Chapter 86

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Episode 19 - Principles of a purpose [3]

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"This is the last one."

The corpses of dozens of villains covered the entire floor, forming enormous pools of blood.

I had blood all over my body. The smell was so strong that I ended up suppressing my sense of smell.

Enough so that it wouldn’t get in the way.

For several hours, the three of us devoted ourselves to slowly killing the villains of the Black Market.

From time to time, we were discovered by important members of the Black Market, but in the end, none of them survived.

I kept my senses alert in case the three Class 5 villains, the leaders of this Black Market, discovered our activities.

We interrogated some villains, and naturally, we already knew who was leading this place.

Aware of that, I cautiously eliminated the other villains, leaving those three for the end.

"Now all that’s left is to kill the Black Market workers."

I observed Charlotte’s emotions and then Luminus’s.

"...."

When Charlotte spoke, I said nothing. I simply watched her in silence.

’Her emotions are synchronizing with Luminus’s. At this rate, Charlotte will end up becoming an emotional copy of her.’

We needed to complete the prologue as soon as possible.

Once it was completed, all emotions unrelated to Charlotte and me would disappear.

But, of course, the process would repeat itself in Chapter One, reset again after it was completed, and happen once more in Chapter Two.

’If the Memory Gate isn’t completed, those foreign emotions will remain within Charlotte unless she herself or some Trait manages to remove them.’

In any case, we continued killing all the Black Market workers.

Even though they weren’t villains, they were still subordinates of the villains.

Little by little, the Black Market began to feel less noisy. Some customers started complaining about the lack of vendors.

’This will attract the attention of the three Class 5.’

With that in mind, we moved faster, and not long after, all the workers were dead.

Some people had already noticed the smell of blood lingering in the air.

"It looks like they’re moving."

After sensing the movements of the three Class 5, I told Charlotte and Luminus.

Both of them nodded without saying a word.

So we waited for a moment while calmly walking forward.

The people around us watched us with different expressions.

Blood covered my body, as well as Charlotte’s and Luminus’s.

The strong smell of blood was clearly drawing attention, and eventually, the presence of those three villains appeared.

They stopped in front of us. Their emotions were filled with rage, anger, annoyance, and irritation.

One of them spoke.

"Three bastards managed to kill all our subordinates. We’ve lost a shit ton of money in the last few hours, and we’ve been searching for you for a while now, so you’re gonna pay dearly, you sons of bitches."

The Power of Chaos covered his body like violent gusts in constant motion.

I slightly turned my head and focused on Charlotte.

’I can kill a Class 5, but Charlotte still isn’t strong enough to do it.’

So Luminus would have to finish quickly and help Charlotte, or I would have to do it myself.

Either way, the man who had spoken continued.

"Honestly, I have no idea how you infiltrated this place. If you came here to kill us, then that means you’re from the Federation."

Another one of them said:

"It looks like there was some traitor who leaked information about this place. Tsk... we shouldn’t let just anyone in so easily."

"Well, enough talking. They’re not even listening to us, so it’s better to just kill them."

While they were talking, I used my Traits and managed to identify the Specialties of the three men.

’A Dark Mage, a Dark Knight, and a Necromancer.’

Coming out of my thoughts, I moved instantly.

An explosion of bone spikes bloomed in the place where the three of us had been standing.

The Necromancer was the first to act.

"Arise."

He muttered as a thick liquid emerged from all the bodies of the people we had killed.

The next second, undead beings rose from the ground.

The wave of undead began rushing toward us.

"I’ll go after the Necromancer."

I said it and, without waiting for a response, vanished from the spot.

I raised my sword and cut down the undead that appeared in my path.

One after another, their bodies were split in half or torn apart into mere chunks of flesh.

The Necromancer, surrounded by undead, stared at me intently.

"A 4-Star, and he has this kind of strength..."

A smile appeared on his face.

"If we capture you alive, I’ll be able to sell you for an enormous amount of money as a slave. And since you’re blind and a swordsman, your value is immense. Perhaps your Traits allow you to move like this, right?"

Without answering him, I continued destroying dozens of undead.

However, only a few seconds later, they rose again completely intact.

That was one of the powers of necromancy: if the target did not die, the army would never fall.

’It’s useless to waste time.’

First Form: Twenty-Four Steps of Space.

Second Form: Time.

Time around me slowed down. Using the Twenty-Four Steps of Space, I reached the Necromancer in only a few steps.

The next second, time returned to normal, but my sword had already moved.

"What... the... hell..."

Bones covered his body in less than a second, but my sword, sharpened with Space, pierced through the bone barrier.

However, the Necromancer used his bone abilities to push himself to the side.

I only managed to tear off part of his shoulder and his entire arm.

"You got lucky."

I said as I swung my sword once more.

"Don’t think you’ll kill me that easily, brat."

The Necromancer raised his other hand, and at the same time, a red dot appeared in my vision, followed by dozens and dozens more.

Above him, a rain of sharp bone fragments tore through the air.

The bones rushed toward me. Using my senses and my black-and-white vision mixed with shades of red and blue, I moved my body and dodged every single fragment.

Behind me, all the tents were destroyed.

A curtain of dust rose into the air, but my body did not have a single scratch.

Without wasting time, I moved my legs and, using the Twenty-Four Steps of Space, arrived in front of the Necromancer almost instantly.

The Necromancer gritted his teeth, and in the next second, pillars of bone emerged from below.

Then the undead charged toward me like a swarm.

However...

"It’s already too late."

I cut the bone pillars in half using mana body reinforcement and one of the skills from the First Form of Inverted Heaven to sharpen my sword.

The pillars split apart like butter, and the blade of my sword cleaved the Necromancer’s body in half.

The Necromancer’s emotions were clear: shock, fear, despair, and terror.

His body, split into two, fell to opposite sides.

Everything inside him spilled onto the ground with a disgusting sound. Large amounts of black blood quickly covered at least two meters around him.

"Phew... that left me half exhausted."

Despite training my endurance, the Second Form of Inverted Heaven still exhausted me too much.

I could still only use it twice, although the duration had increased by one more second.

〖Good job, disciple. Now you should help your girlfriend〗

"Master, please don’t joke around."

〖I wasn’t joking〗

"..."

Shaking my head, I quickly withdrew and searched for Charlotte.

Shortly after, I heard an explosion and ran in that direction.

When I arrived, Charlotte had multiple severe wounds across her body.

The surrounding temperature was extremely high, yet a chill soon struck me anyway.

’So that’s her attribute.’

I appeared in front of Charlotte and lowered my head slightly, focusing on her.

"I knew this would happen. You shouldn’t fight so confidently against someone stronger than you. You could die and end up in a coma for several days in the real world, you know?"

Charlotte raised her head and looked at me. As blood dripped from her mouth, she said:

"Are you my mom or something? Why are you scolding me?"

I let out a sigh and shook my head.

Then I heard the Dark Mage’s voice behind me, filled with confusion.

"What... if you’re here, then that means..."

I nodded.

"Your Necromancer friend ended up split in two. Do you want to follow him too?"

The Dark Mage exploded in fury and unleashed dark ice magic.

A storm of icicles and frozen fragments formed a small tornado that covered the entire Black Market.

The temperature instantly dropped as everything in its path was completely destroyed.

’Fighting a mage at long range is more difficult.’

But my sword art was also long-range.

So, without changing my expression in the face of the Dark Mage’s overwhelming dark magic, I raised my sword in a straight line, and in the next second, the space before me split in two.

First Form: Space.

Beyond the ice tornado, space itself was cut apart, and a thin black blade sliced through the Dark Mage from head to groin.

His expression shifted multiple times, and his emotions reflected the same ones the Necromancer had shown.

The next second, the ice tornado suddenly vanished. Then the Dark Mage’s body split in half, and something similar to what had happened to the Necromancer occurred.

"Alright, it’s over."

As I said before, a mage is easier to kill than a swordsman, but at the same time, it’s also easier to die at the hands of a mage.

A phrase that might sound contradictory... or maybe not.

In any case, results are what matter most.

I turned around and extended my hand.

"Come on, let’s go find Luminus."

Charlotte barely raised her hand and took mine.

Then I helped her up from the ground. She took a potion out of her storage ring and drank it.

Her wounds healed instantly, and afterward she stepped away from me.

"Let’s go, and don’t get too close. Respect people’s personal space, got it?"

"I guess you want to die next time, huh?"

I said half-jokingly. Charlotte looked at me with sharp eyes.