“*Yawn*... Hey!”

Yawning, a guard casually called his fellow guard who was standing next to him beside the teleportation stone. Though, it didn’t look like he was that attentive in his work.

“Why are we standing here again?”

The other guard who heard him sighed and looked at him with an annoyed look.

“How many times do I have to repeat? We are guarding the portal in case someone besides the members who have gone to the forest comes out from it.”

He gave him his answer, for the 20th time today. He hoped his partner would now shut up but-

“But whyyy!! We are the Boulders!! Who would dare come here through this portal except for the guild leader and vice guild leader and other members?”

He again asked the same question for the 20th time today.

Even though they are inside a fortified village with most of the guild members here stationed here, they were given the duty to look after the portal in case someone else enters through it.

But for days, they welcomed no one as no one came through the portal, making the first guard restless.

Due to him, the second guard had to endure his barrage of the same repeating questions. And now, his mind snapped.

“Just shut up and stand there, you piece of shit!! If not, then I will go and tell the captain about your so-called complaining.”

“Then have fun asking captain your ‘questions‘.”

With a glare, the other guard looked at him and tried to walk out of the room. Scared that he might really complain to the captain, the guard then held his hand and begged for mercy.

“N-No No!! I was just joking. H-Hey, we are childhood friends, right? And I don’t cheat too!! So forgive me, man.”

With a light laugh, he tried to calm his friend down by making him remember his friendship. He doesn’t want to face the wrath of his captain, as he knew he will get punished brutally.

The second guard, who looked at the sorry eyes of his friend, sighed and then came to his position.

“Even so, after guild leader and vice guild leader teleported to that forest, nobody contacted at all. Don’t you find it suspicious?”

The guard then asked as his curiosity rose. But this time it was something his friend was also curious about, so he didn’t get angry.

“I don’t know. I heard that they all have gone there because someone is killing the guild members there. They are probably trying to solve the problem.”

“But sti-”

Before both could continue, the runes on the stone glowed brightly, and a portal appeared upon it.

“Eh? Someone is coming!!”

“... Right!”

The two stayed on guard as they waited for someone to come out of the portal. But after some seconds, the portal on its own closed, and nobody came out.

“Hey!! Nobody came out of the portal. Is this thing broken or what?”

“Stop rambling!! Go and inform the captain about this. He will find out about this.”

“O-Okay!!”

Just as the guard was about to turn back, something rose from his shadow and slit his throat, and disappeared suddenly.

“Khuak!”

Before he could even respond to or do anything, something dark then enveloped his body and suddenly disappeared. The body then lost its life and fell to the ground.

“W-What!!”

The other guard looked at the fallen friend of his with a pale and scared look. Unsheathing his sword, he pointed it at the thin air as he trembled in fear and tried to shout.

“CAPTA-”

*Grab*

“SSHH!!”

“mmh?!”

From behind, someone’s hand suddenly appeared and covered his mouth, making him unable to shout.

Behind him, the shadow of his then rose, taking the form of a man. The figure revealed himself, who turned out to be Mrit.

Mrit then came near and whispered in his ear.

“Ssshhh!! What are you doing shouting and disturbing everyone? Don’t you have any manners?”

Mrit smiled mischievously as he played with the guard. The guard trembled and tried to get out of Mrit’s grasp.

“Now, I have no qualms with you but-”

Positioning his dagger on the guard’s throat, Mrit whispered for the last time in his ears, sending shivers down his spine.

The guard, stricken by fear, tried to shake him off, but Mrit was unmovable.

“-Please die. I will use your body well.”

With that, Mrit then slit his throat and killed the guard.

Following that, the soul then got sucked inside his left hand as the body became lifeless and fell down.

“I hate it when you do that.”

[It is for the best owner. As I have explained earlier, their bad karma will help you in your path. Just focus on leveling up for now and when the time will come, you will be able to use their karma.]

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yeah Yeah.”

The system of death tried to explain things to Mrit, but Mrit, who was not in a mood to argue, just shooed it away.

Then he looked at the dead body lying on the ground.

“Now it’s time for the worst part.”

Mrit then sat down and, as usual, he absorbed the memories of the guard. This time, it didn’t take him that long, nor did it hurt him more than before in absorbing the memories.

“Phew!! I thought it would be painful. Turns out, this guy doesn’t have that much of complex memories.”

After that, he accessed the memories and learned about the layout of the village and the important person(s) staying here.

“Alright, that would do. Now-”

Standing up, Mrit then looked down at the bodies lying down as an interesting idea suddenly came to his mind.

“-it’s time for some experiments.”

***

“Hmm... It fits properly.”

Mrit looked at the outfit back and front he was now wearing.

From one of the dead guards, Mrit took the clothes and wore them on himself.

“There are some stains of blood, but I will somehow hide it.”

“Topa?”

Looking at Mrit, Totopa tilted his head. It was clear in his eyes that he too was asking as to how he will hide his face and stains.

“Don’t worry. See, like this, I will hide myself.”

Just with a cloth, Mrit covered his face with only his eyes visible, but anyone with common sense could tell he was trying to hide his face.

“Topa?”

Totopa, with a raised eyebrow and a questionable gaze, looked at Mrit. He too found it ridiculous that Mrit can think of this ridiculous solution.

“O-Oii, you think I will try something like this? I was just joking, h-ha haha...”

“Topaaa?”

Though he explained himself, Totopa looked like Mrit’s answer did not satisfy him.

“Really!! Now forget it and stop looking at me like that.”

‘I thought this would work. Was I wrong?’

After that, Mrit then looked around and found a helm kept on a crate and wore it.

“Now for the bloodstains, let’s go with that.”

From the storage ring, Mrit took out a sword and looked at it.

“I hate it, but I have no choice. Totopa, hide in the crate and wait till I call you.”

“Topa!!”

Totopa then ran and hid in the crate on the corner. With Totopa hidden, Mrit gulped as he looked at the sword in his hands.

“Now, let’s execute the plan.”

***

“Huuu... How many days have passed since the guild leader and vice guild leader entered that forest? Probably a month?”

In a small cabin, a man stretched his arms, cracked his knuckles, and looked at the pile of documents in front.

With sleepy eyes, he then got up and went to get some coffee.

“If not for this, I wouldn’t have survived with this shit load of work on my head. Those heroes found something interesting here that no one ever found.”

After that, he came outside of the cabin and stood there, taking a sip of his coffee while feeling the chilly breeze on his face.

“What happened there for the guild leader to not send anyone till now?”

For days, no news came from the guild leader of Boulders who went to the forest with his brother and other members. This made the captain a little suspicious.

“Did something happen there?”

Looking at the way to the room where the portal was in, he thought of entering the forest. But the words of his guild leader stopped him.

“No. You will stay here. If I am the wall that covers and protects the boulders, then you are the pillar that supports me and the boulders. You are more capable of administering the guild than me, who only has brute force.”

“And in case I never return from that forest, you shall lead the boulders then.”

“Guild leader!!”

Before going into the forest, the guild leader and the captain had a private meeting where the guild leader expressed his anxiety to the captain.

“It is my request, my friend. I don’t know what my brother will do if I were to disappear. So please...”

Bowing his head, the guild leader of the Boulders gave his last will to his most trusted friend, in case he never returns from the forest.

“Huuhh...”

With a heavy sigh, he closed his eyes and stood there for some moments, probably trying to remove the negative thought of the death of his only friend and the guild leader of the boulders.

After a while, he opened his eyes, but then he saw someone running toward him from the room of the teleportation portal.

“Hmm?”

A guard limping in a terrible state ran however he could with all his might towards him. The captain, looking at the state of the guard, ran towards him and caught him quickly.

“What happened to you, guard?”

The guard was breathing heavily as he tried to stop the blood from flowing out of his pierced abdomen. His face was drenched in sweat, blood and dirt that made it impossible to even recognize him.

The guard with all his might then spoke to his captain.

“... C-Captain!! W-We were a-ambushed!!”

“What?!”

Hearing the guard, the captain was shocked. He never thought that someone would ambush them. The guard, who looked at the tensed face of his captain, then spoke.

“Y-Yes. My partner too d-died. B-Before I could react, the i-intruder stabbed me.”

The captain looked at the wound of the guard with a worried look. Even though the guard was trying to stop the bleeding, the blood nevertheless gushed out.

“C-Captain. P-Please s-save my par-”

The guard then lost consciousness before speaking some words to his captain.

With that, he lost consciousness and closed his eyes. The captain hurriedly then checked the pulse of the guard. Though faint, he felt the pulse and was assured that he still has a chance to live.

After getting up, he called the other guards that were there.

“Guards!! Get out of here!!”

Hearing his call, the other guards and even the guild members came out, running frantically.

“What happened, captain?!”

One of the guild members who reached their first inquired about the situation after looking at the bloodied body of a guard lying next to the captain.

“Call the medics and healers and prepare yourself. We have an intruder here to deal with.”

“What?!”

Within the time they both talked out, other guards and guild members also gathered there.

Looking at the body of the guard lying, they all murmured among themselves. Looking at all of them murmuring, the captain shouted at them at the top of his lungs.

“You fools!! Pick him up and take him to the medical room. He is dying, can’t you see? Pick him up!!”

Looking at his angered gaze, some guards brought a stretcher and picked up the guard lying, and hurriedly took him to the medical room.

On the way, the guard who was lying on the stretcher opened his eyes and peeked at what was going on.

‘Everything is going perfectly. Now, it’s about time to start the second phase.’

With that, Mrit, who was acting as an injured, was taken to the medical room while the guild members and guards, along with their captain, moved towards the portal room.

***

“Put him down on the bed.”

“Aye aye!! There... you go!!”

The two guards who brought Mrit to the room then placed Mrit on the bed.

Then, one of them went out to call the healer or a medic.

“Damn, this guy is not in good condition. Which madman did this to him?”

The guard who was left behind then talked to himself as he looked at the wounds and injuries of the one they brought here.

“It’s me!!”

“Wha...??”

Thud!

“Ugh…“

Suddenly, a great sword appeared out of thin air and the blunt side of the sword fell upon the head of the guard, making him lose his consciousness.

“It’s me who did this to myself. Satisfied?”

Mrit, who was lying down, then got up and looked at the guard lying on the ground with a still gaze as he then put back the sword into the storage ring.

“This is a good thing to have. Anytime you can pull out anything.”

Mrit praised the storage ring and then looked at the unconscious guard.

“Now then, sleep here for a while.”

He then pulled the guard up and laid him down on the bed and then covered him with the bedsheet. Suddenly, the pain that he was trying to ignore overtook him.

“Ughh!! This pain...!! I must do something.”

The pain in his abdomen that he himself pierced mercilessly is now becoming irresistible.

“This damn body!! How I wish for the body of death now!”

[Are you ready to accept your rightful power, owner?]

The system of death who heard Mrit appeared out of nowhere.

“Fuck off!! I am dying now, you know!!”

[That is what I want!! Hurry, please die soon, owner.]

Mrit, even though in a lot of pain, could express his pure disgust at the system of death. The system of death, sensing Mrit’s rage and disgust, then backed off and disappeared, leaving him in pain behind.

“Tch... Let’s fix this first.”

“Sun’s embrace!”

With that, the aura of sun enveloped Mrit and slowly the wound on his abdomen started to close by itself.

“Let’s put some stat points on vitality. It will boost the healing.”

Mrit then opened his status window and then invested 50 points on vitality. Following it, a surge of energy surrounded Mrit over the aura of the sun, and soon, the wound then vanished.

“Ahh... Now this feels good.”

Tap-Tap-Tap

Before he could even rest, the guard who went to fetch the medic was about to enter.

“He came rather fast. So-”

Mrit’s body then sunk into the shadows as he waited for the guard and the medic to come.

“-let’s start the third phase.”

***