Chapter - 35 The weak-willed
「My actions are just my unread despair.」
*
–Crunch
–Bud-ump
–Ba-ump!
–Bud-ump!!
As I continued my swift tread through the dense glade of frosted woods my breath began to further quiver.
「'I don't want to die…'」
I meekly considered.
Death, that unremarkable inevitability was going to fall upon all of us at some point… right?
–Hah ahh
I gritted my teeth and focused on the skirmished path laid before me.
The vague sounds of my feet making contact with the ground resounded loudly.
–Swoosh!
The collective noise of rushing footsteps towards Leo and me was growing in sound and speed.
'I will kill them, I need to kill them,'
My stomach felt unease and knotted, like as if their limited contents were to spew out with my legs ignoring my control and collapsing.
'My salvation leans on my will!' I thought before continuing 'I hesitate far too much, when fighting a foe on that field of close-quarter slaughter am I going to sympathize with the person I'm going to kill?!'
「'Of course not!…I'll kill for myself. Isn't that the reason why I purged those Gallows, to lure them out?」
Finally reaching a desirable region within a far too dense region of spired glade, my steps began to slow.
After several seconds of decelerating my total speed, my steps soon came to a standstill.
Leo, who was trailing behind, had believed we were both exiting the proximity of this woodland, heading back to receive our merit points for purging the 14 Gallows.
Yet, the reality was different.
"we're being followed by 4 or 5 Sun-Stone scouts.."
I said in a cold tone, turning my head I glared at Leo with a piercing gaze of indifference.
"Annoying pests,"
Leo sneered in a steeled tone.
"Which direction are those fiends coming from"
Providing a gesture to my left, I mentioned the assumed angle and speed of our adversaries.
"They will arrive within the next 30-33 seconds,"
"Branshish your weapons,"
–Tch
Clicking his tongue in subtle annoyance Leo pulled forward both a combat knife and handgun before readying them.
Giving a subtle nod, I brandished my own set of weaponry.
"Take the high ground,"
I voiced before immediately lunging towards the base of a tree propelling myself upward by utilizing the natural protrusions of the tree to reach a decent height.
「" I shall end you all"」
I murmured as I glared forward.
The view was almost pitch black.
The night had settled its part and I had only seconds to spare before the adversaries were to come.
Leo was positioned in an adjacent tree glaring with a cold glare towards the location Alex had earlier mentioned.
–Swooom!
–Swooom!
-100 ft
–Swooom!
-19ft
Time sped and tension built between the two of us.
-12ft
…
Manipulating my emotions I forcibly diluted fear and the ironclad grip of guilt from the majority of my system.
My cortisol or stress levels as a consequence were drastically reduced. My mind was at ease, killing those Sun-Stone bastards didn't seem to be that bad of a prospect anymore.
-Now-
In a synchronized series of movements both Leo and I charged from our hidden positions.
*
Within this world physical strength was not the only standing to assert dominance above others.
Numerous times within the [Twilight sword saint] plot, an absurd number of nonsensical ploys were orchestrated by Lux's harem members, or more specifically my current sister… in order to successfully defeat foes several minor realms higher than them by merely utilizing the concept of guerrilla warfare and ambush.
Of course, these hell-marys of events could have been the result of plot armor and the author's lack of logic, but I'm in this novel now so by using their logic I can yield the same or similar result?
This was how the weak survived within this predatory ecosystem where laws and rules were merely constants to be broken and neglected.
"I must continue to live in this world by killing people."
{Aim → Aura}
*
A group of 4 non-combat-oriented scouts were sent to pursue and eliminate the group of two who purged the farmed Gallows.
Hardly any of the four held any semblance of combat prowess, and as such for their meager capabilities, they were assigned such a tedious task.
"Aki, are we even going in the right direction?"
Voiced a young man with a squeaky voice and pale sickly white skin.
*Tch*
"The fucking shity device that Senor Rui gave me is insisting to me that they went into that dark crowd of annoyingly clustered glade.
Replied a young woman with yellow hair in a bored tone
"Why did the senior officer send us anyhow?"
Questioned a hooded male.
"He didn't dwell on specifics bu—"
–Bang!
–Bang!
–Bang!
"Uke!"
Writhed the yellow-haired youth in pain.
A stray bullet has passed through the little flesh of her shoulder before exiting from her shoulder blade.
Her ligament was no longer useful and her already limited combat prowess was crippled as a result.
Immediately the woman in a torrent of fear rushed her non-dominant hand to clasp and apply pressure onto the now gaping wound of gushing crimson.
From a distance, a slick metallic gleam cut through the air as it passed by the dense array of brush.
Its razor-pointed edge aimed with flawed but usable precision held a vast amount of potential power as it targeted the young woman's head.
By the time the yellow-haired woman noticed the knife's figure it was already far too late to provide a reaction.
Spalt!
–Pierce!
–Squish
One of her eyes no longer remained as the cavity was now replaced with a long rubber black shaft.
Her remaining eye lost gleam and her pupils were dilated in an expression of rage and fear before they fell backwards receding to the back of her skull.
A steady stream of white and red oozed from her single desecrated orpheus.
Her final expression was yearned with dread.
–Puck
The three remaining individuals glared in the direction from which the weapon had been thrown...
The sickly white-skinned man's eyes exploded into a display of bloodshot red as he watched his comrade's lifeless body descend towards the blue-bladed bed below, her pearl would have no significance.
"Ready your arms!"
Yelled the hooded man in a forced tone of reinvigoration.
_____________________
Author's note: Joy had consumed me today… in a feeble way, I discovered that side stories of ORV existed!
And guess what…. It's an extra story written by SingShong (Author of ORV) about ORV, how ironic!