Part Twelve – Ethics of Murder

We began to divvy out the loot. Obviously, we kept the Dungeon clear rewards we were given. I also decided to keep some of the E-Rank armor drops, so we would have some back-ups.

I also used the Skill Scroll. Mostly because I had few abilities to fight with. The more cards I had up my sleeve, the greater my chances of survival would be.

Sword Aura – Cloaks a sword in mana. Reinforces the cutting edge of the blade, and strengthens its durability.

This was an excellent skill to acquire. It wasn’t as flashy as Beast of the Nightmare, but its mana consumption was much more fuel efficient. I could only use Beast of the Nightmare four times before running out of mana, whereas I could probably keep Sword Aura up for over an hour. Though, I hadn’t had a chance to test how it improved my fighting ability.

“Well that went well.” I was very happy with the results from clearing the dungeon. Enough to ignore Alicia’s disgruntled glare.

“Well good for you! I had to go through a traumatic experience, but at least you had fun!” she’s not gonna let this go.

“Eh. Maybe that was extreme, but it worked. Results are what matter, and if you can deal with undead, then it all works out.”

“Ooooh, you’re such a jerk!”

We’d finished sorting through everything, so we began to make our way out of the dungeon. Cleared dungeons would only disappear an hour or so after all the challengers had left. This meant we were in no hurry to leave.

“I’m looking forward to trying out my new skill. It’s always fun to get a new toy.” Alicia rolled her eyes at me. She must think I’m a battle junkie.

“You’re such a battle junkie. We still need to find a way to help Cameron.” She’s right.

“We should make our way back towards the shelter. So long as we don’t get too close, we’ll eventually have a chance to meet him.”

“I just hope he’s okay. I’m not sure what Hansen and his men might do.” That was something we were both concerned about.

I could hear footsteps echoing through the cave. That could mean only one thing.

“Alicia, be careful. There’s people up ahead.”

“Militia?”

“Probably. This isn’t good. If they’ve got guns, we won’t be able to deal with them.” The dungeon was a straight line. There was no corners to use for cover.

“Maybe they’ll be peaceful?”

“There’s little chance of that. If they’re anything like Hansen, they won’t let us go easily.” But I did have a plan.

[???’s POV]

“This is pissing me off!” The captain was getting irritated. They’d been moving through the dungeon, but had yet to come across anything.

“It’s clearly obvious that someone else has come through here.”

“There’s no other squads in the area. That means it has to be that guy the Boss told us about, the one we’re supposed to capture.”

“He’s supposed to have some good equipment. Do ya think the boss will let us keep it?”

“Eh, probably not. He’ll want that for himself or Vincent."

That provoked a round of scoffing from the men. While they might feel loyalty for the boss, his bitchy little son was a far cry from deserving their respect.

“Hey, Greg. Wasn’t there a girl who ran off with him? Think we might be able to have some fun with her?” That caused all the men to smirk.

“Heh, heh. Yeah, this could be fun. I’m tired of the women at the shelter. They either don’t react anymore, or just sob.”

They soon came to the set of doors that opened into the Boss Room. Only this time, they were open. The room showed clear signs of battle, but there was no one inside.

“What the hell!? There’s no one here.”

“Maybe they left already?”

“Tch. I was looking forward to this. Wonder where the girl went. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll come across her later.”

Almost immediately after that line was said, two of the men were suddenly assaulted. Knives had come out of nowhere to stab them in the back.

“”Gaaaaaaaaa”” They both fell to the ground, unable to move.

As that was happening, an arrow went through the captain’s knee, causing him to drop his gun.

“Fuck! It’s an ambush! Get up you fuckwits!”

As the captain was screaming at his men, a figure burst out of the shadows, heading for the last man standing. He tried to block with his gun, only for the figure’s sword to shear through it. Then the sword went through him.

[Protag’s POV]

Oh fuck! I just killed someone! I hadn’t intended to do that. My body had followed its muscle memory, causing me to kill him.

::Individual has met the requirements. Individual has acquired Title: Murderer.::

WHAT THE FUCK!? The System is condemning me now? I didn’t have time to banter with the System. Alicia had broke out of Stealth and was approaching.

“Michael! W-w-what did you do? Why did you kill him? I thought we were going to disable them.” She was having a panic attack.

“YOU LITTLE SHITS! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

The only militiamen who could still move was the one who Alicia had shot through the knee. He was trying to get his gun, while cursing us out. I sensed danger, so I kicked the rifle away, then kicked him in the head.

“Alicia. Take a deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out. Feel better now?”

“Y-yes, but you still shouldn’t have done that. Killing someone is wrong."

Was it? These ‘men' were talking about things that were both illegal and morally wrong. I’d only panicked because I hadn’t intended to kill him. But now? They were clearly after us and I had a strict policy of never leaving enemies alive.

Should I just kill the rest? Drastic times call for drastic measures and all that.

“Leave Alicia. You don’t want to see this.”

“But-.”

“Just leave. Now.”

My tone brooked no argument from her, so she reluctantly left the Boss Room. I knew I was going to catch hell about thus later, but it was something I didn’t think she should see.

“You bastard! You think you’re going to get away with this? The Boss’ll hunt you down. You’ll never escape!”

That’s such a two-bit villain line that it makes me laugh. Doesn’t he understand the situation? Or is he as big a moron as he looks?

“Pfft, hehe heheheh hahahahahah. Are you an imbecile? How’s he going to know what happened? Is he some psychic? There’s no way out of this for you.”

As their fates set in, their faces paled.

Murderer – A Title awarded to one who has killed someone of the same species. Requirement for the Murderer Class.

Class? Is that similar to evolution? The more I learn about the System, the more questions I have.

We were currently taking a break in a nearby house. Alicia was deep in thought, probably still warring with herself. While I wasn’t going to go looking for someone to kill, I decided that if I had to, it would be better to be prepared.

I wasn’t going to force her to be comfortable with it, but I fully believed that there would be moments in the coming days where it would be necessary. Not everyone would be able to keep their morals in this environment. Some people would inevitably have a type of breakdown, committing atrocities without hesitation.

“If you’re uncomfortable around me now, we can always go our separate ways.”

“NO! No, that’s not necessary. I’m just struggling. I’ve never even thought about killing someone. So I’m overwhelmed.”

“I’m not saying you need to be prepared to kill, but there’s a definite possibility that we might have to.”

“I know that, but surely there’s another way. If we give in, what’s the difference between us and them?”

“Principle. We don’t hurt those who aren’t trying to hurt us.”

The only thing that differentiated us from monsters, was that humans were capable of kindness. If we gave that up, we’d be no different from them. Keeping our humanity was my utmost priority, but at the same time, it wouldn’t matter if we died.

“Well, what now? If the militia keep coming after us, then we won’t be safe here.”

“They are after me. If we separate, the they won’t have any reason to come after you. I can probably help get you out of the city, then I’ll try to get to Cameron and help him out.”

“Not a chance. I’m not getting out of here without either of you. And why are you so eager to leave anyway?”

“I’ve got a bad feeling. The way the monsters set a perimeter, instead of trying a frontal assault leads me to believe there’s something leading them. Something smart.”

“Should we tell Cameron? He’s in danger and he doesn’t even know it.”

“Yeah, we’ll have to keep an eye on the shelter til we can make contact with him.”

[???’s POV]

It worked.

An unstoppable army, one that would crush the human’s resistance, was finally finished. The resurrection ritual had taken hours, but it was more than worth it.

It would wait, recovering its strength, and pull back the rest of its army.

Soon. Very soon.

[Cameron’s POV]

“What the hell do you mean!? Four of our squads disappeared? Then find them!” Something had gotten Hansen in a bad mood.

It had been a couple days since Cameron started to live at the shelter, and he was already sick of it. Someone was always screaming, usually Hansen, and it was increasingly obvious that the militia was abusing people.

“Do I have to do EVERYTHING!? You’re USELESS!"

If only I’d gone with Michael and Alicia. Cameron wanted to meet them again. He still had the axes Michael gave him. If wishes were fishes, I’d be swimming in the ocean.

“Get out of my sight, you pathetic shit!”

Even if they were fighting against endless monster hordes, it would still be better than this. Seeing the violence that Hansen and his men wielded made him sick. Those who had his favor were allowed to do whatever they wanted, while those who didn’t were pushed around.

“Cameron, my friend. Would you do me a little favor?”

This is hell.

[Protag’s POV]

“Is it smaller than a loaf of bread?”

“No.”

“Is it alive?”

“Yes.”

“Is it a Claw Monkey?”

“Damn it. You got me.”

We were playing twenty questions, and I’d lost five times in a row. I couldn’t tell if it was because she was so good, or if I just stunk at the game. I’d even used a monster for the last game and I’d still lost.

“I’m done playing. You’re too good at this. I even used old TV shows and you still got it right.” What was with that. I thought teenagers weren’t supposed to know about shows from the last millennium.

“Just one more. This is so boring! We’ve been watching the entrance for days now. Aside from some patrols not returning, nothings happened.”

“Don’t you think that in itself is something to worry about. Hansen’s militia is heavily armed. Anything capable of killing a full squad has to be at least D-Rank. If a C-Rank shows up, I say we run.”

I wasn’t going to risk my life if I didn’t have to. C-Rank monsters were simply on a different level. My run-in with the Weregoblin showed that to me.

“Not only is the militia taking casualties, but the monsters are thinning out. Almost like something is pulling them back." Finding monsters to hunt had gotten increasingly harder.

“Alright, alright. Do you really think somethings about to happen?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a bad feeling and lately, my hunches have a bad habit of coming true. Something is marshaling an army. I don’t want to get caught up in it, but I think it’s inevitable.”

Alicia had calmed down. While she didn’t approve of what I’d done, she did seem to see why it was necessary. I wasn’t planning on actively hunting the militia, but if they came after us, I wouldn’t hesitate.

It wasn’t like all we’d done was watch them. We had done some tests on our new gear.

First was Alicia’s arrows. The Blitz Enchantment they had caused the arrow to almost immediately hit the target. It was sudden enough, that I didn’t think I’d be able to evade them. Coincidentally, the knife I took from the Goblin Assassin had the same enchantment. Even if I threw it with minimal force, it still reached my target in a moment.

Sword Aura had proven to be even better than I thought it would. Though I could only cloak one sword at a time, it greatly strengthened its ability to cut through monsters. While I was only able to do basic moves with it for now, I had great expectations of what it could do later on.

“Oh, another squad is-. Michael, look! It’s Cameron!”

It was indeed him, but he wasn’t alone. He was with ten other militiamen, including Vincent. That would make contacting him hard. We already knew the militia was after me and Vincent surely held a hefty grudge.

“We’ll need to keep an eye on them. Wait for an opportunity to meet Cameron. He doesn’t look too happy, so he might come with us. Then we can try and escape from this hell.”

Little did we know, opportunity was hurtling right towards us.