Path of the Slayer B3 23. Thumper & Thoughts 

As Thumper watched, he noticed how Arden acted as his own variant of One Punch Man.

Each Ranker died with one punch. Or one kick. Or one headbutt. Sometimes, Arden bolted through the air with a flying knee and splattered a row of cultists at once.

Every metal weapon swung, thrust, or thrown at him diverted around his colorful electromagnetic sphere. Even Aether-fueled bolts, streams, and crescents couldn’t reach him.

Every attack was lost once they collided with his multi-colored plasma sphere. It was like Arden wielded an orb made from the Northern Lights as a barrier the Rankers were too weak to break.

Being that Thumper was excellent at hiding, it was easy to wait in the shadows and just … watch.

He didn’t care to compete with Arden like Merlin sometimes wanted. Thumper really wanted to do right by Arden.

Arden was … well … inspiring.

There was nobody more incredible at their Level – who the hell could survive a Hell Realm while Rank 0 and become their own Pathwalker? Who the hell could overcome the odds of being an Exquisite Pathwalker while being looked down upon by most of society, especially with an out-in-the-open disability?

Who the hell could make it rain loot drops with a punch?

Thumper watched as the newly evolved Hellion Boss Shredder plowed through multiple cultists and made them explode into blood, viscera, and mystical red orbs, each the size of a melon.

They bounced off the ground once before floating around from knee height to Arden’s height. They were purely made of Vitality and not that great for Path Energy recovery unless he had something like Hellion.

Still … who the hell could do something like that?

If Thumper had Grimmy’s passion and ignorance, he would’ve been acting the same as the half-gob girl. Instead, the Perfect Rogue tried his best to remain cool and calm. He waited until his opportunity to reenter the battle finally arrived.

A monstrous Rank 5 human with unfolding arms jumped out of a hiding spot and struck Arden with a targeted Suppression. For a micro-second, the Pathwalker with a mysterious Path was frozen, seemingly vulnerable.

Thumper didn’t concern himself with the first Rank 5. He turned his attention to six of them jumping out from a different hiding spot. Just like always, he was going to activate his powers and slide into the perfect position and spam his best attacks.

But V’s words stuck out to him.

Thumper diverted his course. He ended up in front of the Rank 5s instead of behind them. Immediately, he sensed beams of targeted Suppression heading in his direction at a speed that most Pathwalkers couldn’t react to.

In exposing himself, he should’ve been caught. Two Shadow Clones stepping forward in front of him caught the targeted Suppression instead.

They intercepted myriad attacks – a bone spur shot out of a Rank 5’s wrist, a torrent of stomach bile vomited out of another Rank 5, an extra limb with the flesh-tearing teeth of a lamprey at the end, and more. The Shadow Clones ended up ripped apart, keeping Thumper safe while he used the active camo on his Hokage Rogue Armor to break his outline.

Once the Shadow Clones fell as defeated shade motes, Thumper dug deep and sprinted forward.

Both Velocity Raptor Pounce and Soldier Saurus Spine activated. Path Shadow and the dark element from his Super Darkness Nodachi mixed together. His Blade Barrage Dark Wolf Style remained in effect as he ambushed the six Rank 5s from the front while they were still unaware of the danger.

And, more importantly, Thumper dug deep inside of himself, deeper than he liked going, deep enough to be amid the horrid Bloodlines and the Senior Giant Brand that kept them bound in a flimsy cage with wide gaps. Wide enough that one Bloodline touched him and warped his personal reality.

His reach lengthened a little longer than possible. His mood turned cold and haunted. His focus became nothing but murder, murder, murder.

By the time Thumper finished, he could barely recall what he had done. The six Rank 5s had died so fast and so brutally, it was hardly believable.

If it weren’t for the burning sensation in his soul and the dip in his Path Energy, he might’ve thought himself a lunatic.

His System Logs confirmed things for him.

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled human!]

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled elf!]

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled dwarf!]

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled half-orc!]

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled half-giant!]

[You’ve ended a Rank 5 defiled human!]

Thumper blinked at his System Logs. He glanced down at the bloody and gory mess of bodies he’d left in his wake.

A rumbling stomp took his attention off to the side and up where the Veteran Instructor towered proudly. V nodded his head in approval. Then V turned and snapped at Arden.

“What type of wussy baby strikes are those?! Are you trying to play patty cake or are you actually going to hit worth a damn?!”

“I need tougher enemies worth hitting!” Arden complained, standing amid a new pile of smoky and bloody corpses.

Thumper was pretty sure the three mostly intact ones were Rank 5s, and they weren’t even that intact. They simply hadn’t been turned into pulpy smears like the Rank 4s.

Another Rank 5 dashed out of cover with a greatsword raised. They struck at V’s foot, and the greatsword bounced off with no effect.

The Veteran Rex didn’t even care to notice. Instead, Wolfie and Sabretooth came riding around the corner. They smashed into the Rank 5 and took him away to be feasted on.

V huffed. “Well, hurry and clean out the rest of this soft kiddie stuff. You haven’t briefed me on all that I missed out on.”

It seemed like there weren’t any more defiled cultist threats. Other than the Rank 5s, the fighting had been easy.

It was like killing rodents. The cost of using Pathwalker powers was worth more than the lives of the Rank 4s, honestly, as screwed up as that was to think about.

Man, I really do have royal blood in me, Thumper grumbled internally. I gotta keep reminding myself that most folks bleed red and blah blah blah.

“Ready to go diving into their basement?” Arden asked toward the Perfect Rogue.

Thumper took a microsecond to settle down his social anxiety and leeching traumas and whatever else that would’ve made him too awkward to be around.

Then he spoke softly and slowly to ensure he didn’t commit too much of a social faux pas. Being an edgelord weeaboo was one thing. Letting out too much of his internal malfunction was another, especially around someone as cool as Arden.

“Yeah, sure.” He shrugged calmly. “Maybe they got mad experiments down there. Or actual Pathwalkers of the Defiled Covenant.”

“Let’s go see.”

They went down to the subterranean floors using a lengthy staircase. A few defiled Rank 5s jumped out like cheap horror house scares.

Arden was honestly the scariest person there even with Doomie hidden under the flesh and wrapped over the shell of his soul. Seriously, the guy was a walking dark anime, and Thumper could only wonder what craziness the nomad would produce next.

To their surprise, they found nothing else crazy. No Dungeons. No Portals. No Arenas. No Rank 5 monsters. No Pathwalkers of the Defiled Covenant, either, so they didn’t get to make progress on their Quest.

In the end, on the bottommost floor, there was only a pit filled with corpses and defiled gunk.

The air was thick over the pit, darkening it with a corruptive miasma that forced Thumper back into the staircase.

Arden stayed on the edge of the pit, mostly unaffected.

“Damn, we don’t have Merlin for this,” the nomad muttered. “Alright, I guess it’s my time to shine.”

Thumper predicted Arden would call for V’s help. Of course, that wasn’t anime enough.

Instead, Arden knelt down, pressed his hand on the ooze slick edge of the pit, and used more of his incredible powers. He lit up like a pulsating magnetic star with forks of bright lightning shooting in all directions.

Then he summoned another power, his newest one that Thumper could hardly believe was real. The maddening rattle of numerous chains filled the basement area and staircase with noise. Colorful magnetic lightning and plasma light washed over the pit as the rattling monstrosity grew more violent and bloodier, like a chain-churning blender.

Thumper didn’t even get to see the new form of the Slaughterhouse Avatar. Not when the blinding electromagnetic light from Arden’s powers was in the way.

But Thumper could certainly hear the body hacking, crushing, grinding, and squeezing between myriad metal links and large implements for butchery. There was also the constant zap, crack, pop, and thump of Arden’s usual twin elements.

The air became less foul with defilement and more clear with the scent of burnt ozone and static. Then, with a sudden wave of darkness heralding the end of the light show, Arden’s work was done, and the defiled pit was nothing more than a burn pit.

“Yeah … I’m not working all the way down here. The rooms closer to the surface are more suitable.” Arden patted his hands, both the leather-strapped left and the crimson metal right. He turned and looked over at Thumper. “Everything okay?” 

Yes and no. I’m in awe of you, man. In another life, I would’ve been a jerk of a prince destined to be slapped in the face. In another life, you would’ve been some badass Legendary of the Dragon Supremacy Empire. Maybe you would’ve been a personal knight of Melody Eclipse. 

Instead, we’re these desperate, broken, tragedy-bound dudes trying to prove our worth. But how can we do that in a multiverse that’s way too big and filled with way too many old monsters who’ll want to crush the three of us and the rest of our ragtag tag-alongs?

Yet, I’m still not quitting.

And you’re still going.

And Merlin’s Merlin.

So … 

“Yeah, I’m cool.” Thumper shrugged, keeping his spiraling thoughts to himself.

Arden looked at him for a few seconds before removing his leather helmet and beaming a warm smile. “Well, let’s do what we can to clean the rest of this place up. Syleth even bought a spell scroll that can do most of the job for us with one mass cleaning spell.”

Shaking his head, the divinely chosen anti-hero chuckled. “It’s hard to believe that at Rank 5 and above, spells can be inscribed on scrolls and used by anybody. I can only imagine what other wonders the Realm Verse System has waiting for us.”

Thumper chuckled while keeping more of his opinions inward. More than you know, Arden the Nomad. That’s for damn sure.

On the outside, the Perfect Rogue said, “Yeah, clean up time, sure. I might hang around a little longer after that, get some meditation in, and see how this crafting excursion of yours starts.”

“You sure?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well … the first part of my crafting excursion is the most pivotal and unexciting part.” Arden led the way back up the staircase.

Thumper followed. “What’s the first part?”

With a dramatic stop, Arden turned and frowned down at Thumper. “I read and research.”

The Perfect Rogue decided he would cut his initial stay short.