Chapter 102: Day 243 – Death Takes No Prisoners

Chapter 102: Day 243 – Death Takes No Prisoners

The people of Esperanza were already all gone in panic. I hadn’t held out much hope for them. “Michael...we can’t...I can’t...” Naran took a step back. Fear was already gripping his heart. He would be near useless. If I tried to use him in part of a joint attack, there was a high risk he would break and panic.

“Go to the edge of the Plaza. If I die, you must carry the information back to Purgatory about this threat.”

“Sacrificing yourself?”

“Running is pointless. It is blocking attacks, which means it can be hurt.” At least that was my hope. I had no idea how I was going to do that. Naran pulled the cart away and I stood there with my sword in hand. A shield wouldn’t help against dusting and only provide a larger target. If the effect spread through held items, it was too big of a risk.

I only held the blade in case I got a chance. Well, that chance was coming. Death began to glide forward. It didn’t walk, but its robe hid any legs it might have. Standing at seven feet, the figure was massive.

“I always knew it would be Death that got me in the end.” There was no response. It closed to forty feet away. I began to sweat even as terror tried to squeeze my heart. Dammit! Do or die, Michael. Do or die!

Twenty feet, it was now in perfect range of my AcidShot skill. But that wasn’t what I had planned. Poor person of Esperanza, you gave your life for a worthy cause. Giving me an idea.

Ten feet. Just a little bit more.

Nine feet. A feeling of cold washed through me. I had learned to ignore such things after all that grinding in the frostlands.

Eight feet. It began to bring up its sword. I threw my sword at it in a slow toss. My hands raced together, and I was glad for the countless evenings of practicing hand signs to get them perfect and fast.

I pushed off to the right side as Air Burst activated. The monster swung. My sword was carved to pieces. My left hand already twisting into the okay hand sign as I darted past the monster. Acid Shot x4. Only saved 10 energy. Just in case.

The blade moved fast. With my mind going at the speed, it was, the blade was like warp speed. Death ignored the acid, and the blade went for my extended left arm. It grazed my arm, cutting through my armguard like it wasn’t there. The moment the blade touched my flesh, my arm up to my shoulder collapsed into dust.

My balance was completely wrecked, and I was in shock. I went tumbling along the ground, unable to manage the end of Air Burst. Well, that was it, my one shot.

I looked up, wondering if it had a face, and if the thing was slowly melting. The acid skill had landed. The robe was smoking as it was drenched in acid. I saw white bone under that, which was slowly being melted away. I tried to scramble to my feet, but it was hard without an arm.Ñøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

Blood was squirting out of my very short stump. I turned back to look at Death, which was looking a lot more ragged in appearance as it had gone still. It dropped its sword! Chance!

The sword turned to dust. Of course. Acid Shot. I targeted its center of mass and the skill landed. The entire monster melted away. The last sight was a skull dissolving in a pool of acid.

“Michael,” Naran said as he came rushing over.

“The pillar, quickly.” Naran began to help me over, since I was feeling weak. Probably the blood loss. I put a hand on the pillar. Nothing. Dammit.

I put my head on the pillar along with my right hand. Yes! Oh, thank you Almighty System. I then blanched at the cost of a restoration. It cost 257,187 points. I only had 195,408 points. “Naran points, get all the crystals. Quickly.” He rushed off, blood continued to squirt out.

He quickly came back, and I began to cash in every 50-point crystal I had left, Naran helping me. That brought me up to 249,013 points. No! After getting out the crystals Naran was wrapping up a spare shirt around my stump, trying to slow the blood loss.

After a minute he finished. I walked over to where Death had died. There was a crystal. I carefully picked it up. It was a monster. Good to know. I picked it up. No skill point option. I took it over to the pillars and checked how much it was worth.

It was only worth 3,600 points. It was a level 4 crystal. If I had more blood in my body, I would have begun puking it out of my mouth. That was a level 4 monster. That was insane. I wanted to cry and rage.

What was even worse was, it didn’t give me enough points to heal. “Ahh!” I felt pain spread through my body and I collapsed to my knees. The dusting had done more than just remove my arm apparently.

I felt my insides twisting into knots. “Michael! What is it?” Naran asked.

“How are you feeling?” Naran asked.

“Better, I can think.” I moved my left arm. I had a left arm.

“That was pretty freaky how it just reformed instantly like that,” Naran said. I put both hands on the pillar. I had 12,607 points left.

“How much was in the chest?” I asked.

“50,000.” That meant the restoration cost 289,994 points. Good to know. I would want at least twice that in reserve from now on.

“What day is it?” I asked.

“It is the evening of day 246.” I winced at that. Then looked at Naran. He looked worn down and exhausted. But he had saved me.

“Thank you.” I meant it from the bottom of my heart.

“No problem. Still, I am sending a bill for what I owe.”

“That will be wiped clean. No problem,” I didn’t hesitate to say that. I owed Naran. I wasn’t about to be stingy after he went above and beyond for me. I would deal with sorting out that mess later. Tyrese and Ken came over and the guards formed a perimeter keeping people back.

“Michael, we were worried there for a bit,” Ken said.

“What happened?” Tyrese asked. I felt a shiver go up my spine.

“I...” I paused, trailing off. Not sure what to say. It all felt so surreal, yet so vivid at the same time. The escape, the plaza, my arm. The way the sword cut down and it just went poof, into dust. I needed to be strong, project strength.

“A level 4 monster appeared without explanation and chased us into a city. I fought it, barely managing to kill it, but took critical damage.” I rubbed my left arm. I had my arm back.

“Well, there is a lot to deal with,” Ken said.

“Perhaps a few days of rest, wouldn’t be out of the question?” Tyrese brought up. I was grateful, but I couldn’t do nothing. I was healed and there were issues. I didn’t want to think about...about that.

“Tomorrow, I will deal with things tomorrow. For now, I am going to get a shower, have some food, and then sleep,” I said.

“I will arrange for something to be brought over, and you can have breakfast at the Gray Duck tomorrow,” Ken said.

“Thanks.” I slowly made my way back to my house, Naran next to me the whole way. The guards were keeping everyone back. It was a relief to have the door locked behind me.

I went and got a shower, cleaning off the blood, dirt, and sweat that covered my body. I tossed the old clothes to the side and wore the underclothes from the nice outfit I left here. There was a knock and I heard Naran speaking. He then came back with a tray that had plates of food on it. Bread and stew.

I noted that Naran had gotten up and was talking quietly with Clarissa. After a couple of minutes, they stopped talking and she came over.

“Michael, I am glad you are alive. We need to talk tomorrow. First thing.”

“That is fine Clarissa. Just need to rest.”

“Rest well,” she said and then left.

I carefully had some stew, still unsure about my left arm. I let out a sigh of contentment. I was alive, I could worry about everything tomorrow.