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Chapter 35: Night Killing
🕑 Added 2023-11-30 07:31:46 +0000 UTC"Great news! Your achievement this time has granted you 145 points, bringing you up to 192P." However, his words entered one ear and exited the other.
"So, about that baron," I urged him to hurry up, growing impatient after a week of waiting. During this time, my thoughts were consumed by fantasies of my dagger piercing their bodies. Armed with my karambit, dagger, stiletto, five throwing knives, and swordbreaker dagger, I found myself equipped with more weapons than I had hands. Although, with the ability to control up to 10 dark tentacles, I could wield them all if I desired.
"Of course! You are free to kill him now! By the way, you are competing with R663 and other guild members. It will be a first-kill, first-prize basis."
"Tell me the name and place. I will leave Baron Denah for last."
"Roger. The slums are the place. If you find proof of rebellion, you will be further compensated. There are five places in the slums. I will assign you to one, 663, and two other newbies to another, and the rest were not tasked to me."
"Okay♪," I replied while humming, unable to contain my excitement at finally escaping the monotony of reconnaissance missions.
It was a crescent moon tonight. As I gazed at the moon, I couldn't help but think it would be stained with blood today. With the coordinates provided by R25B, finding the traitors' location was easy. I brought my recorder and camera too, just in case they were innocent.
"I am a bloodthirsty psychopath. However, I have standards," I kept telling myself to avoid becoming like the real Elidranthia in the web novels.
I examined the building—a short, one-floor structure. However, R25B mentioned a dungeon beneath it with smuggled weapons. If I discovered weapons there, it meant they were guilty, and I could eliminate them without repercussions.
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The night was serene, and our rebellion plan drew near. With its success, Prince Ludwin that mage elitist would fall, and our kingdom would finally be liberated from the tyranny of the mages. We envisioned a life of prosperity and freedom.
Baron Denah had warned us about the danger posed by Prince Ludwin. Ludwin had successfully influenced the king to enact laws protecting the mages. While the king and nobles were meant to safeguard the kingdom, mages were intended to contribute to its wealth and prosperity. However, all we experienced daily was a meager ration of bread, as the mages and nobles took the lion's share of wealth. Nobles, who were once as impoverished as us, inherited lands from their forefathers. Through generations of perseverance, they attained peerage.
But what about the mages? They simply relied on luck during the magic exam ceremony and earned more than nobles without demonstrating loyalty to the empire. How did they deserve such privileges?
The rebellion was supposed to commence two days ago, yet there had been no word from Baron Denah. It seemed that issues, possibly involving spies discovering our armory's location, were causing delays. In the worst-case scenario, we might have to undertake the mission with only these limited weapons—20 bullets and three magic muskets. How could we confront the combined forces of knights and mages in the castle with such few guns?
"Attack! We are under attack!" My underlings shouted as they grabbed whatever weapons they could find. Approaching with a musket in hand, I inquired, "What happened? Where is the attack?" After emerging from the basement, where we had concealed ourselves so well that the establishment appeared as an average tavern from the outside, I found my men holding their weapons without purpose, scanning left and right.
"I-I don't know. The guards outside are dead! And two more people upstairs are also dead."
"Huh? Are you saying we got hit by some invisible monster?"
"Ack!" A knife stuck to Denis's throat, and he dropped lifelessly.
"Huh?" Denis was beside us. I didn't see it? Who did it?
"Hihihi." A girl giggled. "You can't see me?"
"Ack!" another one dropped dead, and then a small girl appeared before us with bewitching red eyes.
"Watch out! We are being attacked with magic! This must be an illusion! Where is the purifying water?" Goblins and trolls spawned from the girl's shadow.
"Monsters!!"
"Calm down. It's just an illusion!"
"Ack—!" another one dropped dead. It's supposed to be an illusion. But blood poured out from his neck like a fountain.
I ran downstairs to grab purifying water from our supplies in the basement. Together with five men, we went downstairs. The basement only had one exit. I would be able to see him.
"Hahahaha." Laughter came from the door, and the little girl from before came out while humming. "Traitor♪ traitor♪ come out and play♪"
"Why is the girl still there? Where is the man? Are we tricked? Is this not a magic purifying water?" The boys started to panic. A black shadow began enveloping the girl, and tentacles poured out. She no longer looked like a girl but a monster with a human torso as she sauntered toward us.
I fired my musket at her in panic. A loud explosion rang through the room, but she didn't even budge. Did I miss? Or was she an illusion? She then strolled toward us.
"AAH!!" We were in a frenzy. We grabbed everything we could—chairs, tables, mugs, and even pans. We threw them at her. However, she dodged it. Her tentacles receded and sprouted back out from the back, each of them holding a varying blade. As the tentacles flew toward us, I knew my life was at an end.
"I should not mess with the country. Those scums even employed monsters like this to hunt us." My vision fell as I lost strength within my body.
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"La♪la♪la♪" I skipped along the house, rummaging for evidence of their wrongdoing before a blue box emerged before me.
Blessing of the Killing Star has risen to level 4.
Choose your upgrade:
- Vampiric Regeneration
- Vampiric Stamina
- Improved Kinetic Vision Level 1
The blue box informed me that I had leveled up. Why did I have so many options to become a vampire? Did the Killing Comet want me to become a vampire? I wondered about the criteria for leveling up these skills. I killed 12 people and then leveled up. I killed another 8 and leveled up again. But now, after killing more than thirty people, it only leveled up once.
"I cleaned out this house! There were three muskets with several bullets," I reported back to R25B. "I found three magic muskets. They are from the empire, which means someone in the military has been sending weapons to these guys. But they couldn't even use them."
Magic muskets were much simpler to use than prehistoric muskets back on Earth. Earth's muskets required you to insert gunpowder inside a tube, then jam it with a stick. Following that, a bullet was inserted, and it needed to be jammed again with a stick. Finally, using a flintlock trigger or a fuse, you ignited it from the breech, and the weapon would fire.
Magic muskets only needed a bullet and a feystone to be inserted. The process was different and lacked a breech. After inserting a bullet, a feystone was placed on the trigger lock. Then, after pressing the trigger, the musket would fire. However, these muskets were the new version. They had a breech. Unlike Earth's muskets, the breech could be used to insert the bullet, speeding up the reloading process. However, the breech must be closed before firing. Otherwise, the bullet would lack penetration power or might not even leave the barrel, just like the mistake these guys just made. They didn't close the breech either because of panic or because they didn't know.
"Can I keep one of these muskets?" I asked R25B. These muskets were described in the web novels, and it went to great lengths to explain them. I wanted one for my collection. You could even attach a knife as a bayonet here!
"Of course not. How are you going to explain it to other people in your dorm if they found it? You couldn't hide that 1-meter musket, could you? You already had trouble hiding a single bottle of poison."
I whined but ultimately gave up on it. These magic muskets were old compared to the web novels that would happen in two years, but they were still fairly new now. Even my brother hadn't seen the new muskets, only the old ones. Enough about muskets; now, I have another prey to hunt. The house of Baron Denah. I returned while skipping through the noble gate, sneaking around with camouflage.
Baron Denah's house was a few blocks away from my own villas. I approached his house, draped with my dark tentacles as a cloak. A person came out. Baron Denah came out by himself just to meet me. Or did he?
"Damn it. I got house arrest! Luckily, the empire could be negotiated with. I need to contact those lowborns and inform them about the plan cancellation. Shit! All the money I put into them went up in smoke. Huh? Who are you?" Baron Denah muttered to himself as he walked outside before meeting eyes with me. He asked me who I was before his face turned pale.
"Wait. Those damn kingdoms hired reapers for this? Damn! I already paid them three hundred gold!" He ran back to his house without locking the front door. I followed him merrily. All noble villas had the same structure; if he came through the back exit, he would still need to circle back through the front gate, as this one didn't have a back gate.
Surprisingly, he didn't run to the gate but to his study. I skipped my steps as I chased him, taking my time. He had no place to escape. As he entered, he didn't even lock the door. I opened it only to find him ransacking his desk and grabbing his phone.
"Hey! Handler! Someone sent a reaper to me! Hurry up and cancel it! How much? Alright! 500 gold!" He spoke in panic before turning to me.
"Reaper! Stop there. I have talked to a handler! You don't need to kill me! He will pay you double!"
"Hmm? R25B, could he do that?" I questioned him.
"Wait. Yes, a request came in just now. You will be paid 220 points for letting him go."
"Huh? What about the previous request?" I was confused. A feeling of anger and irritation welled up in me. It took my all not to shout back at him.
"Well, the kill quest for Baron Denah will be canceled if you accept this offer." I was stunned. Money could buy everything here. A laugh welled up in me. There was no way I could follow these orders.
"The kill commission should have been canceled! If you don't believe me, here is the phone! The handler confirmed it!" Baron Denah said. I burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Kill commission? Who cares about that!" I said as I came closer to him.
"Huh? Wait a minute! If you are not a reaper, I will pay you directly! Just spare me!"
I threw a knife at his chest. The throw was weak, but the paralyzing potion should keep him from escaping. As he crawled, he came to a stop. The paralyzing potion must have worked by now. I unsheathed my trident dagger. When I stabbed it into his belly, he screamed, but I ignored him. Then I drew my other dagger, this time my new swordsbane. As the blade entered his chest, the feeling was no different than the trident. As I expected, a stiletto was the best at stabbing. I thrust it into his skull. The blade entered smoothly, and he stopped screaming.
"Did you kill him?"
"Yes."
"Ouch. Well, there goes our extra points. I will tally your points later. But why? Are you that patriotic? R663 was also the same," R25B complained. But I realized something. I wanted to kill him. I didn't know why, but I wanted to kill him. The realization made me sick, but my body felt elated.
"I just feel like it," I said as I looked toward the moon. It was faintly red today.
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"How is it?"
"The rebellion has been squashed, King Andre of Althemer," Handler 5 reported as he knelt before me. "Denah also died."
"Hmm? Why? Didn't he make a counteroffer?" Johan asked him.
"The reaper ignored the cancel commission," Handler 5 said plainly.
"What? Does the reaper have a personal grudge against Denah?" I asked.
"Information about reapers is not for sale, milord. However, we are now in a predicament. You didn't make a counter-counteroffer. Yet the reaper continued on with your commission anyway. Will you pay for his work?"
"Yes," I said. "It was a shame Denah died. We could have dealt a more significant financial blow to his faction and could possibly trace his leader. Could he seriously spare 500 gold? Nevertheless, I am interested in this reaper. R666, right? I will ask for him next time. He seemed loyal with justice on his heart and not just some money-grubbing thugs like you."
"Very well, my liege. I am glad to be working with you. I am sure R666 would also be glad to work with you." Handler 5 then left as he smiled. My mockery went to deaf ears with these guys. It gave me a sense of dread that they could ignore words from kings such as myself.
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Nef Mccrimmon
Ty for chappy
