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Something interesting that Lock had noticed about Possess, was that it was possible to exit the body of the animal one had taken over, with a bit of momentum. The feeling was similar to holding a ball under water, and then letting it go. It shot out with a 'plop', spraying water everywhere. Sadly, the effect was mirrored on Friedrich's body as Lock was violently ejected out of the mouse. Blood splattered onto the ground where he'd snuck the mouse up to, and was joined shortly after by the blood of Dog Breath, who had dodged a fatal blow to the neck by seemingly instinct, and had instead only gotten the dagger rammed through his leather armour clad shoulder.

Dog Breath sprang away with widened eyes from his would be assassin, who'd appeared seemingly from nowhere just as he was rushing in to take another chunk out of the boss. Lock didn't care. He had two hands, and in the other he held a vial of blood essence, which, after a moment of reorientation to find the Curador, he quickly lobbed in the healers general direction.

Thankfully the Curador had frozen up at Lock's emergence, and therefore the vial landed directly at his feet, where it exploded, bringing a veritable torrent of a substance indistinguishable from blood with it. The Curador was soaked, promptly fell to his knees, shaking all over, bond (it was green!) with Light dissipating, and screamed.

Lock didn't have the luxury of watching the spectacle any longer however, only being able to see that both the Legil and the Vídd were being successfully incapacitated by the twins, before he had to start frantically dodging Dog Breath's quick-paced one armed attack. The kid obviously had more points in Agility and Dexterity than Lock. Even with an impaired arm, and a clouded mind -if the rage-filled scream was any indication-, he was beginning to pressure Lock backwards.

Lock didn't really mind to be honest. Time after all, was on his side. Mia was gently laying down the unmoving form of the Vídd and moving towards him, and the Legil was being harshly choked out by Tia, poisoned dagger stuck in his thigh.

The only wild cards present at this point were the boss, and Light. Either of them could still change the situation to Lock's detriment depending on what they did. Thankfully both of them seemed intent on doing... absolutely nothing but continuing to fight each other. This perplexed Lock, but keeping an eye on the situation while he dodged Dog Breath's attacks didn't reveal anything but the boss continuing to wail on Light, and Light barely being able to deflect the strikes. Ah no, Light was definitely doing something, his shield was glowing blue, brighter and brighter.

Sadly Lock was unable to witness the crescendo of the Skill Light was using, due to having to duck, letting Dog Breath's sword scrape along his helmet. He did however hear the frightful bang resonating throughout the room and the boss being blasted past him into the back end wall of the chamber in his periphery.

The words that Light shouted out next gave him enough of a clue of what was going to happen next to start preparing his own plans.

“Kib! You have that knight guy under control, I'll take care of the ones in the back!” Light shouted as his hulking armoured figure rushed Mia, who had been stalking ever closer to Lock's fight with Dog Breath. Whose name was apparently Kib.

Mia naturally did what every Ninja would do in her situation of being rushed by a veritable tank swinging around a shield that was probably heavier than her. She flipped backwards several times over and halted in not as much a defensive position, but one where she could run away from a confrontation more easily.

Only for Light to run past, not even looking in her direction, heading straight for Tia, who, in fright, dropped the thankfully unconscious seeming Legil, and also retreated backwards. Only for Light to ignore her completely as well, rush towards the door leading out of the boss room, and jump through it like he'd grown wings.

Lock was so insulted by the action that he almost froze up during the fight, and only barely managed to avoid receiving a lobotomy.

“After him!” Lock shouted as he pedalled backwards, seeking to gain enough space so he could shout out his next words. “He can't get up the rope that quickly in his armour, cut the rope anyway in case he can!” He finished, watching as Kib's face turned feral in an expression of pure hatred, although now, it was not directed at him.

Kib clutched his sword so hard Lock heard one of his fingers break. Turning his head upwards the boy gave a mighty howl that reverberated quite loudly in the cave, echoing on for several seconds. A flash of purple enveloped Lock, dissipating by the time Kib turned his head towards him again. Maw of Marmortius, which had activated and waited for this moment ever since he'd successfully sneak-attacked Dog Breath, had just blocked a magical effect, and some damage. The howl had been a Skill, and not a cry of outrage.

Now, Lock had reached a critical stage in the fight, and had to guess what exactly the Skill was supposed to accomplish, so he could act like he had been affected, and lure Kib in.

He faltered in indecision, not being able to decide if a howl indicated that he should be afraid and running away wildly, or frozen. The moment of indecision ironically led to him making the correct choice.

“Die.” Kib growled as he lunged at Lock for what was hopefully the last time. The stab directed at the eye-slit in Lock's helmet was sloppy, probably due to the Inu believing that Lock couldn't resist anyway.

Well, Lock could resist, and thus he did, he ducked under the stab, in the same languid move pulled out his own fang-like sword, and thrust it upwards into Kib's throat. Lock would have added a funny quip, something like, 'No, you die.', but quite honestly he didn't even have the time to properly enjoy having killed the young man, a quip was hardly appropriate.

He was already running past Kib before his body had even expired, going as fast as he could to catch up with Light. But alas, when he stepped through the door created by the dimensional knob he was greeted by an odd sight.

Well, rather by a perfectly normal one really. After all, a gigantic dimensional Gate instead of a ceiling was the odd one out. What Lock was getting at, was that the Gate wasn't there anymore. The only reminder of it having ever existed being the cleanly cut rope. Light however was there. Standing by the door that lead to the room with about 20 golems, he seemed to be having a sort of stand off with the twins. Lock's appearance was apparently enough to end it. Light quickly opening the door he was standing in front of and closing it behind himself.

The twins made to pursue, but Lock stopped them. “Wait. The guy is an idiot. Leave him be.”

Mia turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

“The dungeon is closed. With the Gate disappearing the only exit is the official one, which only opens in seven hours. Light has nowhere to run, literally. We have the potions, we have the numbers, let's just wait a bit before giving chase so he can tire himself out being paranoid of being ambushed.” He explained, at which Mia simply nodded, before coming over to stand by his side.

“What about us though, aren't we stuck here too?” Tia complained.

“We're the good guys, the heroes who stopped the evil nobles from destroying the beginner dungeon. We can leave by official channels.” Lock said, while lamenting the fact that killing the boss was now out of the question.

“You should kill the incapacitated ones now, while we still have time.” Mia said, still sticking to his side.

Lock considered her words, before deciding that she was right. It would be better to do it now. Walking back to glance at the gigantic boss collapsed against the back wall, shuddering, and apparently pulling himself back together if the earth crawling up his body and being assimilated was any indication, it would be better to do it before the boss fully recovered and came after them.

Thankfully Lock had already reached level ten in Vanguard with Dog Breath's death. He wouldn't have to rouse the others and club them over the head with his sword in open combat to level the Class.

Going over to the frail-looking Vídd, he turned the poor bastard over, Mia had severed his spine with her blade, which he noticed by how... floppy, the body was. Without any preamble, and without bothering to meet the boy's eyes, he pulled out a dagger and slit his throat. He quite enjoyed it really. 'Sorry, but your redemption has met an untimely demise. You'll be dying a failure and a disgrace instead of experiencing the joys of ascension.' He singsonged in his head, trying to emulate a call center worker informing a customer that they were getting put on hold.

Remembering just in time that he was supposed to outwardly act like he was enjoying this as well. The reason he'd given to the twins for chasing after the Castouts in the first place, he stayed sitting and stretched out a hand to open the dying mage's eyelids. He gave a fake shudder, mildly orgasmic, as the eyes signalled that the body had turned into a corpse, and then walked over to the Legil to repeat the process.

A level each, not bad.

Finally turning his attention to the Curador, who was still lying completely catatonic in a puddle of aromatic blood, he was interrupted by Mia.

“How does it feel, killing someone I mean?” She asked.

Lock paused, innerly scratching his head. What was he supposed to say here. Honestly, killing to him was just a chore unless he had an emotional connection to the victim. Like the envy that he'd held for the Castouts for daring to jubilate at the thought of transcending their personal deepest lows. It was like killing a farm animal so that one could later eat some meat. Sometimes one enjoyed it if the animal had been a right bastard in life. But really, killing was usually simply an action that was required to get something one wanted. In this case, Experience. He wouldn't have went after the Castouts, no matter his emotions, if he hadn't seen any personal gain in it. But there came the lie again, he'd told them that he enjoyed killing in general, so he'd need to make up some fantasy to make it sound like a meaningful emotional pastime. How did actual sociopaths feel about murder?

“It's an exercise of power, ending someone else's life. An object of infinite potential, cutting short the thread on just a whim. It's addicting. Especially if one manages to cut the thread just as it was beginning to innerly jubilate out of finally achieving something in life. The Vídd, would he have maybe become a competent and well-respected mage despite his physical frailty? Very much a possibility I'd say, he was throwing out an offensive spell, lead a ritual, had a dimensional knob. We'll never know however, because I ended his life. It's over for him.” Lock laid a gentle hand on Legils cheek, stroking it. “Legil, a drug addict, a failure. He still managed to learn Telekinesis competently enough. That's enough to live off of to be honest. You can complete many jobs that take peasants hours in several minutes. He could have lived a nice life, even as an addict, since he could have always had enough money to not have to go sober. Maybe he'd even find a wife and have a few kids. Who knows. All this completely disregarding the fact on how successful they could have been had they been able to complete the mission, and regain the support of their families” Lock stood up. “All in all, I'd say that nothing makes you feel more alive than taking the life of someone else. The dichotomy. It reaffirms your existence, knowing that killing is something you’re capable of.” He finished, and gently turned his head towards the twins, dagger dripping blood onto the floor in his right hand.

He hoped this little theatre play had been convincing enough that he'd never have to go through with it again. Going by Tia's disgusted grimace it had been. Mia however... Mia looked morbidly curious, and dare he say, admiring?

“Can I? Can I try?” She managed to stutter out, a slight blush on her cheeks.

Lock was taken aback, before he started considering it. The Curador was the Healer, having hemophobia had probably prevented him from ever gaining many levels, therefore he wouldn't be worth that much experience. Still substantial, but something Lock could sacrifice to make Mia, and therefore her sister, much more invested in the mission. Some experience in return for some more security after they parted ways. Decisions, decisions.

“Go for it.” He eventually said, and watched her stiffly made her way to the Curador, who tried to feebly push her away with his arms, and pull him up by his hair, laying her tanto to his neck. She froze in the position, not moving for several seconds.

Lock sighed and walked over to her, pulling of his gauntlets. Squatting down in the puddle of blood next to her he laid a hand over hers, gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze with his other one, and helped her drag the blade over the weakly struggling and crying man's throat.

He stepped back a bit and continued watching Mia. One minute, two minutes. The girl eventually stood up and turned around.

The corpse made a splat on the ground once she let it go. Her face was flushed, and her eyes were a bit puffy, there was a content smile on her face.

“How was it?” He asked, hearing Tia throw up behind him.

“Good.” Mia answered.

Kruto. Lock was seriously looking forward to the end of this mission, if only so he could get away from these psychos.

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