Chapter 17: Bounty Hunters

Chapter 17: Bounty Hunters

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CRAAASH!

That axe was very heavy; it took almost a speck of my strength to grasp its complete weight and the power that man had added to it with his myriad of stupid skills. His aura overflowed like a crimson flame; he resembled a mighty warrior, yet he remained weak and pathetic in front of me.“H-Huh?"His eyes opened wide when he finally realized that the awkward silence that came after he swung his axe against me was because he, in fact, had not killed anybody yet! His stupid, gorilla-like face groaned in disbelief.

“W-What the...?! What did you- A barrier!”

“Barrier?”

I grabbed his axe and then pulled it, dragging it towards me. He didn’t want to let go of his weapon, so I zapped his hands off with Photon Energy, turning them into ashes.

ZAAP!

“UUAAAGH!”

As he screamed in agony, I grasped his axe. It was made of pure gold with dragon decorations. Quite a beautiful weapon; it reminds me slightly of the artistic aesthetics of Murim. Where did he get this weapon?

“A rather beautiful axe, despite how pathetically weak it is, might have some sort of hidden potential.” I smiled. “I’ll be taking it from now on- Hm?”

Suddenly, I noticed rays of cosmic light hit my body, and tentacles made of shadows attempt to pierce my robes, though they dealt no damage. The magician and the rogue woman tried to go for a sneak attack from behind. Well, it did no damage either way.

“Did you thought sneak attacks would work against me? Now that you’ve all attacked me, unfortunately, I won’t hold back.”

“W-What?!” The warrior, the rogue woman, and the magician all screamed at the same time.

"Oi, you hulking idiot, what the hell is going on?! I’ve never seen someone just steal a weapon off your hands! Also none of our attacks dealt any damage?!"

“W-What?!” The warrior, the rogue woman, and the magician all screamed at the same time.

"Oi, you hulking idiot, what the hell is going on?! I’ve never seen someone just steal a weapon off your hands!"

“That woman is dangerous; fall back!”

The rogue and the magician quickly stepped back. I suppose being Level 1000 gave them some sort of experience in battles, enough to recognize I wasn’t just someone they could easily bully.

“GIVE BACK MY WEAPON!”

However, the muscle of their team charged towards me. Magic circles around him opened, summoning a rain of silver-colored swords and spears. It seemed his magic was the ability to summon metal—how amusing!

“Sure, you can have it back!”

I swung the axe with minimal effort, and a wave of Immortal Essence was unleashed, slashing and disintegrating his little flying projectiles and cutting through his entire body. The hulking giant, whose stats were probably ridiculously high, died in a single hit.

“W-Wha...?!”

His split-apart body splattered on the floor, his gusts falling and painting the grass red. The smell of blood filled my nostrils—nothing new for me. I’ve seen this scene way too many times. He was only able to ask a single question before he died, and it wasn’t even a completed sentence.

Should I pity him?

Why?

“I told you that I wasn’t going to kill you if you didn’t step forward, yet you did.” I sighed and grabbed his soul. “I don’t feel so nice right now; you just interrupted a nice moment with my mother and my sister.”

“W-What’s happening?!”

Crack, crack...!

“AARRGH!”

CRASH!

His soul squirmed as I crushed it and then shattered it into countless pieces. The glowing fragments of his soul were immediately absorbed by my physique.

“Not bad; the soul of a Level 1000 does carry a bit of power, huh? And Divinity too! How nice.”

The rogue and the magician were already escaping. They didn’t even try to fight back. I noticed them attempting to run away using a teleportation spell. How nice. I want to learn more about that myself, too!

With a single step, photonic energy zapped my entire body right behind them. I found the magician desperately forming a magic circle as the rogue guarded his back.

“Surprise! Where do you think you’re going?”

“Shit! She’s here!”

"Wait, the magic circle is not done yet!”

As they screamed, I quickly sprinted forward. Swinging the axe, I attacked the rogue woman with minimal strength. The leopard-beast woman, who was incredibly pretty, swiftly evaded my first attack with an explosion of speed and then appeared right behind me, gritting her sharp teeth.

“{Abyssal Dagger Arts}: {One Thousand Phantasmal Cuts}!”

A thousand cuts rushed down my back as she attempted to reduce me to shreds. The attacks didn’t even tickle, although they had very fancy choreography and many explosions of darkness.

“It is truly a pity that a beauty like you is my enemy. But let me tell you something: I do not spare people when I decide to kill them. I don’t change my mind, even if they’re a beautiful maiden.”

“I guess... You’re not wrong; maybe we are the dumb ones for feeling bad about it.” My mother said.

“Not exactly either...” I said, smiling back at her. “That feeling you have, that feeling of remorse, of guilt... Embrace it. Don’t let it go away. It is what makes you human. And it is what makes your emotions precious. I, in the other case, have forgotten what it feels like to even be a human anymore.” I glanced into my bloodied hands.

“Katherine...” My mother muttered, hugging me from behind. “It’s fine, dear... You’re human to me; you’re my daughter.”

“Y-Yeah, come on...” Ruby was trying to say something but couldn’t think of anything.

The very thought of them just trying to cheer me up was enough to quickly make me smile and feel completely happy. Nobody was ever there for me back then; I was completely alone, always alone. Nobody was there to hug me, to tell me that it was okay to feel sad, or to question yourself.

“I’m happy to have you two with me. You two remind me that I was once a human.” I smiled, hugging them both. “Now! Shall we go? We got some bees to hunt!”

“Alright!” Ruby nodded; she was doing her best to cope with everything, although I could notice stress building up on her.

“Let’s go then; I am making my two daughters S-Rank Adventures.” My mother smiled, nodding.

As we moved forward, the figures chasing us continued their pursuit. However, no matter what, I could not feel any sort of animosity from them. If anything, it felt like they were waiting for an opportunity to talk with us.

Oh well, I did get a lot of gains from those three fools too, so it’s not so bad!

Ding!

[You have slain [Blazing Berserk Warrior: Gustaf: Lv1014], [Shadow Leopard Rogue Kunoichi: Essenica: Lv1008], and [Spatial Warlock: Herleck: Lv1050]!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 487 to Level 553/999!]

[All your Stats have increased. You gained Bonus Stat Points and Skill Points.]

[The Skill: [God Predator (SSS): Lv3] Skill effects have been activated. You have devoured the Divinity Fragments of the Avatars of the {Father Of War And Iron}, {Maiden Of Crescent Moon}, and {Scholar of the Stars}!]

[All your Stats have increased by +4.000]

[You gained +3.000 Divinity.]

[You learned the Magic Skill: [Blazing Iron Weaponry Creation (S): Lv1]

[You learned the Classless Skill: [Crescent Moon’s Shadow Dagger Style (S): Lv1]

[You learned the Magic Skill: [Cosmic Star Magic (S): Lv1]

[The Skill: [Divine Class Absorption: Lv2 (SSS)] Skill effects have been activated. You have devoured the Divine Classes of the Avatars of the {Father Of War And Iron}, {Maiden Of Crescent Moon}, and {Scholar of the Stars}!]

[You devoured the [Blazing Berserk Warrior] Divine Class!]

[You devoured the [Shadow Leopard Rogue Kunoichi] Divine Class!]

[You devoured the [Spatial Warlock] Divine Class!]

[You have earned +5.000 Skill Points!]

[For having slain so many powerful Avatars of many Tower Gods, you gained +600.000 Credits.]

[The Class Skills: [God Predator (SSS): Lv3] [Divine Class Absorption: Lv2 (SSS)] have Leveled Up!]

[Their effects have been strengthened and intensified.]

Oh, they were Avatars too...

[The Tower God {Father of War And Iron} roars in fury, asking what happened to his Avatar!]

[The Tower God {Maiden Of Crescent Moon} was sleeping when it all happened and is confused!]

[The Tower God {Scholar of the Stars} is shocked by your brutality and monstrosity. He swiftly decides to never interact with you again.]

Sorry about that; don’t worry, you’re going to join your Avatars soon enough.

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