NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 12: Birth of a Reaper
Chapter 12
There were over 10 people here, and all of them brought a sword. As I looked at the cheap blades they got, it had its own charm. The swords looked like they were made for utility with minimal resources. The edges were chipped here and there, proving they had seen a fair bit of use. However, poor maintenance had made the blades rusted and further degraded their gleam.
"Halt! You are assaulting the second daughter of Count Shadowstep! Stay back unless you are looking for war with nobility, scum!" Bob's voice resounded within the street. Wow, he was so cool. I always wanted to say that! Halt something-something. I thought he was a coward, but I was wrong. You can do it if you want to, Bob. The hooligans stopped for a mere moment, then laughed their asses off at Bob. Bob drew his sword.
"Hahaha. Spoken like a true nobleman's soldier. What can a man do against these numbers? Get on, lads!" the bandit leader laughed as he ordered his men to assault us. Whoa, these guys were no mere thugs. They must be from the mafia or something. How could they kidnap someone in broad daylight otherwise?
"Wahh!!!" Bob charged, leaving us to assault the enemy in front of him. However, even an amateur like me knew that he wasn't the sharpest soldier we had. With a single kick, the hooligan knocked him away.
"Waa. D-d-don't kill me!!!" Bob cried as he wet his pants. Even the bandits were stunned to see such a pathetic display. After a few giggles to ridicule him, the bandits chopped him to pieces. Bob didn't even manage to scream as the bandits chopped his head with such practiced motion.
"he-he-he died!" Alicia fell down in a W sitting position after seeing blood spurt out like a fountain from Bob's neck. Like a puppet whose string was cut, she fell into despair and was immobilized. I quickly grabbed her to hold her shoulders, trying to prop her up, but it was futile. She lost strength in her legs.
"Now-now, don't go anywhere. Alright lads, capture them."
“Ah-ah-AAA!!!” Alicia suddenly screamed, and flames engulfed her, burning everything around her.
"Ouch!" I quickly steered away from her as my hands, which were holding her, were burned. She was out of control!
"Watch out, Eli! Her magic is going out of control!" Laura said as she grabbed me to steer away from Alicia. Wow, her mana was insane. I had never gone berserk, but I don't think I could beat her in a magic battle even if I wanted to.
As flames engulfed her, she started to shoot flame tentacles that whipped around her, attacking everything without warning. Then flame balls began to shoot with reckless abandon.
"Wait a minute, Alicia! Most houses here are made of wood, unlike my mansion! Pay attention to where you shoot! You are going to cause a huge fire!" I said to her as I looked at the bright spectacle before me. However, my voice fell on deaf ears.
"Whoa, she sure is no ordinary mage," the boss bandit muttered. He looked calm, and I knew why. He had a water mage beside him. The water mage was shielding him with a round shield made of water. "Hey, you! Bring him here!"
"Hey, Alicia girl! If you value your father's life! Wah!" The boss tried to say his villainous line, but it was intercepted as Alicia's fireball went straight at him, which was blocked by a water shield right in front of his face.
"She is out of control, boss. Just let her be. She will be out of mana soon." The mage said calmly. "Even if she is Talent 6 with greater mana than mine, she will be out of it soon, by the looks of it."
True to his words, Alicia's fire soon faded. The mage blocked her attacks with excellent efficiency. Alicia sat there confused as her magic refused to activate anymore. "No… no… what have I done?" she muttered as she saw the devastation around her. Buildings were on fire.
"Alright. She gave us quite a scare. Now, bag her. And let's bring the noble lady, too! Hahaha." The boss said as his remaining henchmen came out of hiding with a sack. Should I fight back? I still have my karambit as my necklace. No, this is not the place. We still didn't know the whereabouts of Alicia's father. The boss said that he held Alicia's father captive. I must bring him back.
I was surprised at how calm I was. My guard, Bob, whom I had known for half a year, had just died right in front of me. Granted, I didn't know much about him, as he rarely guarded me in this safe city, but he just died, and I neither panicked nor screamed. I simply thought about what my next move should be.
"No! You-you won't bring Lady Eli anywhere!" Laura said. My heart froze in an instant. She resisted the thugs who were approaching me.
"Wench! I probably should kill you too!"
"Stop! Don't hurt Laura! Laura, please go back into the mansion and call for help!" I said to her while offering myself. She then looked at me in the eye as she glanced toward the mansion. But she refused to budge. This is bad. I like Alicia, and I want to save her father. However, I can't sacrifice Laura in the process. I need to protect her somehow!
“Wait… no… no… NO!!!" I saw a blade swing in front of Laura in slow motion. As it slashed through her chest, blood gushed out from her shoulder to her waist as she fell down, unmoving. Red liquid was splattered on my face. Was she dead? Wait? Laura?
"Alright! That's done. Let's pack her up!"
"Be careful! She is also a mage. She might get violent like the other girl." The world turned red as my blood boiled. Laura is dead.
When one of the goons came near me, I quickly unsheathed the knife from my neck. It slid out smoothly, and with a quick motion, I slit his jugular vein. Blood gushed out like a fountain as I also hit his carotid artery. I looked at them coldly when his blood bathed my face. I unlocked my mana. Unlike the peace-loving maids at my house, these bandits were not afraid and glared back at me.
He held out his neck before falling dead on the ground. Ahh, this world has no levels. Just like on Earth, it is so easy for people to die. A slit in the throat or a gunshot is enough to kill a person. There is no need for remarkable leveling or technique. Just pull the trigger or hit the vital. Even a kid like me could do it.
"What-what happened? Watch out, that kid has a knife!" The goons swiftly unsheathed their blades and encircled us. I will not let a single one of them escape. All of them will die here.
I used my blessing, which I had been keeping a secret from everyone. Taking notes from movies on Earth, I rushed out and slashed at another hooligan. But this one was prepared, and he defended with his hands. He screamed out in pain as my claw lacerated his wrist, spurting blood everywhere.
I changed my method and used my dark magic on him to feint my hand's positions, and I managed to slash at his neck all the same. That's two down. There were still 10 more.
This is a nightmare. Our job was supposed to be just kidnapping two girls with only one guard. We've done this numerous times in the past. We'd already dispatched their sole guard and the rebellious maid. The kids were mages, but that's why we specifically prepared one level 5 mage and two level 4 mages together with a dozen sellswords to counter them. They cost an absolute fortune to hire. This should be enough to kidnap two apprentice-level mages, no matter how high their talent was.
The fire girl was a surprise; to be sure, she managed to incapacitate two of my henchmen and gave several others a light burn. However, I didn't realize the red-eyed girl was the most dangerous one. She already took down two of my men without magic, or did she? Dark magic is known to mess around with the mind, but I am no mage; I could not see mana.
"Careful! She used illusion magic!" the mage commanded my men. "She might show you monsters or weird things! However, it's not real!!"
Despite the mage's command, my men still flinched and sometimes froze in their boots when the red-eyed demon glared at them. Another three got killed when they tried to surround her.
"Shit, how can you two grown-ass mercenaries gang up on a child and still lose? Just grab and lock her hands! Chop off her hands if you have to! Useless!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. With the body count this high, it could no longer be possible to mask this as a drunken fight or small-scale banditry.
Another one bit the dust; somehow, every time the girl approached my men, they just froze or acted like idiots. Were they blind? Her small hands were slashing at their necks like a butcher slaughtering chickens.
"Don't get near! She's using illusions to distract you. Mark, Loden, rally with me. We will defeat her!"
"Ugh. Uahh! I'm out of here. I'm not paid enough for this job!" one of my mages ran away, but a shadow tentacle flashed from the ground and swiped his legs. After he fell, three more tentacles bound him.
"The bindings aren't even that strong! Get a grip of yourself!" Luke, my mage, shouted as he used a water blade on his staff to cut the shadow binding.
"Damn it! Water cutter!" he chanted an offensive spell.
"Wait! You're going to kill the goods," I complained. At this rate, I was going to incur a heavy loss. Six people had died, and the number was still going up. Fear started to grip me as I saw a glimmer of a chance that this kid could kill all of us. Nah, impossible. There was no chance that a kid apprentice mage could defeat adult mages. They lacked the mana and experience.
"Shut it. We're going to die at this rate! I don't know who she is, but she's a professional!" Luka said as he, together with another water and wind mage, formed a crossfire formation where they spread out to attack the mage from multiple angles.
They began to fire their spells. Water spears rained down on the red-eyed girl from the sides, but she dodged them all. She moved as if she had eyes on her back.
"You! Cover us, we need to gain distance!"
"Hell no! I'm out of here!" the mercenaries started to scatter. But she wouldn't let them. Her shadow bindings tackled them one by one. With precision, she cut off their necks one after the other until only my three mages were left. As she finished her kills, she turned to us with a gleeful look. Her smile said it all; she enjoyed the hunt. We were not the predator; we were the prey, and she was going to kill us all!
"Damn it! Let's scram," I said as I ran. But it was too late. She was already in front of one of my mages.
"No! Noooo!!!" a pathetic scream resounded as the demon killed one of my expensive mages. I ignored it. I had been in this same situation when knights were chasing our hideout.
"Damn it, I should not have taken this job!" the mage cursed as we ran. However, the girl was already in front of me, smiling mockingly as fresh blood from my coworker bathed her face. How come? Wasn't she at the back just now? We stopped and looked back in shock.
"Damn it! It's one of her illusions!" Luke halted before rushing towards the girl, passing through her body. However, I stood my ground. She was abnormally fast. I had observed her speed as she moved. Escaping wasn't an option.
True to my instincts, she sprinted towards me like an arrow released from its bow. As she closed in, I swiftly unsheathed my sword in an Iai stance. It was a technique I had learned from a friend during my time in the war. It might have been crude, but it was effective. I felt this strike was the most swift and graceful slash I ever did. The slash cut through the air like a hot knife through butter, cleanly severing her head from her shoulders.
"Yes! I'm a reaper! I've faced both humans and monsters in battle. You're just a kid daring to challenge me!" I boasted as I looked at her headless body. I glanced around at the grim scene – this kidnapping had turned into a total catastrophe. All of my men were dead, and I had also lost two of my valuable mages.
"Ahh! Get away! I'm sorry! I'll pay you anything! Ugh!" Luke's screams abruptly ceased, leaving me bewildered. What had frightened him? The demon girl was already dead. However, a dreadful realization washed over me as I stared at her lifeless form and her detached head.
Her severed head suddenly turned to face me, wearing the same mocking smile as before I had killed her. The headless body of the girl I had just beheaded stood up as if it were a reanimated corpse. This was an illusion, and I had no idea where the real girl was.
*stab
I felt a sharp prick at my neck, followed by the sensation of warm liquid seeping through my clothes. When I turned my gaze to the left, red liquid drenched my shirt. I was going to die. As I realized my impending doom, my legs gave out, and I fell to the ground. With my vision fading to black, I saw a glowing red eye fixed on me, smiling contemptuously.
"M-m-monster..."
Blessing of the Killing Star has risen to lvl 2
Choose your upgrade
- Vampiric strength
- Stealth
- improved agility lvl 2
