As expected, Axis didn’t stick around to kill the crowd. Despite how powerful he was, even he had a limit to how much stamina he could spend without reaching a dangerous level among so many people.
What followed after his departure was a generalized battle, with everyone attacking everyone. The show was over, and it was their time to fight.
In the middle of that chaos, Lucas considered whether they should still try to follow Axis, but the likelihood of him having allies was still great. He was weakened, after all, and if anyone managed to help him out in a time of need, the Emperor was sure to give their clan bountiful rewards. Slowly but surely, Lucas was getting the hang of the way these people thought.
In the ensuing chaos, the partnership of Lucas and Flavya thrived. Lucas quickly arrived at the scene where a bunch of people were battling each other. He soon noticed that despite the generalized battle going on, everyone was being careful about their moves, clearly fearing counter-attacks.
With Lucas's arrival on the battlefield, however, that was about to change. Every time he saw an arrow fly and hit someone, a head or a limb would be flying in the next instant, courtesy of his blades. Despite having known her for just a short while, their partnership gelled perfectly, and in a matter of seconds, the battlefield had already drastically changed.
It didn’t take long for people to realize there was a wolf among the sheep, one who was finishing battles in seconds and collecting limbs like radishes while everyone else was sweating to get a single strike across. By that point, Lucas had already killed three.
You have killed Human – lvl 13. Experience earned.
You have killed Human – lvl 14. Experience earned.
You have killed Human – lvl 13. Experience earned.
“Who’s that?” one of them vocalized what everyone was thinking as a wide circle formed around Lucas.
At this moment, Flavya suddenly stopped shooting, so Lucas also halted and regarded the people around him. The crowd that had previously grown was now down to five individuals that regarded him warily.
Lucas thought it odd for the girl to stop her attacks at a moment like this, when he had become the center of attention, but one thing he learned was that those who grew up in clans already established with a system knew a lot about battle strategy. Especially someone like Flavya, who was hated by the entire world, was bound to have faced similar circumstances before.
Deciding not to question the girl, Lucas just went along with it and, remembering his early days, decided to use the oldest trick he knew.
“Come on, guys, what are you so afraid of?” Lucas asked, seeing a few faces turn sour as he added with a cheeky smile, “You can come at me all at once if that helps.”
That was enough to trick a couple of them. They were all proud representatives of their nation or clan, after all. When had they ever thought some random noble would be talking to them with such arrogance?
“I’ll show you how to behave!” one of them screamed, furiously.
“Kayrus, leave this one to me. I want to see him scream!” the other interjected.
Breaking the encirclement, both charged at Lucas with their swords raised, a tinge of anticipation for his death in their eyes.
Cool and collected, Lucas used his pugilist moves to dodge both attacks and pierce one of the assailants—the one called Kayrus—on the side of his torso, feeling his blade cut through bones and organs. There was no chance for him to survive, and he promptly fell to the ground.
You have killed Human – lvl 13. Experience earned.
Unfortunately, the other assailant, who had just a couple of seconds ago boasted about wanting to see Lucas scream, quickly retreated among his peers once he realized what had happened to his unfortunate comrade.
Even though they were all willingly participating in a death match contest, many of them still weren’t used to seeing someone—especially another noble—getting killed like that. Usually, when someone died in the outside world, it was a peasant, warrior, or other unimportant figure, not them. Never them. Their lives were important, and now that they were faced with the reality of death, they were left with a difficult choice.
They knew their clans and families were watching, and that they clearly outnumbered Lucas four to one—something that would only be acceptable if they were facing someone like Axis or Halyk, who were at the very top of their generation—but the fact that they were still hesitating against this single opponent was even more embarrassing for most of them.
Unable to contain the embarrassment any longer, one of them shouted, “Let’s strike all at once and be done with it!”
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A few murmurs of approval followed the shout, which was exactly what Lucas was trying to avoid with his earlier provocation. Apparently, he had deeply underestimated the level of shamelessness these noble people possessed, as it didn’t take long for them to reach an agreement.
“Are you guys really that scared?” Lucas tried again, without much result apart from their faces getting slightly redder, either from shame or rage.
With the others slowly approaching him, Lucas began to grow concerned as Flavya still hadn’t made her move. Should I use the shield now? he wondered. The reason why he hadn’t used it before was simple: as soon as the others realized he had this trump card, he would lose the element of surprise it provided.
Not only that, but if he used the shield against all four of them, he would be indefinitely put on the defensive without means to counter-attack until the shield eventually reached its limit and broke apart.
Still undecided, as two attacks came, Lucas did his best to dodge, but wasn’t able to counter-attack due to the others' follow-ups that forced him to keep moving.
Fortunately, it became clear almost instantly that he wasn’t dealing with geniuses of combat, but that didn’t matter as much when they were coming from an advantage of four to one. After all, despite not being geniuses, they still knew how to fight and had a lot of practice.
After a few moments of only dodging, Lucas grew tired of waiting for the perfect opportunity and launched himself at the closest opponent—who had just taken a step back—with his blades extended.
However, his momentum was gone the next second when he realized the presence of someone very close behind his back, feeling a cold chill run through his spine. Even though he knew it was pointless, he did his best to dodge to the side and was later surprised to see that the attack he expected to come at his back hadn’t come. Instead, behind him, he saw a shocked expression, with mouth agape, from the attacker.
The cause was a surprise to all of them except Lucas, who had been eagerly anticipating that exact moment. The next thing they knew; Lucas's blade had cleanly decapitated their comrade.
You have killed Human – lvl 13. Experience earned.
When the rest of the body fell to the ground, the sight of the man’s doom was clear to all as an arrow was seen sticking out of his back.
“An archer!” one of them uttered, looking around frantically.
Taking advantage of this distraction, Lucas resumed his previously interrupted attack but wasn’t able to kill his opponent immediately, as his blades were stopped by an iron shield. In the next moment, the man’s blade was afire, which put Lucas on guard and forced him to step back.
The notion of an archer nearby who could strike at any moment placed a tinge of doubt on their previously resolute faces. Merely a few seconds ago, it had been a simple fight of four against one. It didn’t matter how talented Lucas was; none of them believed he could win against so many people. But now, with the addition of a mysterious archer, the fight had turned to two against three, and suddenly they were at a relative disadvantage, considering they didn’t know where the archer was.
Lucas had no intention of letting them reassess their situation, and after realizing the fire on the man’s sword didn’t do much beyond providing nice visuals, he was back in the thick of it.
With their previous confidence shattered, however, it became even harder for Lucas to find an opening in their defense as they now feared not only the glass from his fists but the arrows from the air.
After only a few moments of this, Lucas retreated and signaled to the air, then pointed his finger toward the spot where they were grouped. No fire shot emerged from his finger. Instead, the moment Lucas signaled, an arrow came whistling through the air.
The moment the trio realized what that arrow was, it was already too late. One of them raised a shield while the others jumped away from the arrow’s path. The explosion that followed the arrow striking the shield wasn’t small, and even Lucas had to steady his legs to keep from falling.
This was something they had agreed upon before Lucas entered the battlefield. The moment he made the agreed-upon sign and pointed somewhere, Flavya was to launch her explosive arrow at that spot.
Lucas had hesitated to call for it due to how deadly it could be. There would be no way to ensure that the arrow wouldn’t kill someone or all of them, and Flavya was emphatic in that regard, but the fear of them deciding to run away after determining it wasn’t worth the risk to stick around urged him to do it.
As expected, the explosive arrow claimed a victim. It was the man carrying the shield, who had trusted its defense to save him. His death was obvious from the sight of his badly mangled body. Seeing as one of the others seemed either unconscious or dead as well, Lucas went to the one who was struggling to get back on his feet.
The explosion had burned his skin badly, and he was still not fully in control of his bearings when Lucas arrived at his side. Therefore, the outcome was unsurprising when another notification popped up for Lucas.
You have killed Human – lvl 13. Experience earned.
Lucas walked slowly toward the last man, who had started moving on the ground. Like the previous one, however, the explosion had taken its toll on him, and he was finding it hard to stand up. Not wanting to prolong the man’s misery, Lucas quickly finished him off and raised his head to the battlefield after hearing the final notification.
There was no one else in the surroundings, but he was careful not to stay out in the open for long and soon found some shelter where he could observe the area in relative safety.
Apart from the mangled bodies and debris, there was nothing left to see. If anyone else was around, they were clearly out of sight and didn’t dare to attack Lucas after his performance.
Reflecting on the people he killed, Lucas couldn’t help but notice how mundane all the killings had become over time. He didn’t feel guilty about them at all, which was a drastic change from the second and first floors when he struggled to kill even those people he deemed NPCs.
In a way, there was nothing he could do about this desensitization; it was bound to happen, and in a sense, he welcomed it, it sure made things a lot easier. It was like riding a bike in a sense. At the beginning, when you’re learning, you are afraid and excited by the prospect of getting hurt if you fall, but after you know the ropes, all those strong emotions fade away, leaving only a small excitement from the thrill of high speeds.
That was how Lucas felt—the thrill from the battle and danger was still there somewhat. After all, this was way more dangerous than merely riding a bike. But all those strong emotions associated with killing someone were mostly gone; now he only felt a small distaste in his mouth looking at their dead bodies.
He knew he could bring emotions forward if he really stopped to think about the things he was doing, but he had no intention of doing that, especially considering there was much more to come.
Avoiding these dark thoughts, Lucas checked his status and was pleased to see he had leveled up. Every extra point was precious as he felt his fight with Axis was getting closer and closer and with it, the end of the fourth floor, for better or worse.