"Uh...Good sword skills!" Liam says, trying to put on a smile.
I raise my brow at his awkward sentence.
It's not sword skills per se. In fact, this is my first time wielding a sword. It's mana manipulation and an overwhelming gap in stats. I realised that circulating mana in an area of my body can temporarily grant a boost there. The problem is the more amount of mana I manipulate, the stronger the pressure on my mind. Thus, I tend to only release demonic mana around my weapon and blast it.
I step over the mountain of corpses and enter the kitchen. After picking whatever sharp utensils I can carry, I run to the window and jumps, bashing through the glass.
I engulf my body with demonic mana and crash into the ground outside the entrance.
"EEK?!" The surviving members that tried to escape panic. They fall hectically to stop their momentum and run in the other direction.
I grip the sharp utensils, demonic mana flows to the tip. I pull my arms back and place my left foot forward. With a wide and swift swing, the utensils spray through the corridor piercing and stabbing many.
The remaining runs off and splits up at the T junction, one group going left and the other going right.
I click my tongue. "God damn it...stop running."
Stepping back into the building, the rooms to my right are filled with children cowering in fear. They avoid eye contact and hug each other. Some children attempt to hide in the corner or behind a table.
A woman attempt to hide among the children.
...
I push the door open and the children start to cry. I can hear their heartbeat from here. The woman crawls back and hugs a child. "D-Do you want to kill me? You will hurt the children as well!"
Infuriating...she wants to use children as a shield?
A small needle-thin demonic mana materializes at my palm. I wait until her head is against the wall with no children behind her and throws the needle.
?!
The needle pierces through the air and stabs into the woman's head, coming out from the other end and through the wall.
"AHH!!" several children cry out.
"huuuu..."
...
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Tiny bits of demonic mana dwell within the children, giving me a clue about the true purpose of this orphanage.
I leave the room and continue the hunt.
Approaching the end, a few people hide at the corner preparing to ambush me. I sigh as I grip my sword tightly, slashing through the wall and killing the remnants.
At the end of the corridor to my left is a door. As if inviting me, a small gap presents itself beside the door.
I walk up to it and push it open. It reveals a big room full of crates and shelves of items.
Massive dust settles on the crates and shelves. Cobwebs connect the corners. Yet, the dirt on the ground spreads apart; Someone came across just recently.
"If you kill someone, you should be prepared to die yourself," I say.
No reaction comes. It's boring.
Closing my eyes and focusing on my senses, part of the airflow in the room moves in one direction. It's going towards a wall behind a large rectangular crate. I pull the crate aside and touch the wall. As expected, the wall moves back to reveal a staircase down. Footsteps of dust lead down the dark stairs. I descend into the unknown room onto a long hallway, the corner at the end has rows of torches.
I can sense some magic circles laid out in the dark hallway as well as hear some mechanisms in the wall. I sigh. Demonic mana engulfs my legs.
*BOOM!*
A quick leap across the numerous traps is enough to avoid every. I can sense a presence near but am unable to pinpoint it. However, I know the direction. Following my instinct I reach a metal-sealed door that recently opened, countless dirt settles beneath the door. There is no handle only a circular device embedded in the middle, a magic circle pattern is carved on the device.
Am I able to inspect this?
----------------------------
Sealed Door.
Durability: 7000/10000
A door that only accepts a certain type of mana to open.
----------------------------
A certain type?
I attempt to pour demonic mana into the door but it is instantly rejected, expelling me away.
?!
The defence mechanism immediately activates and a few gun barrels erects out of the wall. I quickly throw up a barrier of demonic mana.
*BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!*
*TING TING TING!!!*
The onslaught of bullets ends and the barrel retracts into the wall, surrounding my body on the ground are many cups of metal capsules with mana still lingering in them. Those are mana bullets, deadlier than an ordinary mana bullet but scarce and expensive.
I stare at the door in deep thought.
Should I just destroy the door? There definitely is someone on the other end...
I place my hand on the cold hard metal. I have to give it a try.
"Wait!" Liam says. "Don't waste your strength."
He walks up to the door and takes out a small red glowing gem and places it near the door. The door absorbs the mana in the gem and rumbles, sliding open. The gem loses its colour and disintegrates into tiny ordinary rocks.
What...was that? That mana felt eerie yet majestic...?
"What was that?" I decided to bluntly ask.
"A-A small gem containing Apostle Mana, I found it among the piles of corpses in the kitchen," Liam replies.
Apostle Mana?!! That's a kind of mana that shouldn't appear until the mid-late chapters. Why is it here?!
First the Blade of Eternity and now Apostle Mana...
"B-By the way Sir Arsto...Some people escaped through the backdoor..."
"It's fine. I'm here for another purpose. There should be some documents that can reveal where the rest of Despair is. The orphanage is only a minuscule franchise of the package."
Liam and I walk through the door and arrive on a tall platform overseeing a large space. Here, many cages are stacked around accompanied by large cylindrical containers of green liquid. The liquids have a lump of meat with a dark crystal embedded floating within.
"What the fuck...?" I mumble.
It's dark. The only light comes from the glowing liquid; I cannot deduce what is within those cages.
Liam looks around and notices a handprint on the dusty railings. "Someone went by..." He mumbles.