he told Grey to keep everyone away, but he supposed that there was a limit.
“I’m sure we’ll be meeting again… I’ll be waiting, oh how our blood will sing!” The killer laughed a wheezing laugh as he vanished his equipment, turning to run.
Shaun prepared to give chase, only for a person to suddenly appear next to the killer, grab his shoulder, and disappear…
“A teleportation Anima? It probably doesn’t have a lot of range considering no one is over level forty… either that, or it has a limited amount of uses in a day.” Shaun wasn’t sure which one it was, as it didn’t matter, the killer was gone.
Seeing the police officers running closer with pistols in hand, Shaun allowed his sword to disappear, allowing the tension to leave his body as he dropped to the floor.
“Ah, that’s going to bruise…” Shaun was not looking forward to the pain he’d be feeling until he got to Ellie for healing…
The killer hadn’t landed a single hit with that blade of his, but neither had Shaun, somehow the only attacks they allowed to get past their defences were the punches, kicks and grabs, knowing that the first one to get cut would be at a disadvantage, but also knowing that they could power through bruising…
Shaun was regretting it currently, but at the same time was glad that he now knew the face of the enemy, even if said enemy claimed to not have a name.
Seeing the police begin to recognize him as they stepped forward, Shaun sighed, knowing that explaining what happened was going to be a pain…
It would be an hour later that he was healed, taking time off from work to relax at home with his wife rather than do anything else…
That was the plan at least…
“So you go gallivanting into the Dungeon with your friends all night, work all day, leave me alone for days at a time, and can only seem to stop at home for more than an hour after getting into a fight with a serial killer?” Shaun kept quiet, knowing that the being before him could smell fear…
“I can’t smell fear, it’s just written all over your face.” See, no one else seemed to be able to do that, only Sera… then again, maybe that was why he fell for her in the first place…
“Oh… come on in, I’ll make some of your favourites.” Sera turned and walked into the house with Shaun following behind, locking the door behind him…
He was pretty sure that he was still going to be scolded, but at least he’d have good food while that was happening.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, the serial killer was heaving a sigh of relief as a healer finally fixed his bruises.
“Boss Mourn, why did you do that?” Mourn looked to his second-in-command, Eddie with some thought before looking at the ceiling, a smile on his face.
“All warfare is based on deception Eddie… this whole incident was a case of me deceiving my enemy.” Mourn was well aware of why he did what he did…
People who knew Mourn thought that he was insane and did things without rhyme or reason, but he did have his reasons…
They were his alone to know, but that didn’t make them non-existent.
“I got that, but to do this meeting you had to reveal a few things about yourself…” Eddie wasn’t wrong, Shaun Fife, the Guild Leader of America, now knew Mourn’s level and Animae, and given what they knew of the Hunter Eyes, they probably knew Mourn’s stat configuration roughly.
“Ah, that’s alright. What I revealed aren’t stationary things, they can change…” with his words, Mourn snapped his fingers, his face morphing to his true face, his hair colour changing…
A Class Skill of the Faceless Thief Unique Class, Face Change.
“The only true unchanging thing I let that Fife guy know is that I am from Pennhurst.” Eddie knew very little of the place beyond that Mourn was raised and taught how to fight within that place’s confines, and that it used to be an Asylum for the insane.
“I suppose that would have gotten out eventually… and they don’t have enough information about Kyle’s teleporting ability to do anything about it… so we managed to trick our opponents and gain some information while providing almost nothing.” Eddie was working for Mourn against his will, but at this point Eddie was probably never going to be considered innocent again.
“Exactly… Oh how interesting things are going to become soon…” Mourn began to laugh as he contemplated his plans, ignoring the movements of his followers as they moved around.
The next day, Einherjar entered the Guild Building only to be called over by Dante, who was strangely not at the door.
“Einherjar, good morning… I wanted to let you know that we’ve already confirmed the agreements from the Russian, Japanese and the U.K teams. Saudi Arabia is still on the fence and the South Africans are kind of difficult to track down.” Dante informed as if reporting, getting some odd glances from the six friends.
“Hi Dante, I thought Shaun was supposed to tell us these things though?” John asked the ‘doorman’ of the Guild as Dante sighed.
“Well, he would but… yeah, he did mention that. Shaun mentioned that serial killer to you all before, correct?” the team nodded, recalling the information vaguely, about a serial killer with a LEV and a Metal Element.
“Yesterday Shaun encountered the killer and they fought, due to the situation, Shaun has taken a leave from work for a week or two.” Dante admitted, getting wide eyed looks from the team.
“Is he okay?” Alice asked, thinking about the Guild Leader who, while strange, was a nice guy, to everyone but Arthur at least.
“He’s fine, mostly bruising which was healed yesterday. Apparently the killer is really strong, but doesn’t fight as well as Shaun.” Dante admitted, walking with the team as they came up to the counter to sign-in for the day…
Slowly but surely the Guild was becoming faster at handling Adventurers who wished to enter.
“…Wait, so the killer is in the level thirties?” Matt asked, having caught on that the killer rivalled Shaun in battle.
“…This bit is being kept highly classified, but Shaun managed to use his Hunter Eyes on the killer to find out a few things… for one, the killer has two Animae, not to mention the killer is actually level thirty seven.” That number had the Einherjar collectively tense as they looked amongst themselves.
“…You mean to say that there’s actually someone still higher levelled than Arthur, not to mention that said person is a serial killer?” Michael’s question was said with almost painful neutrality as Dante nodded.
“Unfortunately yes. The killer has expressed interest in attacking America as a whole, thus he has been ‘elevated’ in status from serial killer to potential terrorist… The killer also referred to themselves as ‘patient twenty three’.” Those words had Einherjar a bit confused as they nodded at Dante in thanks for the information.
Walking to the podium and creating team Einherjar, Arthur paused for a moment, just thinking for a bit…
Selecting the Forest of the Maiden, the group entered the second Area all thinking about what was explained to them just before they entered…
No one noticed Arthur’s clenched fist, or his heightened aggression against the monsters they fought…
Arthur was the Strongest Adventurer... but that title wasn’t as secure as he thought…
He didn’t like that.
Arthur Clive
Level: 32 (D-Rank)
Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level
Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill
Anima
Dagger of Hunger
Cloak of Will
Anima Skills
No Change
Primary Element: Lightning
Personal Skills
Tactician II (65/100) - increases Wisdom by 15% (total 130%)
Sword Sage I (152/200)- Any bladed weapon deals 20% extra damage
Soul Sight II (47/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality
Dual Wielding II (54/100) - Greater use of two weapons
Lightning Elemental II (14/200) - Use supplementary lightning spells
Stats
Strength: 42
Dexterity: 46
Intelligence: 32
Wisdom: 56 (72)
Endurance: 32
Vitality: 42