Chapter 18

Violence is the Best Medicine

Siva, in between his hunts when he’s resting, looks up his notes and tries to decipher the code.

Ask the basic question…

“Damn old man. What basic question?! There are no such thing as the basic question! You fooling me?!”

And he threw a rock towards the dark side of the forest. Even though it was the middle of the day, light does not pass through the thick branches of the trees and so the ground below seemed as if it was night. The only light there was the very tiny openings and it gave the impression that it was the afternoon.

To where he threw the rock, a few C-rank monsters came. Five of them. And seeing them, Siva could only feel as much happy as when he knew he found his goal.

“Come on!”

As he taunted, the first monster lunged an attack.

It was a Heron.

It’s a monster with a skin made of solidified blood and this monster was actually those that belonged in the boundaries of C and B rank. Since it was a monster that lives by eating other monsters, its ability was inclined to like a T-Rex, alongside its appearance that looked like its smaller ten meters high version.

The attack was made up of a thrusting motion with a bite when they see you on their peripheral vision.

And so he dealt the attack just how he dealt any of the same monster tackles before.

A punch right through its attack.

He met the attack with an attack of his own. He did not jump aside as any beginner would commit when in a fight against them. These monsters actually use their weakness as their asset and it was an effective and very deadly asset.

Just when his fist was about to make contact to the monster’s skull, even though it was three times his size, the Air Shot activated along with an invisible anti-recoil field behind his elbow. The frame of the Cassius Clay reinforced itself, allowing shock to the user come as if punching a normal sandbag. Thus, a knuckle weapon is born. Based on the form of his attack, the anti-recoil field will also change. When his fist is in axing motion (Karate Chop —which in his current level is effective only on D-rank monsters), the anti-recoil field is on the hand that serves as the blade.

The laser sensor that detected it activated both skills and Siva’s attack deflected the monster’s attack. They both got rejected by each other’s power but it was Siva who was in a bind since the monster easily recovered its balance using its large hind legs.

What more, its four friends also joined the fray that made Siva jump back to retreat in a more distant place.

Damn it.

Surrounded, he could not hope that there is going to be help coming his way. All he could do now is to do what he’s been doing all these time. And with the wild fight thought running in his head, Siva clenched his fist and prepared to meet them.

He kicked the ground and dived with all his effort. A straight line of dust came to where he took a step and he did it again, but this time, in a zigzag, to avoid being bitten by the monster’s large mouth. This wasn’t effect of an ability or any physical or equipment upgrade, this is pure ability born from his years of fighting (and also escaping) gangs and school raids alone.

He dodged the first, then the second, and when the third came, instead of dodging, he clapped his hands and a new kind of attack using air bellowed from him.

It was a technological technique that focuses on the impact to create a sonic boom towards the front side.

The effectiveness of this attack is just as far as three meters from Siva and it actually needed a full swing of the hands to maximize its effect. The effect, however, is that all living beings three meters away around the user will be subjected to air shock that numbs the body.

And at that, looking at the staggering monster, Siva jumped up and summoned a sword in exchange for his Cassius Clay.

He climbed up the monster’s body, gripped its scaly head and with its last moments alive looked at Siva’s face with an expression that told him his death is near.

“Yes…” Siva whispered as he pointed the sword’s tip towards its left eye. “Yes! I am your devil!”

And he stabbed it through, moderately fast, not quick and definitely not slow. The monster cried but Siva still continued to put it in deeper. And until the sword had reached its brain, with Siva’s hand holding it a few cm away from the eye, he ordered the weapon to do what simple function the blade had to do.

Grind.

Inside the monster’s head, the smooth blade snapped open and it became small blades like a chainsaw.

But the idea for it was different. It was Siva’s very unique idea. He used all of the Grinder fangs he had gathered to create the blade and used previous Heron’s bones he collected to use for the hilt and the guard.

Using alternating fluctuating tiny magnetic fields to move the small blades, it will not move in just one way, but rather, since it has an alternating magnetic fields in the tiny blade’s roots, it will move up and down in a straight line and will recreate the chainsaw effect in that manner. Although it may sound very powerful, the fact remained that it was a D-class weapon and so it wasn’t something that can be used to attack thick scales like the one these Herons had.

But, the catch is, it was a very effective weapon once it was working inside the soft spongy innards of a large monster. With that idea, combined with his unique CQC fighting style, Siva’s brutal hunt had just became more brutal and monster murder had just been given a new meaning.

It happened just as fast as he climbed up.

One second. That’s all it took him to kill the first one of the five. The other four couldn’t attack their comrade since they knew that the food was still onboard but as soon as they realized that their food was this dangerous, their instincts told their body to run away.

But alas, there was something inside them that was actually resisting their brain’s command. It was as if it was telling them to kill or be killed.

They can’t seem to resist his charm.

‘Why?’

‘Bro, why can’t we escape?’

‘I don’t know but when I’m looking at that Terran, my mouth seem to drool in hunger.’

‘Bro, me too!’

‘Me three!’

‘I want to eat him!’

‘Let’s escape…let’s escape to eat him.’

‘That’s conflictingly stupid bro…’

‘I don’t get it.’

‘Eat…attack him…kill him…’

The monsters talked to themselves as if they were in a trans. Their small brains failed to realize that they were already under Siva’s ability from the moment they entered his 100m radius territory, the Killing Zone.

It was a unique ability.

Just like in items, or equipments, of any other things in Terroa that had ranks and classifications, or even types of rarity, abilities also had rarity levels.

It starts from being Rare, Special, Legendary, and yes, being Unique.

If a player in the beginning of his game chooses to put 50% or more of his free stat points at any given stat, he would get the privilege to choose his initial skill or ability to a peculiar list.

That list ranges from Normal to Unique, depending on the settings of the skills of the user.

But there are rules, advantages, and disadvantages to this kind of privilege.

For example, in Henna’s case, she was an Archer but she also considered his defenses and his athleticism so after he spent 50% of her stats to DEX, which changed it on its advanced form, CON (Constitution), she spent the other 50% on AGI, STR, STA, and VIT. And so, basing on that setting, he received the opportunity to choose her initial skill from the build she had initially decided.

And as a Rare Skill, Hawkeye, she became adept in her archery, but not as effective as a pure Archer, who can shoot four arrows every second.

At 70% stat distribution, she could choose Double Shot or Strong Bow as an initial ability. All of these are Special Skills.

At 90%, she can choose one of the Legendary Skills Gyro Shot, Synergy, or even the Healing Arrow which is an ability inclined to the magical properties of the Holy Element that can heal wounds to a certain extent.

And then at 100% distribution to DEX, she could choose from Snipe, Ignore Defense, Quad Shot, or the coveted skill Arrow Storm.

But this would only work if he chose to be an Archer in the first place. Because as what was said, there are more to the 100% DEX distribution than just skills made for archery.

In Siva’s case, the ability he chose, Killing Zone, is an ability that doesn’t actually belong to any specific class of fighting style. It can belong to any, actually, but it was still a unique skill for it can only effect the user and nobody else.

As an example, whenever he’s agitated and in search for more enemy, that’s when the skill activates and only affects him. In short, it was a skill for loners.

Its purpose is that when a monster entered the 100m radius from the user’s origin, that monster would then be attracted to an irresistible smell leading it towards Siva. Its restriction affects his rank. Although unwritten in any form, player rank is determined by the highest kind of monster he had killed. So, even in Siva’s shoes, since he’s only killed C-ranked monsters so far, his rank is currently C. It would only increase when he kills any B-ranked monster and along with it is the rank of monsters that can be attracted to his smell.

The effect of the ability was that it will lower the enemy’s defense by 70% but the side effect is that there actually is no limit to any number that can be attracted to his direction. Meaning, if there are over a thousand C-ranked enemies in his 100m radius territory, includes D and E-ranks too, Siva had no choice but to fight them all or die.

On the side note, it only works on those that Siva had recognized as his enemies.

Kill or be killed.

For that reason, he’s been slowly but continuously enhancing his equipments one by one until he reaches the maximum level he can improve and upgrade them.

But that doesn’t mean he can be limited to only one kind of weapon. He was still a player after all. And with the privilege to all users that they are free to use any kind of fighting style and weapon, as long as their we would allow it, they are individually a huge unstoppable force.

As soon as he pulled off the blade from the Heron’s eye, his blood spilled clothes bade a vision of cruelty. He turned around and glared at the enemies, and with a flash of light, his equipment came back to being with Cassius Clay.

Naturally, all players are given an opportunity to set a maximum of three default equipments which they can interchange (reequip) at any moment’s notice. Unused items on their pre-entered settings are saved back into their inventory and as long as their weight units (we) allows it, the equipment settings can be controlled.

The four remaining monsters roared and two came at him at the same time. Each took left and right flank and the other two attacked from the front side.

In theory, these four are no different from just two large Herons attacking him. But that only applies on the defenses. Their attacking ability and their actual power output wasn’t a bit affected, making them as dangerous as they normally are without Siva’s ability’s effects.

But Siva was a person who never goes into war with nothing but shirt and sticks on.

He knew these facts and so he greeted them with his third equipment settings. And this time, it made use of consumable items that he himself is reluctant on using.

But still, this is an equipment that he had invented himself and he was positive that it will work.

Eibon and Steve.

As he thought out the names, the Cassius Clay on his arms vanished and two handguns materialized on his hands instead. The one on the left had a crimson silvery luster while the one on the right had a blackish gold color that shines beautifully in the dim light.

Of course, these are still on its prototype but him using these two are for one single purpose alone.

Blinding the enemy.

He fired off bullets and spent the full seven bullets clip each on the monsters up front.

When he had depleted the bullets, the goal was met to the one on the right but the one on the left protected its eyes by closing them but stepped back as he was in a state of shock from the wounds he received.

The flankers came, Siva dashed forward. Actually, in that situation, jumping back would have been a big fatal error for these monsters had a thrusting motion that can close ten meters gap in an instant. But when they are changing their direction when in their full swing thrust, their center of gravity would take time to shift from leg to leg, giving him enough time to kill the closed eyed bastard in front.

While the blinded one hits its head on the ground and the trees trying to drive away the pain, the other one recovered its bearing and saw him next.

Too bad for him, Siva was already five meters away from his monstrous face and while he kicked the air and did an Air Jump, the sword he had summoned in a split second was already on its way to his right eye. This time, not only this monster will be blind, but he’d also be dead —something that Siva enjoyed the sensation time and time again.

The monster could only let out a roar as its brain became minced meat inside its head.

Brutality was now Siva’s song and the two surviving Herons growled in anger and agony.

“Yes! Yes! Come on!” As he yelled, he exchanged weapons again. In a full swing punch, Air Shot was released and this made the left one’s head and his fist fly up in unison. But instead of going against the flow, Siva followed the momentum and Air Jumped using the other foot that brought him higher than the two’s jaws can reach.

While high up in the air, he summoned the guns and changed its magazine. Then he fired in the direction of the staggering Heron while he watched with wary eyes the actions of the other one.

It was waiting for him to land.

Too bad for you, I know you’re waiting for me.

He fired right on the left one’s face and even though he had poor accuracy, he still managed to shoot off one of its eye before he ran out of very expensive bullets.

Twenty eight bullets, 120K Zentra, gone. If he sell these four monsters’ parts, he could get 140K Zentra so deep inside his head, he had been telling himself to succeed or het goes broke. Kill or be killed.

As this thought entered his mind, he started to wear a smile. It was this one special feeling itself that made a Virtual Reality game very exciting. The difference of being able to move your own body than just a 3D avatar is so huge that it was overkill. Actually, this is the very same feeling that the players of the 3D world have been craving for.

Now he understood.

In Terroa, that craving had been long since forgotten because of the very harsh environment and the system’s nature that the game developers imposed on the users.

The thought “I must survive” gave birth to the poor conservative playing style that killed the enjoyment and the real excitement of a Virtual Reality game.

But now, he finally know the reason why it was made this way. He finally knew why it was harsh up to this point. He had finally realized the reason why this world was set to such a degree, it was almost hateable. And lastly, now he knows the reason why all of those people who went after his life were angry about. They also felt this feeling, but, ended up dying because the feeling overpowered their attention.

It was this exhilarating sensation that was addicting about this game. And now, Siva had found a name to that indescribable hunger he felt when he first stepped into Terroa. It was actually with him all along and he was just not accepting and was actually just denying it.

That name, that feeling, it was pleasure in violence.

Suddenly, he felt his whole body became alive. His attention became sharper, his senses more alert, and his reflexes…a lot more smoother. Naturally, the moment he accepted that name, something in him changed. No. There was something in him that woke up.

As he spent all of his bullets to that one monster, his eyes were already set towards the other enemy.

It was waiting there for him like a crocodile to its prey. But no, he thought happily.

I am not the prey. You are.

A smile flashed on his lips. Then the smile became a grin that could send an E-rank monster retreating, then the grin became a laugh, and that laugh was cold and sounded sinister.

The moment that he felt that gravity was pulling him back to the ground, he tilted his body, changed back to Cassius Clay, and dived in head first towards the last normal monster while looking at each other eye to eye.

The monster jumped, he knew it would jump, since all these time it’s been bending its leg. But then, as if he knew it already, Siva did nothing but waited for the plan on his mind to happen. It’s because the other one who had his one eye shot down, was waving its head, frantically trying to lessen the pain.

In his waving of its head, he ended up head hitting his companion’s neck. The jaws that was supposed to eat Siva whole changed direction and Siva then felt that the charging was completed.

It’s been 20 seconds already. His right fist is ready for use. It was this sudden awareness of his surrounding that made him wonder how it was possible.

And so with no wasted time, he punched down.

The Air Shot hit the normal one’s right side of the face and its expression rung the bells of effectivity since it did looked up as he fully absorbed direct air pressure.

Its head motioned to collapse to the ground but since Siva himself was in midair when he used the technique, he was also pushed a bit upwards. On his way down, he changed his gear to the Ender, and he stabbed the white bladed sword on the fallen one’s eye as he fell down.

No painful roars were made, it’s brain had been made numb from the air pressure that directly fed from its head’s pores.

Two more to go.

As soon as he turned his head, he wasted no time and climbed up the nearest staggering blinded monster. And after ten seconds more since he climbed, it fell down dead along with a painful roar.

The last monster paused to feel for his surroundings and he faced the direction where he had thought the last dying scream came.

But then a voice came from the other direction.

“I‘m here.”

And next that happened, the monster died.