Zane waited in the cover of the tree canopy outside the burrow of the murderer. He was a little peeved that the plan didn’t involve himself being the one to take out the slime, but there was no use in complaining about that.
What he did have serious reservations of was the fact that Trey himself had shown up, and that the only assistance he’d brought was the man Nix had met the day before, Gregor. When he met them to go over positioning he’d been waiting for additional assistance to arrive for them, but when none showed up he’d been forced to just shrug and go along with the plan.
If Trey wanted to get himself killed and leave Plainstown without a leader that was entirely his choice to make. Neither he or Nix truly cared what happened to that settlement, so long as they were left alone. They had enough troubles to sort out before the end of the tutorial to bother with Plainstown.
He found it interesting that Gregor wore the same kind of outfit the man known as Erik had worn when he’d tracked them to the place of Phil’s disappearance. Zane supposed it was something of a signature design from one of Plainstown’s craftsmen.
He briefly glanced at the overseer that was following the Plainstown duo. The reptilian figure was well hidden in the distance, but Zane had grown accustomed to spotting them lurking in the shadows.
It was becoming a serious annoyance to lose the one that was assigned to him every time he had to stop by Arkania, but there was really nothing to be done about it. Nothing that could be done for another two weeks at least.
His eyes snapped into focus as he saw Ray exit the burrow. Despite the rugged conditions of the tutorial, Ray managed to appear perfectly neat and cordial. He still wore his almost perfectly intact set of earth clothing, and it was neatly maintained. He truly did give off the look of someone who was fresh from earth. Zane supposed that was how he managed to get so close to his victims, he presented them with a glimpse of the world they’d lost before he slashed their throats.
Zane followed the man silently through the treetops, leaving Trey and Gregor to infiltrate the vermin’s nest.
----------------------------------------
Devon and Trey waited for 20 minutes after Ray had left the hideout to make their move. They needed to be absolutely certain that the scumbag was far enough away to not notice, or that he wouldn’t forget something and rush back, interrupting them.
Trey wore a two different sets of thick leather protection over his entire body. He still used a shield, but he’d swapped out the sword he’d started with for a bone cudgel with sharpened edges.
Devon quickly cast Light once they entered so they could make their way through the cramped space without bumping their heads into anything. They passed three different traps as they cautiously made their way through the tunnel. They chose to leave each as it was so that Ray wouldn’t assume anything was wrong when he returned.
When they finally made it to the bottom both of them had to stop and take a moment to appreciate how much effort the man had taken to make the place feel like home.
There were faded bloodstains on some of the sandstone walls, remnants of the conflict Ray had doubtlessly gone through to clear this place of monsters, but the rest of the abode was immaculate.
Unlike the cave Devon had left as a simple cave, Ray had gone through the trouble of putting down wooden flooring over half the area, and it looked like he planned to cover the other half as well.
Too bad he’ll never get the chance.
There were a few other fixtures as well, from a clothes drying rack to the cot he’d build up to look almost like a proper bed. Trey decided to hide behind the clothes rack while Devon hid behind the oversized cot. He couldn't maneuver the spear very well from his position so he opted for the curved sword as his readied weapon.
And then they waited. For several hours they sat there until their joints grew stiff and aches and pains appeared in places that young, spry men like themselves should never have to suffer through.
Finally, Devon got the message they’d been waiting for.
[Zane]
He’s entering now.
Their breathing stilled until all sound was extinguished from the room. And then the heard soft footfalls enter the room. An unknown voice sighed, then the footsteps started to head away from Devon, towards the clothing rack.
They’d agreed that whoever had the better chance of a surprise attack would strike first, and it looked like that was going to be Trey. However, instead of hearing his friend leap out to strike, Devon heard an impact, Trey’s grunt, and the fluttering of clothes.
Devon poked his head up just in time to see Trey knocked over on the wooden floor, and Ray’s composed figure standing next to the knocked over clothes rack, a sneer on his face.
“Did you think it wouldn’t be obvious something like this would happen when I get tailed the moment I step outside my house? I’ll admit, I never expected the de facto leader of Plainstown to come visit me personally, but I think I’ll have to cut this little party short.”
The floorboards beneath Trey gave way as soon as he tried standing up, the entire section of flooring giving way on some kind of hinge to plunge Trey into darkness. Devon could hear snarling from below as Trey fell. The flooring came back up into place after Trey passed through, likely on some sort of spring mechanism.
“Dungeon monster don’t seem like they’d make very good pets,” Devon said, standing up.
“No, but they’re good for the easy experience they provide. Even without their leader they keep reproducing endlessly, though it's starting to become more of a hassle to maintain them than the exp they're worth. I guess they're still good for situations like this though.” Ray pulled a short curved blade from his tile and readied himself.
Devon threw the trick sword he’d been holding onto back into his inventory and pulled out his spear. There was just barely enough room in the cave to maneuver it.
Ray lunged forward and thrust the shortsword at Devon. He knocked it aside, but felt a searing pain on his hand as he kicked at Ray, forcing him back. He looked at the back of his hand and saw the gash along the length of it. The wound wasn’t deep, but Ray’s weapon hadn’t gone anywhere near it.
Some kind of skill. But is it an illusion or some kind of touch effect?
Devon didn’t feel like finding out. He activated Quickstab as Ray once again pressed the offense. He stabbed forward with blinding speed, trying to catch the murderer off guard as he rushed in.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
However, instead of catching the man off guard, all it seemed to do was excite him. Devon saw in his eyes the same frenzy that he himself felt when he danced with an opponent.
Ray avoided Quickstab by a hair’s breath, but Devon felt like the man didn’t seem all that pressured by the attack. Devon jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the slash that was aimed at him.
He can dodge Quickstab? His dexterity must be absurdly high.
If Quickstab could be dodged then continuing to use it would only continue to leave openings for Ray to exploit. Devon briefly considered that Ray might be using a skill to boost his reaction speed to avoid incoming attacks, but realized it didn’t matter. Even if the man needed to use a skill to avoid his skill, it just meant they would enter into a battle of attrition if Devon kept trying to Quickstab. And that was a battle that heavily favored Ray.
Not only did stabbing leave him open for Ray to counterattack, but due to being a lower level Devon would more likely be the one to run out of mana first. Devon shifted his stance to use the spear as more of a quarterstaff.
Activate skill; Shatter.
When Ray rushed in again Devon swung his spear in an arc, trying to hit the man with a superior range of motion. He felt the might of Shatter fill his strike, but it didn’t matter. Ray ducked down and slid along the sandy floor toward Devon, that sadistic smile still on his face.
But that was what Devon had been expecting him to do.
Activate skill; Bone Breaker.
He raised his boot before viciously stomping down, filling his kick with the strength given from Bone Breaker.
But Ray moved like a whirlwind. He pushed his shortsword up into Devon’s descending foot before moving aside like paper in the wind.
The momentum of Bone Breaker couldn’t be easily stopped once started, so Devon’s foot was brought to the ground with the full power of his skill. The shortsword Ray had stabbed into his foot was sent straight through and out the top. Devon scowled from the pain of having his foot skewered, but the pain wasn’t nearly enough to overwhelm him.
He pulled his boot up and yanked the shortsword out at the same time Ray brought yet another one of the weapons out of his inventory.
There’s no way he can move that way without the help of a skill, but there isn’t anything I can do to catch him.
That wasn’t strictly true, it was just that Devon didn’t like either of his offensive options. They both relied upon his amplification gem. The first was an amplified Quickstab, but if Ray’s skill surpassed the speed of Devon’s amped Quickstab then it would absolutely leave Devon open, and Ray would likely be able to get a lethal blow in.
The second option was using amplified Adrenaline, but Devon wouldn’t go down that road again unless he absolutely had to. So he decided to opt for a different strategy. He'd buy time.
“Tell me, are your killings meant to serve a purpose, or are you just twisted on the inside?”
“What an old world way of thinking. Let me ask you this instead; am I the deranged one for killing, or is it this world that is deranged for allowing, no, encouraging me to kill?”
“So you’re the type to shove all of your sins onto the world to pretend like you haven’t done anything wrong, huh?”
“Not at all. What I’m saying is that everything is a matter of perception, and that’s truer here than it ever was back on earth. Do you know what I did back on earth? I worked a standard 9 to 5, maintained amiable relationships with friends and coworkers, everything of that nature. I was normal. But here’s what you people don’t seem to understand about this new reality. I’m still normal.”
“So it’s normal to go around killing anybody you feel like? Funny, don’t see any of the rest of us doing that.”
“Of course, most still bend the knee to social customs that no longer matter. If the system didn’t like what I was doing then it would penalize me, but instead it rewards me for killing those hapless fools.”
“Using the system as an excuse?”
Ray sighed, “This is the problem with all you people, you see anything that doesn’t align with how your view of the world should be as a problem. But what you fail to realize is that your opinions on what others do don’t matter. What truly matters is whether you have the strength to enforce what you believe. And if you lack the strength to do that then your ideals are as meaningless as dust in the wind.”
“I don’t really care about the philosophical debate too much, honestly. I wouldn’t have even cared what you did if it wasn’t for the fact that your actions directly interfere with my objective.”
“And what, pray tell, is your objective? To stop the overseers? To save all of the people dragged from their ordinary lives into this tutorial?”
“You… you knew?”
“About the overseers plotting to kill us all? Naturally. Anyone with half a brain could figure it out.”
“What’s the point of slaughtering people that could help fight against them?”
“I have no intention of fighting against them or saving anybody here. Once the thirty days are up I shall take all the strength I have accumulated and find a way to leave this place. Even up on this island in the sky there are ways for a resourceful individual to leave. But you never answered the question, so let me ask it again. What exactly is your objective?”
“To stop the slaughter, obviously.” Devon said, but he couldn’t help but notice a hint of hesitation in his own voice.
“Is it? There are many ways you could go about doing it, but you don’t seem to be doing any of them. Instead of creating a united front you’ve let humanity divide itself, as it is so apt to do.”
“I…”
“Before you give yet another half hearted answer let me ask you this. Do you truly care about more than a select few people here?”
“Kh!” Ray didn’t give Devon the time to respond, instead rushing hm down once again.
Devon went on the defensive, blocking every attack Ray made with his new shortsword, but it didn’t seem to matter. For every strike and every slash blocked a new cut appeared somewhere on Devon’s body.
So it’s a guaranteed hit type of effect. Still, these slashes do almost no real damage. All they are is surface wounds, and I’ve grown far beyond the point of caring about some measly paper cuts.
Their fight continued, and Devon tried to mix in some feints and counterattacks, but Ray was just too slippery. But what unnerved Devon the most wasn’t the accumulating wounds on his body or even his inability to fight back. He saw within Ray’s eyes the fire he himself had felt several times now, the sensation of dancing on that line between life and death.
Why? Why can’t I bring forth that feeling as well?
“You seem troubled!” Ray taunted as he dashed all around, “What’s wrong? You look like you’re missing something. Did my words strike a chord in your heart? Maybe you’re just like me after all!”
Devon blocked a savage attack from Ray, who seemed to have entered a battle frenzy. A new slash appeared on Devon’s face, but he paid it no mind.
“Sorry, but unlike you I take no comfort in meaningless deaths.”
“And yet you crave the thrill, that excitement that comes when your life in on the line. I see, you’re confused why it isn’t coming to you now, right?”
Devon jerked his head up, then scowled at how easily he’d been read.
“You know why I’m feeling it and you’re not? Because you failed to realize the true source of that feeling, that sensation. It only appears when you stake your existence on a conflict you desire.”
“Oh, I desire your death.”
“Yes, but for all the wrong reasons. To you, I’m just a bother. Something more akin to an annoyance than a true adversary. You want me dead so you can go on to do something, but you haven’t even decided what it is you want to do!”
Several more strikes blocked, several more slashes appeared on Devon’s body.
“So I ask again!” Ray’s voice had risen with his bloodlust, and he was all but shouting at Devon now, “What is your objective? Come on! Cast aside everything you couldn’t give less of a shit about and tell me! What is it you desire!?”
Before Devon could answer the wooden flooring behind him exploded.