I passed level after level. I heard the clicking noise grew louder the deeper I descended. I came out into a large chamber with a lake and a small island in the center right below the hole. The island was covered in a small white rocks. I touched down with a crunch and looked around.

Crystals lit up the cave in a soft glow. The water was perfectly still and further enhanced the luminance. I noted over ten tunnels all around the cave leading off to the side that quickly disappeared into darkness. If there ever was a boss room, this was it.

“Hello? Super monster?”

The words echoed in my head and I collapsed to my knees. The voice echoed inside my skull. “Shield Mind.” I said.

At least this time I didn’t feel like my head would explode. “Yes, I have come for the key to the vault and the Void Cube.”

“I am Tafe’s champion, aid me now.”

“I am strong. I have killed a demon and survived this far. Tell Tafe her champion needs a kick ass sword or a new arm.” Hopefully both, or a combination sword and arm.

“What do I need to do then? Collect five rats or some other fetch quest?”

“What am I lacking?”

I was stunned silent for a moment. That comment had been hurtful. I then shook my head, yes I should lecture the Eldritch Monster about feelings. That would go about as well as a sword to the face. This monster was definitely Tafe’s. Useless and unclear answers were its forte’. “I don’t care, give me the key and I will leave you alone.”

“I will protect it.”

Now we were going in circles. “Is there anything you can do, or are you just useless.”

“Will you help me, aid me, and aid your goddess’s champion.” There was no reply. I had come all the way here for nothing. I looked at the rope and did not want to climb all the way back up. That would not be fun.

The sound of clicking came closer. I turned towards the cave it was coming from. I couldn’t see anything in the inky blackness, but knew something lay in the darkness that I did not want to see. I definitely did not want to see whatever was there. I tried turning my head, but it was locked in place.

The last word made my eyes water. Out of the darkness came a sword. For one brief moment it hung in the air, glittering under the soft crystal light. It then plunged tip first into the ground in front of me, remaining perfectly up right. The Endolgon had excellent aim.

“Identification.”

Slice of LifeLvL: 200Requirements: Cause a calamityStats: Short Sword 1x Damage

Special: Wounds caused cannot be healed naturally

I could only stare at the sword unable to move as the clicking noise decreased. It was an incredible weapon. The Slice of Life was incredible and awesome, despite wanting a fate cutting blade. My mind was already racing with possibilities. The only way to heal a wound caused by this sword was with magic. Healing magic while kind of popular was not exactly cheap in terms of MP cost.

The way MP cost, a single wound with this meant a person would slowly lose blood and HP until they died. Normal wounds clotted up after a bit, but this weapon would prevent that. “Thanks.” There was no response.

I contemplated looking in the tunnels for more treasure. While monsters wouldn’t out right attack me, whatever was in there might just walk over me. If the tunnels and noise were any indication, the thing was massive. Also, whomever had this weapon before me had been killed by the Endolgon easily enough.

I didn’t have a sheathe for the Slice of Life and ended up putting it in my satchel and wrapped it up in a spare shirt I had taken from the fishing village back in Breckley. Cutting myself with it seemed like a very bad idea.

Climbing up the rope was as painful as I imagined it to be. I had to hurry before it was cut. I wasn’t down here that long, but if anyone saw the rope going into the depths they would know I was here.

I wished the Endolgon had given me a magical arm. Now that would have been awesome. Maybe like Iron Man, with a pulse laser in it or something that shot out swords. As I climbed I forced my mind onto what I would do next. I was leaving this place, and going south. Maybe Tor was still in Yaxel and I could stop by for a visit.

There were also my quests. If I wanted to become stronger I needed to gather stat points from the quests. Killing Just Han seemed like trouble, but was the only one where I knew kind of where to go. I let out a huff from climbing and that stupid thought. It would be a disaster like Breckley and I needed an arm more than I needed stat points. Yaxley and then onto the Ulrin Empire and their Empress.

Killing a dragon was next to impossible. I wasn’t trying that until I could fly. Also I had to find the right dragon. It would be just like things for me to kill a Dragon after an epic battle and learn it was the wrong one. Finally slaying the Greater Waking Demon was just a no. If the Book of Tafe was to be believed then I would need to find six more of the Etherion Cubes and then the portal into hell.

I had a rule while playing any type of game. If it involved a portal to hell or a demon dimension don’t go there until the very end. Hell portals were always bad news and end game challenges.

I hadn’t picked up any chatter on where the dragons were located or any more of the Etherion Cubes. The one I had, was guarded by two boss monsters and a horde of minions. Also getting the cube and been incredibly difficult, which I wasn’t going to think about. Wherever the rest of them were they were probably equally troublesome.

I finally clambered out of the top of the hole and let out a sigh. I had made it. I quickly pulled up the rope and put it to the side and moved the blanks back over the hole I had made. While not resting perfectly due to the nails sticking out, it would do for now.

I pulled out the Slice of Life and made my way for the exit. I reached the steel door and found it was still unlocked. I carefully pushed it open while standing to the side. Nothing happened, I was sure something would happen. Doors were always bad news.

Backing away from the now opened doorway I looked out and saw four guards still playing cards. Something seemed off, but I couldn’t stay here forever. I exited the doorway and shut the door. That was when one of the guards noticed me.

“Intruder!” He shouted out as loud as he could. Solid Steel did not employ idiots unfortunately. The other guards had drawn their weapons and picked up their shields. I stepped out into the middle of the tunnel and walked forward. “Halt or else.”

“You know who I am, do you think that will happen?”

“Who are….oh my god, Blood Rain.” Their eyes were locked onto my bug foot as I stepped through the darkness towards them. I noted other guards coming and soon I would be hopelessly out numbered. I was confident I could escape though.

“Give me a satchel full of food or I will call out the horror that lurks in the depths.”

“You are bluffing?” That was more a question than a statement if the fear in his voice was anything to go by.

“I would rather not use up my power, but I will if I must. I have already done so much, what is wiping out a small camp.” My reputation should carry me through this bluff, hopefully.

“That is the commander’s decision.”

“A good thing I am here then.” I looked at the kid in plate armor who had just walked up. He held his sword at his side but his eyes showed he was ready for a fight. “No one start anything. We have a…visitor.”

“Not an honored guest?”

“They call you the Breaker of Breckley and the Causer of Calamities. I am not a fool to think I can defeat you easily. On the other hand you are not welcome here. You are trouble and chaos.”

“I should be offended. So the supplies? I also need a sword sheathe.”

“You will leave without trouble?”

“Yes.”

“Supplies it is, one satchel of food, a sheathe, and two canteens of water for Blood Rain of the Burning Wedding.” One of the men ran off at a gesture from the commander. I noted where he went.

“So that is what it is now being called.”

“One of many names. Did you really need the corpses in the barrels?”

“It is art and it added a nice touch.”

“Art…so what were you doing in there?”

“Visiting a friend.”

“A friend.” I could sense the question and concern in his voice.

“Should I call it up here?”

“I would prefer not. Is your friend…going to cause us trouble?”

“I would stay away from the depths.”

“Yeah, we already figured that out.”

“What happened.”

“Nothing pleasant.”

“Not going to share?”

“The one body we were able to recover had her brain melted and then the corpse started attacking us.” That did not sound like pleasant.

“Ouch.” The man came back with a satchel and a sword sheathe. The commander took it and tossed it over. As it flew through the air I heard the twang of a bow behind me and to the side and dived forward in the other direction. I felt the arrow move across my back, barely missing. I hit the ground and rolled as more arrows impacted the ground where I had landed. After there were no more shots for an entire second I got to my feet. The guards had formed up a shield block around the commander.

I looked at the arrows and noted how the angle put their position from behind me and up on the mountain the dungeon rested in. I scanned the area but didn’t see anyone. I looked at the commander from behind all the shields.

“Not me. Just leave or we will have to fight.” The commander said loudly.

“Got it.” It took a moment to strap on the sheathe and put on the satchel while keeping an eye out. Once that was done I took a deep breath. I counted twenty soldiers out here right now including the commander. I noted that the sentries on the walls had doubled from what I could see. So fifty people in this camp. I flipped open the satchel that held my precious bulb.

I was glad I had more Silent Skill slots open up. I didn’t want them to hear this, ‘Fear Aura, ten minutes’. Three of the soldiers passed out, the rest looked queasy, the commander stumbled back. “My friend is mad. Come up and play!” I shouted out.

Two of them ran away screaming and I noted their pants had dampened considerably. I ran straight into their group cutting out with the Slice of Life. Their actions were slow as I wove through the crowd. It helped that I wasn’t going for a fatal blow, just minor cuts. Any thoughts they would have of chasing after me should be crushed when their wound refused to clot.

More arrows came at me from the up on the mountain. I was able to twist around in time to see three figures up there. “Why!?” The commander cried out as he glared at me.

“Because I can and I was attacked.” The combination of my fear aura and the bulb meant they literally had no chance in melee combat or any combat. They probably rotated lower level players through here to level them up off the respawning monsters. The commander and probably a few others were probably the only permanent residents here.

“I call upon Xapados, aid me now! Exchange m-“ I wasn’t about to let him finish whatever chant that was. I cut off his head. There was a look of surprise as it went flying and then the arterial spray coated me as the body tilted forward. It was a literal deluge and that momentary shock was almost enough to be my end. I kept moving avoiding another arrow.

My flame blades had always sealed the wound partially shut like a light saber. I entered one of the only stone buildings in the camp literally disarming another woman who was in my way. It was their storage building and I got to work. I blocked off the only door with a barrel. First went all my shitty clothes and shitty satchel from before.

I then strapped on metal arm and leg guards, put on new clothes, took new steel plated boots, and restocked my leather harness so it had ten throwing daggers. There was also a single barrel of lantern oil. I filled up three canteens with the stuff. My fear aura was going to wear off in another minute so it was time to escape.

I thought over the situation as I re-geared myself, there were archers out there looking for me. They either had been waiting here and took advantage of the situation or had followed me here. Neither option was good and now people knew of my location the hunt would begin again. Thinking about it the archers probably were waiting here to ambush me.

Based on the depth some of the arrows had gone into the ground, they had to have used skills. Probably those archers that had tracked me down before, Team Epsilon.

I opened the door and peaked out. I could hear the screams and moans of the soldiers from the camp. I raced out of the building and reached a wood ladder leading up the palisade. I climbed up and then jumped off outside of the fortification.

No attacks came from the archers. The same problem still existed. They would eventually run me down and they could track me. I made my way up the mountain. I saw the two of the three people up on the ridge and they both unleashed arrows at me. I stepped to the side letting them pass me by.

I heard the twang of the bow string off to my left and saw a third arrow heading at me. I twisted and began pulling out my new sword. The arrow missed. That was the problem, they were shooting at me from a hundred feet away. While their accuracy was impressive, my reaction time allowed me to keep dodging their attacks at this distance.

If they could shoot silently then I would have been in trouble, but that didn’t appear to be the case. Every time before this they probably hit their target without it being able to react. Also figuring out what prerequisite skills to unlock would be the real challenge.

I mentally thought, Burst Speed, and took off as fast as I could towards the third archer. In the one second it took me to cross that entire distance, he had put away his bow and had just started to move away.

I swung my blade. “Burst Speed.” He quickly said. My blade drew a five inch long cut across his shoulder before he quickly outpaced me. Those two seconds of movement at around 68 miles per hour had used up 270 SP. High speed combat was insane in terms of SP consumption. I took off at a much slower speed up the mountain, staying alert for any more attacks.

I would never be able to catch these people. They literally went the most annoying route possible in terms of stat usage. The fact that I managed to land a blow was a huge testament to how much of a higher level and how many more active skills I had. With that wound, they would be slowed down. The constant HP drain would be devastating.

I then realized they could cut around the wound and then burn it shut. It wasn’t that deep or long unfortunately. I was hoping they wouldn’t try that for a while and look for other alternatives. I was glad to leave the forest and land on hard rock. After the last chase I had paid a couple thousand dollars to an info broker to learn about tracking skills.

There were two categories, mental and physical. Mental was about magic mumbo jumbo. The Projection one centered on a target was the most popular and the cheapest to use. The physical tracking method was a lot more complicated. In exchange for MP the imprints on the ground would be highlighted for a period of time.

The cost was fairly low and it stayed active for quite a while. With three of them they could keep tracking me non-stop. If I was able to lower their number or slow them down enough I would get out of their range. I set off straight up the mountain. I didn’t see them behind me which was a good thing.

This was the type of fight I hated. A long drawn out battle over a period of days. It was time to lay an ambush. I raced up the mountain and then stopped just over the peak on a slab of rock. I then moved two rocks, one after another to make my way back. This way my tracks would be on the moved slabs of rock and not the ground, showing I had back tracked.

I set up just behind a boulder looking at my previous path from two hundred feet away. I would blow a lot of MP doing this, but I was sick of these people and this was my best chance of cutting this stupid chase short.

Two hours later I heard people coming up the way I had done. ‘Conceal Presence, twenty seconds.’ I held my breath and waited. Eleven seconds later they came into view. They were in a wedge formation, and each member was scanning all around themselves weary of monsters or ambushes.

‘Conceal movement, three seconds.’ “Burst speed, two times.” I whispered and then I was off flying over the rocky terrain. The one on the right flank closet to me glanced right over me and didn’t react. They were finished.

I drew a deep gash across the back of his neck. I wasn’t going to risk getting my sword trapped somehow. Also such a wound would be impossible to cut around. He collapsed with a scream but by the time they could think on it, I was on the second one. He managed to duck as I attacked, so instead of the neck, my blade drew across the front of his face right above his eyes.

The third one managed to get an arrow loose, but it was easy enough to dodge when I could see exactly where he was aiming. I ducked around the shot and cut down on his bow and arms. The look of shock on his face as his bow snapped and his hands were removed was priceless.

He held them up to face and let out a scream as small squirts of blood came out of them. I made my way back to the first person who had a hard time focusing on his shots as they went wide.

I slammed the flat of my blade across his face. He stumbled but didn’t go down. I whacked him two more times and kicked him in the groin. He went down with a moan. I stepped back as an arrow flew at me from number two. He couldn’t see with all that blood running down his face and probably aimed for the noise.

I walked over as quietly as I could and went around behind him. I then stabbed him in the asshole. I took a seat on a nearby boulder as I watched them slowly bleed to death and struggle useless to stop their bleeding.

Once the handless one died, I went down and searched his belongings. I did the same for the second tracker with the second asshole once he died as well. I then searched and stripped the one I had disabled.

I had only found arrow stuff which was useless, food, and some coins. The big find was a glass vial with a milky white substance in it. I tied up the tracker with some rope I had found. Next I took the coins and the vial and naked tracker and set off, leaving the two corpses for the monsters.

“Hahaha.” I let out a chuckle as I realized I may have made what would be considered an offering to Tafe. I traveled for another hour before setting up camp next to a stream on the barren mountain. The wind was cold and biting.

I made a fire and then burnt the cursed flesh out of my captive. The fire actually removed the curse, interesting. I began to eat as I waited for him to wake up. He let out a another moan and I saw his facial muscles tense, but his eyes didn’t open.

“I know you are awake. I was hoping you could answer a few questions. I am sure you have mental log out set up, but I can keep your auto-pilot alive for quite some time.”

“Fuck you!” He then bit down on his tongue and kept his mouth shut. Well if he wanted pain before he left, I pulled out a dagger. I slowly drove it into each eyeball as he coughed up blood. I made sure to stay behind his head so he couldn’t spray it at me.

With the eyes popped, I then got to work on the rest of his body, peeling piece by piece. He definitely wouldn’t need them anymore and he really should have been more polite. If someone has you at their mercy, you aren’t rude unless you like pain.

I picked up some pebbles and pushed them into the cut portions of his body. I had no idea how painful that would be, hopefully a lot. I didn’t have a way to yank out his nails which was disappointing.

I could sense the end was coming and leaned down next to his ear. “This is a message. You come for me, you get the Blood Rain special.” I then put my flame blade close to his scalp and began scorching off his flesh and air. He let out a number of pained half screams half-blood gurgles before he finally died.

With my fate so high, I decided to go for broke. I was Tafe’s champion and I wanted every advantage I could get. Cannibal gave me a 1% boost to constitution and fate per level. I began slicing pieces off the corpse to cook and eat. I swear I could almost taste the fear juice locked inside of it. I began going through my screens as I relaxed my feet in the fire. With a hundred and ten percent immunity it was like a gentle massage.

Misdirection-5 MAXProjection-1

Which one?

An illusion given a single command can be projected 5 seconds per LvL

Cost: 100 MPDepraved-18Cannibal-5 MAX

Unfortunately Cannibal maxed out at level five. On the flip side I had gained a pretty useless active skill. A short lived clone that cost an insane amount of MP. Burst Speed and Concealed Movement were a far superior combination. Well it was always good to have options.

Quest Completed-HardKill Tracking Team EpsilonKill your pursuers, by turning the hunters into the hunted+1000 EXP

+1 Stat Point

Quest-HardLost ArmLearn what happened to your lost arm+1000 EXP

+1 Stat PointAccept (Yes/No)

I was happy I got another stat point. I then looked at the next quest. I thought about where I had last seen my arm. I had left it in Breckley next to Sir Willos’ corpse. That quest spoke of all kinds of bad news. Just when I think I am catching a break, this happens. I let out a sigh, since that probably meant Just Han had it and was using it for something that was bad news for me.

The fact he hadn’t gloated about it or showed it off was no encouraging. I checked my recording of my conversation with him and noted that one of the priests on his boat had not been focused on Lady Breckley but a box off to the side. That confirmed it, Just Han had taken my arm.

***

BurnBaby: I can’t unsee that

TheWinzKid: Blood Rain is so hardcore, the demons go to Blood Rain’s home when they die

UltimataSecret: Please don’t torture me if I come after you

6996: Ummm, you just got a 50% intelligence debuff

Worm: I am amazed the guy stayed alive for so long

GambleMan: here to keep betting on when Blood Rain bites it

Bouncer: You don’t have an option for if he doesn’t die, what a scam

6996: Duh, he is secretly Blood Rain, taking in all the chumps monies

GODHAXLOL: OUCHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

***

Author’s Note: For anyone doubting there can be that much spray, you should look up 'leopord sprayed with blood' in Google.