I stood there, stunned by the chunks of flesh scattered around. Yamanda was speckled with blood, but she seemed unfazed. It struck me then - even if we didn’t consider these beings as people, the way we killed them was still weird.
Yes, they were evil. But most people struggle with the brutality of killing. Given the choice between a gun and a knife to kill a bad person, most would choose the gun to avoid the up-close and personal nature of killing.
Some might choose the knife, thinking they could withstand the screams, blood, torn flesh, and exposed organs. But when faced with the reality, many would back down or feign indifference, only to break down in private later.
Yet, I was certain that I would feel nothing when I returned to our sleeping quarters. This indifference, you would think expect from a person that has been killing for a while like Yamanda.
Perhaps we were chosen as defenders of reality because each of us had a screw loose...
Welp, who cares anyway!
Yamanda turned to us and asked, “How bad are your injuries? You two.”
I glanced at her, then back at the chunks of flesh.
What was her skill card, really? She had mentioned pushing our skills to their limits. Instead of teleporting him whole, she had teleported him in sections around her...?
Insane.
She raised an eyebrow, looking confused. “Um… Did I scare you all with that?”
Vacinay replied, “I’m mostly okay. Oh right! You have healing shots, right? Give one to Lumine. I think she broke her back.”
Yamanda nodded and walked towards me.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I’m not as hurt as her; I’ll heal my injuries on my own. Now… Hessien…”
He helped her up. “Got you.”
“Merci,” she replied.
Yamanda looked at my shoulder, and a healing shot appeared. But then something odd happened. Without anyone pushing the plunger, it was pushed on its own. The needle pierced my flesh, and its contents emptied into me.
Surprised, I asked, “Telekinesis?”
“No,” she tapped her head. “That’s one of my secret techniques. I can’t tell you about it.”
She had specified ‘technique,’ not ‘skill.’ Interesting.
I could feel the elixir moving through my body, a cold sensation spreading through my veins. It reached my back, and I felt everything there.
After a short while, I stood up. My back hurt, and I felt a little shaky, but I was mostly okay.
Ghomas then asked Yamanda, “So, ex-knights. I’ve been wondering. If those half-men are created because of some well or statue… Why not destroy it?”
“It’s a statue in a well. Anyway, it’s not that it can’t be destroyed, but because it’s not all evil. The strongest presidential knights have all contacted it and made exchanges with those wells.”
Wait, huh?
Vacinay, who was sitting on Hessien’s shoulders, asked, “Are you one of the strongest?”
She smiled as she answered, “Yes. I am currently ranked as the third strongest knight. In Second Cinderayul.”
Ah, I finally learned the country's name!
I asked, slowly, “So… You also made a deal?”
“Well yes, but I look human, don’t I?”
Hessien looked at her skeptically. “I don’t get it. Aren't you supposed to be a half-man?”
“No, since my form remained, it meant I made a proper exchange, unlike those that traded their being."
Still, it felt kind of weird…
Right, she did refer to half-men as, “People who had their form transformed by trading their ‘humanity’ for certain limited wishes to the statue of Pasfell."
I nodded. “Okay. You didn’t trade your humanity, so what did you trade?”
She tapped her abdomen. “The same thing the top 4 presidential knights, excluding number 1 have… Reproductive capabilities.”
“Eh, damn. So, if I want to beat Lumine, I need to sacrifice away my manhood, huh?” Hessien sighed.
“Unlikely. There is a reason why number 4 - 2 knights are women. Even with a proper process to make us extremely attached or almost obsessed with the idea of bearing a child, because the process of bearing children involves the fetus growing in the woman’s womb for many months and birthing it and feeding it directly, the exchange for the women would be greater than a man.”
Vacinay asked, “So, number one is a guy, right? What did he sacrifice?”
Ghomas snickered, "He really liked his balls."
“Not even I know. All I know is that he is the strongest.”
‘Dude probably traded his family or something.
Though, I wondered about what Yamanda said.
They go through a process to make them extremely attached or almost obsessed with having children. If that’s the case, how don’t they just refuse to make the sacrifice when it’s time to do it? Or be affected really badly in the head?
Vacinay basically voiced out my thoughts.
Yamanda shrugged. “Who said some don't refuse to make the sacrifice or suffer mentally? Eaten away by self-guilt and regret too.”
She tapped her head. “But, there are many ways to get over it. Perhaps some mind-washing? Or just enduring it.”
Hm.... Well, I mean, if it works, it works?
Yamanda then walked deeper into the tunnel. “I am thinking we should wrap this up soon, today’s training that is. I am thinking of a test. Get to the top of the mountain and save those that are going to become sacrifices. Above on the mountain has a lot of chaotic energy.”
She looked at the gemstone embedded in her armor. “I already used my skill energy stabilizer back in the training field, so I can’t teleport you all there. That, and it would be against the point of the test."
She snapped. “Get to work.”
Vacinay grunted. “What a pain. Lumine! Is your back feeling good?”
“Yeah, on the most part. I think my healing is boosted. You don’t need to use your repair.”
“Good.”
Hessien asked, “You sure?”
“Totally.”
Ghomas formed two clones, one big and another lean. “They will function as feigns.”
Hessien nodded and then before walking, asked Vacinay, “You still can’t walk?”
“Nah, I can. I just like being this high. Feels good.”
He shrugged and followed after Ghomas.
I followed too, while checking my knife’s condition. Still good for the most part. The tunnel was dark, but I could see… a bit.
I considered making a fireball and keeping it levitating, but that would give us away and alert the enemies that we were coming. But, I think we didn’t have a choice.
Click.
Eh, the sound came from Ghomas’s clone, strong variant. Everyone heard it and came to a stop.
Three seconds Future sight!
Then from far ahead, I saw the future of an endless amount of explosive darts coming for us.
“Ghomas! Make a wall of clones if that’s possible—I used future sight to see incoming explosive darts!” I reported.
“Future sight? Nice!" He acted fast. Making over 10 strong clones. But as soon as they were formed, the darts came like bullets. At first, the clones endured the assault, but after two seconds, they were ripped apart.
Fireball.
I created a massive fireball and crouched low a distance behind it. The other followed me, laying low. A second later, endless sounds of explosions came from the fireball.
Shit!
Maintaining its form was so… damn taxing!
I focused hard, but with every passing second, it felt like I was getting punched and kicked in the head. It wasn’t just an EP problem, it was simply a concentration or will issue…
Then after 30 seconds, the sounds of explosions stopped and I slopped to my knees, feeling like blood was going to pour out of my nose.
...And I was basically out of EP.
I hate this…
Hessien asked, “You can move?”
I showed a thumbs-up as I remained on the ground for a minute and then pushed myself up.
“Okay… Let’s go again."
But we needed a better tactic… This place was way too dangerous for us.
Vacinay said, “Honestly. This isn’t going to work well. We don’t have a map either, so we would never know where to go. And there is no way this place only has one tunnel and not a fake one included.”
I agreed, however, “There was that massive orc wannabe guy there. Either he traveled down there to check who shot a fireball outside or he was there guarding something."
Vacinay then made an aha sound. “I will take on that cat form and use its sense of smell to try to track down what path the half-men take in these tunnels!”
Oh, that sounded good. She turned into a cat and had full control of her body.
She sniffed the ground and began moving forward then pawed at a wall. A secret door?
Hessien pushed against it, and a rectangular-shaped door moved in. After two seconds of pushing, it moved on its own. And a new tunnel opened itself to us.
Ghomas who had recovered some EP, sent out a clone; the lean one. I guessed he was locked with four skills: Playdead, Strong, Fast Clones, and Lightning Bolt.
In her cat form, Vacinay prowled behind Ghomas’s clone, her nose skimming the ground. Suddenly, she halted, her meow echoing off the cavernous ceiling above.
Unfazed, Ghomas’s clone continued forward. Three steps later, a monstrous snake materialized from the shadows, swallowing the clone whole before its cold, calculating eyes locked onto us.
Oh... shit.
As the snake recoiled, preparing to strike, I activated my future sight, glimpsing a two-second flash of the impending attack.
It’s lightning-fast!
The snake lunged. I froze time for a heartbeat as I sidestepped its attack, leaping to safety. We should never have ventured here before I had fully recovered my EP!
Summoning a fireball into my hand, I hurled it at the snake’s head, eliciting a tortured scream.
Ghomas sprang into action, a steady stream of electricity crackling from his fingertips towards the snake. The creature thrashed wildly, narrowly missing Hessien and Vacinay, who had morphed into a monkey form and deftly evaded the attack.
The snake reared its head, aiming to crush me, but I froze time once more and dodged. As soon as I moved, I struck it with another fireball. I needed to be more creative… How could I modify it…
The snake let out a blood-curdling screech and turned towards Ghomas, who was now drained of EP. Suddenly, a dense mist enveloped the area, plunging us into blindness.
This was a terrible idea—
A gory spray of blood erupted from the center of the mist, accompanied by the snake’s dying screams.
“Die die die die!” A woman’s voice echoed chaotically through the mist.
Vacinay? But… How was she seeing without sight?
Laser shots, unmistakably from Hessien, pierced the mist. Then, the snake’s cries dwindled, replaced by the thud of its massive body hitting the ground.
Summoning another fireball, I burned away the mist, revealing Hessien and Vacinay, both panting heavily.
Vacinay… she had partially transformed her face to resemble a cat’s. She grinned, “I got three levels from this beast; making me level 17.”
She stretched her arms and brought up her secondary card, adorned with an array of creatures.
With a swift motion of her finger, she drew a circle in the air, and a two-headed dog, standing a meter tall, materialized from it.
Crossing her legs, she declared, “Remember when I said I was going to become the queen of monsters?!”
I replied, “Wasn’t it centipedes?”
“Silence wench!”
Thanks for the chapter