RD 3 Ch 33

Chapter 33

The tank gave a confused, "Huh?" as he stared at his shield, and the inscription I had placed upon it.

Suddenly, lightning slammed down at me as I stepped away from his shield. The lightning bent, drawn to his shield as a conduit and fried the tank, giving me just enough time to spin around on the lightning mage. I slashed her thighs, painting the light blue robes crimson, before grabbing her arm and slamming her to the ground. 

She was caught off guard by both my ability to still move and her teammate's sudden paralysis as lightning surged through him. She had gotten too close, confident in her ability to paralyze me.

I punched her hard enough in the chest to feel ribs crack and keep her from casting more spells. She tried to twist away, but I grabbed her wrist again, quickly pulling her arm behind her and up to force her down on her knees under my blade. I sliced through her neck and ended her life.

Of the three she was by and far the weakest physically.

The hand I had a hold of had a lovely spatial ring on it that I slid off with practiced fingers and stuffed in a pocket before the Vault absorbed her, leaving a pile of bloodied robes.

Turning back, the tank was just shaking off the high-voltage stun, his face turning red as he screamed at me and turned his sword back on himself, stabbing through his chest.

I didn't like the look of that move at all. 

Throwing up a crimson barrier on instinct, I decided to double down and pulled out a talisman that I threw on the ground, creating a light screen between whatever destructive move he was pulling and my body.

Just as the screen appeared, a giant spear made of the tank’s own life force erupted from the wound on his chest, shattering both the crimson barrier and the light screen as if they were made of paper. I held my blood blade out in front of me. It shattered too, but at least the spear made of life force diverted enough that the hit only punched through my shoulder like tissue paper, causing my arm to fall to the ground.

The spell roared off into the distance piercing through trees like they were nothing. It would have been enough to kill me with a direct hit.

The tank panted as he fell down to one knee. The wound was bleeding far more than it should. It was like his life was draining before my eyes. 

"Fuck," the tank spat. "That was supposed to kill you."

"Nearly did," I said, doing my best to sound casual, but I was on guard. Another Blood Blade formed in my good hand as flesh began growing from my shoulder. Seeing that the tank wasn't moving, nor was the Earth Mage, I reached down and picked up what remained of my arm, pressing it to the growing stump. 

Thankfully, regeneration was smart enough that it could reconnect body parts. And that was far faster than growing an entire new arm. Blood vessels and tissue slowly merged as my shoulder reformed, my skin and the nerves coming next in a painful, fiery sensation. I was able to flex my hand, even as the skin was still making its way over. The whole time, the tank's eyes were growing duller by the second. 

"Bloody hell, I would kill for an ability like that," he said, blood now running out of his mouth.

I gave him a smile that had no joy in it. "I'm sure you would, but it seems you'd kill for far less, too." I lunged forward with the blood blade, piercing it through his throat.

Even though he didn't struggle, I stepped around him, running the blade clean through the muscle and blood vessels.

That wasn't enough, though. The tank seemed to have enough vitality, even with the massive, gushing wound in his chest and his throat torn out that his legs hadn't given. But one look at his face told me he was already half-dead; his eyes had lost any semblance of vitality.

That was truly an ability of last resort.

I picked a spatial ring off the chain on his neck, before turning my focus on the earth mage.

The man was a whimpering mess. He seemed unable to make more noise than the small sounds in his throat as he watched me dismantle his two party members.

I touched my Blood Blade to his neck, pulling back some of the thorny vines of sanguine locking. The move allowed him to move his jaw, and his throat. "Where did you come from? And how many fruits have you taken?" I asked.

"We came from the east," he said. "We collected about nine patches of fruit."

I nodded, squinting at him to see if I could recognize him from the first trial. Sadly, those people had been a faceless mass, and I hadn't really assigned much value to any of them beyond Da Vinci. "Thank you for letting me know. Sorry it has to be like this. If it were up to me, we'd all split the fruits evenly and walk out of here empowered for whatever other trials may await us."

"We can still do that," the earth mage pleaded desperately.

It was a shame to lose the strong initiated, but they sealed their fate when they pursued me so doggedly. If they had given up when I had run, perhaps I’d have let it slide.

"No, we can't," I shrugged, my blade making quick work of him with a simple flick of my wrist.

The man's body collapsed, sinking straight into the vault. This place wasn't a real instance, though it was able to hinder the system's menu.

I wondered if they were able to repurpose initiated bodies and collect some of their power before the system swallowed them. The more I thought about it, the more that seemed like a reasonable idea.

If nothing else, the demons likely could devour the soul for some level of strength. I frowned, mentally promising myself I would try not to kill anymore in the vault. The only thing that action would likely do is empower the demons further.

I went to pick up the remaining equipment with my spatial ring, only to get another surprise. There was a lump inside each of their clothes. The lump was an oddity in itself, but even stranger was what it turned out to be. They had dropped fruits.

He'd said they'd taken nine patches, and at first glance, it seemed nine patches worth of fruits were left behind. With another wave of my spatial ring, I collected those. If killing was another way to harvest fruits, then this trial was about to become absolute chaos.

Not worrying about that for the moment, I pulled out my rockie-talkie.

Given how many times we had run the B-rank instance, most of the Mul Branova were kitted out with them, and I had a pair for Simone and Gloria.

I pulled both out at the same time, activating them and trying to talk to them. "If both of you can, please return to the castle. I need someone to watch all of the feeds."

"No can do," Gloria said quickly. "Besides, we had Antonio leave one of his people back there to do just that."

Simone's voice picked up, “Almost like we thought he'd try and bench us to watch the monitors.”

I frowned at their antics. "I'm not trying to bench you." I told her.

"No, you're just trying to take us out of the game, coach." Simone snickered. "It's not a bad thing, Bran. I love that you care for us, but we're here not just to get stats, but also to get experience. Antonio, what does the person on the monitor see?"

There was a pause, and I could only hear the vaguest of voices in the background. "Kyle says he's absolutely terrified of Bran," Antonio's voice came clear over Gloria's rockie-talkie. "Apparently he just killed three high-level threats on his own. Merlin encountered two people, but they broke away. Other than that, the west side of our operation doesn't seem to have any competition.”

“Good. I encountered a serpent, as well as these damn Lashers. How are you guys faring?" I asked.

"Gloria takes care of the Lashers. She just whoosh and whoosh," Simone made noises that I assume were supposed to be some sort of flame spell, “and then they die.”

I could almost see Simone shrugging to go along with the comment.

"But like she said," Gloria echoed, "we're fine, Bran. Keep chasing your own fruits. We're going to get back to work. I bet we'll be able to collect more than you."

It sounded like Gloria's competitive side was coming out as the rockie-talkie clicked off, and I knew they weren't going to give me more time to try to convince them to go to a safer location. Part of me wanted to wrap them in bubble wrap, but another part of me knew more experience would only make them safer in the long run.

Putting all that aside, I focused back on collecting as much fruit as possible.

I headed north, weaving my way through known spots with fruits, only to hear a great roar further north.

Some colossal beasts had just entered the game. I wondered if it was another opportunity, or if at some point in this trial they were going to clear the field. Along with the colossal roar, two columns of light shot into the sky, one to the far west and the other to the far east. I could only assume it was highlighting the exits once again.

That meant the big monster was probably here to clear the field and drive us all to the next trial.

I pulled out the rockie-talkie again. "Simone, tell the Mul Branova to gather as many fruits as they can and head towards the light on their side."

"You got it, Bran," Simone said quickly.

As soon as my people got the fruits, they should get out. If there were any extended opportunities, I would take the risk myself. 

Another one of the obsidian snakes dropped from a nearby tree.

With a flick of my wrist, Crimson Barrier stalled it long enough for me to splash my blood along its face and lock it down with Sanguine Locking. A lasher came up for me, but when I dodged, it found the serpent, the roots quickly twisting around the serpent and dragging it to the ground. 

I chuckled, seeing what was about to happen.

The serpent, completely paralyzed by my ability, was considered subdued by the lasher, the ground gave way as something moved underneath, and a hole opened up by the head of the snake. A fleshy flower of the lasher's main body bloomed, thorny teeth lining each petal, as it drew the serpent into the dangerous maw. 

The serpent shivered as it struggled against my bindings.

I watched, but not out of sympathy. Instead, I wanted to destroy these annoying lashers. I shot a Blood Bolt straight into the maw, before twisting it into a hex of infernal heat.

The lasher began to thrash. If glorious fire was as effective as Simone made it sound, then this would work quickly. The lasher's limbs flailed, another dozen of them springing out of the ground. The creatures themselves were quite large, over twenty root-like tentacles thrashing in the air as it pulled its main body up. It was nothing more than a tulip bulb the size of a cow with a blooming, flowery maw that opened and closed rapidly like it was gasping for air. 

I could see its petals already curling and wilting, but I didn't want to wait any further. I pierced my Blood Blade into the center of the bulb before I twisted it and ripped it sideways.

Dark purple fluid spilled out from the bulb as the limbs lost their strength and flopped down on the ground like a fish out of water.

I tore it apart with several more slashes and finished the lasher, collecting up plenty of that purple fluid in my spatial ring before it disappeared into the ground. 

The serpent looked at me, seeming almost hopeful, if a monster was even able to feel that emotion. 

I picked the serpent up by the head. "Who knew you would make such wonderful bait?" I smiled and began rushing through the forest once again, in search of fruits and now holding my new bait. 

I wondered if it could help me rid the ground of lashers. The last thing I needed was a whole host of them harassing me when I found a bigger target. 

The snake shivered in my grasp and tried, but failed to escape me or my Sanguine Locking.

Another horrendous roar rippled through the air.

I could feel the reaction from the serpent. It wanted to run. Whatever was causing the noise had to be incredibly powerful to strike fear into this monster at such a distance. My curiosity was piqued.