Chương 60: Rival

Gray and his party closed in on Delilah's tracker. The display read 200 feet, its arrow pointing due north. By the time the distance dropped below a hundred, the dense wall of trees gave way to a massive grassy clearing spanning roughly two hundred feet across. On the far side, the Rift Portal hovered above the ground, its dark surface churning silently. Carcasses littered the field. Gray swept his gaze across the clearing, counting at least sixty dead Hydras sprawled throughout the grass.

The portal itself had turned pitch-black, and several adult Hydras crowded around the pedestal in front of it alongside a writhing swarm of hatchlings. Gray stepped into the open field and advanced toward the Astral Rift. About a third of the way across, his boot struck something hard hidden beneath the grass. He glanced down, expecting to find the mangled remains of another Crawler. Instead, a pair of guns lay at his feet. Revolvers. Gray broke into a sprint toward the horde, drawing Tobari low at his side.

He threw open the gates to his core and fed the Soul Blade every last drop of mana stored within his Shroud Mastery reserves. A wave of smoke erupted from the hilt. It surged along the steel and extended beyond the blade, condensing into four solid feet of dark vapor. Gray crashed into the pack and swept the weapon through a wide lateral arc. The smoky edge passed effortlessly through the necks of ten adult Hydras. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then decay rippled through them all at once.

Flesh grayed and collapsed. Heads rotted free from their shoulders and struck the grass in a succession of wet thuds. Gray Kim's guild has slain [HydraCrawler] +120 GP | +120 CP x10 Adrenaline smothered the exhaustion rushing through him as the blade emptied his mana reserves. He wouldn't collapse. Not yet. Tobari shrank back to its original length. The loss of reach was a penalty, but right now, Gray needed maneuverability more than power for his next move. Then he saw what the hatchlings were feeding on.

The creatures swarmed over a figure on the ground, talons and teeth tearing relentlessly into exposed flesh. The victim's face had been mutilated beyond recognition, but the blood-soaked blonde hair was enough to confirm his fear. With a raw shout, he reversed his grip and plunged Tobari through the nearest hatchling's skull. He ripped the blade free and struck again. And again. And again. He stomped down hard, crushing skulls beneath his heels as gray fluid splattered across the grass.

Gray Kim's guild has slain [Hatchling] +80 GP | +80 CP x8 Gray kicked the final carcass aside. Delilah's ruined body came fully into view. Ragged wounds riddled her flesh, their edges discolored by gray decay. A foul haze seeped from the injuries, carrying a chemical stench so acidic that Gray's throat tightened with every breath. And those were only the wounds he could see from the outside. Her chest cavity had been torn open.

Part of her core lay shattered within it, fractured pieces leaking faint wisps of yellow energy. Several ribs had been snapped apart, and what he could see of her spine was splintered beyond anything a normal body could survive. His hands began to tremble. His vision blurred. Pressure tightened around his chest and crawled into his throat until his breathing came in short, uneven pulls.

"This is… all my fault," he choked out as he dropped to his knees beside her.

"We never should've split up." Footsteps pounded across the grass behind him. Eugene skidded to a stop and frantically swiped through his system interface.

"She's still alive!" he shouted. Gray snapped his head toward him.

"What'd you say?" Eugene jabbed a finger at the display.

"She's alive!" Gray turned back to Delilah. A health potion appeared in his hand almost before the thought had fully formed. He tore out the cork, lifted her head, and poured the liquid between her bloodied lips. A system prompt flashed across his vision. Potion was ineffective Remaining Potion Cooldown: 42 Minutes Future potion efficacy has decreased by 50%"No, no, no." Gray shook his head furiously.

"She already took one twenty minutes ago!" He seized Eugene by the leg.

"A… a healer!" he stammered, panic strangling the words.

"Find us a healer! The other team—locate them. Tell them we'll give them our pylon, our points, whatever they want. Just get a healer here!"

"Okay… okay!" Eugene raised both hands and began swiping frantically through the invisible interface.

"If your stupid plan goes wrong again, we're all going to die." Andre's voice cut through the panic. His usual easygoing tone had vanished, replaced by something cold and grim.

"Go. You might have to fight if they turn hostile. I'll take care of her."

"Okay, hold on—" Gray began.

"Get away from her!" Andre snapped, whipping an arm to the side. Gray recoiled at the sudden hostility. For a moment, he simply stared at Andre before giving him a brief nod. He carefully lowered Delilah's head onto the grass and rose to his feet. Andre immediately dropped to his knees beside her. He summoned a cloak from his ring and draped it over her mangled body, concealing the worst of her injuries. Gray swallowed the crushing weight in his chest and forced his attention back to Eugene.

"Please tell me the other squad is still within your drone's detection range." A faint blue sheen reflected across Eugene's pupils as he activated the radar scan. His gaze flickered rapidly across the information only he could see.

"I've got something." Gray's head snapped toward him.

"How far away are they?"

"It's not a team." Eugene thrust an arm toward the forest.

"It's one person." Above them, the drone plunged from the sky before braking sharply over the canopy. Its undercarriage rotated with a mechanical whir, and a beat later, a concentrated beam of light burst from its lens. The beam widened into a sweeping spotlight that washed across the forest. The trees within its path seemed to lose their solidity, trunks and branches fading transparent. A lone figure crouched on top of a transparent branch.

The man wore a ribbed breastplate carved from bone, while a massive composite bow of ivory and marrow rested across his back. Gray narrowed his eyes.

"Jun…" Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The archer glanced up. He raised one hand toward the hovering drone, and a sharpened spike of bone pushed through his palm. The projectile launched in a blur. Eugene slashed a hand through the air. The drone jerked sharply to the right, and the bone spike whistled past its chassis by inches.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Eugene shouted, lunging forward. Gray shot an arm across his chest, stopping him.

"Hold on. He's not our priority." His voice dropped into a controlled calm.

"We need to save Delilah." Eugene ground his teeth, glaring into the trees, and reluctantly backed down. Gray cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Where's the rest of your team?!" He shouted toward the canopy.

"I know they're hiding somewhere! That kind of scheme has your name written all over it!" Jun answered by aiming his palm toward the clearing and fired a thin, curved bone needle attached to a translucent cord. The projectile buried itself deep in the soil. The line snapped taut, then rapidly retracted into his palm. Jun tore free from the canopy. He swung through the air and dropped into the center of the clearing, landing in a low crouch only a few feet from Gray's party.

Grass and loose dirt scattered beneath his shoes. Gray drew Tobari immediately.

"I'm not here to fight." Jun straightened and raised both hands, palms open in surrender.

"I'm here to help."

"Help?!" Gray scoffed.

"What are you playing at? Where's your group?" He nudged Eugene with an elbow and made a small circle with his finger. Catching the cue, Eugene raised his hands and initiated another radar sweep.

"They're not here." Jun took a step forward. Gray immediately leveled his soul blade at the archer's chest.

"Not another step. What do you want?" Jun stopped.

"Look, I know you don't have the highest opinion of me, but I'm genuinely here with good intentions."

"How does hiding in the canopy waiting to ambush us count as good intentions?" Gray shot back. He wasn't naive enough to take Jun at his word, but he also knew the archer wasn't stupid. If this were a genuine ambush, why hadn't he opened fire from the trees? Jun had possessed both the high ground and the element of surprise—and Gray knew firsthand how deadly of a sharpshooter he was. If Jun had wanted him dead, there would already be a bone arrow buried in his skull.

"Fine," Gray said, keeping his blade steady.

"What are these good intentions you speak of?" Jun let out a sharp breath.

"I'm here to save your cowgirl friend." He pointed past Gray's shoulder.

"Save her?" Gray's eyes narrowed.

"Why should I trust you? How do I know you aren't just looking to finish her off?" Jun gestured toward Delilah's motionless body.

"Do you have a choice? What's the alternative—stand around and watch her slowly wither away? Like your tech-support guy said, I'm the only other participant in the area." Gray glanced toward Eugene, who answered with a grim nod.

"He's right. There's nobody else nearby. My radar is immune to cloaking abilities. Unless someone has a robotics class capable of disrupting my frequency, there's zero chance they're hiding from the drone." Gray clenched his jaw. At the moment, Jun was Delilah's only lifeline. Still, something didn't add up.

"Last I checked, your whole kit revolves around being a walking skeleton." Gray lowered the tip of his sword a fraction.

"How can you possibly save someone's life?" Jun wrapped one hand around his opposite wrist. A sickening crack split the air. His forearm snapped in half, and the jagged end of the broken bone punched upward through his skin with a wet tear.

"What the hell?!" Gray shouted. Beside him, Eugene recoiled with a wince. Jun barely flinched. He shifted his grip, braced his palm beneath the broken wrist, and shoved the exposed bone back into alignment. Before their eyes, the fracture began to mend. The splintered edges crawled together and fused, smoothing over until the bone was completely whole again. Only the torn, blood-slick flesh remained as proof that the break had ever happened.

"Bone reconstruction…" Eugene murmured, his eyes widening.

"Can you regrow entire limbs with that?"

"Essentially." Jun flexed his repaired arm.

"The caveat is that I can only restore the skeletal structure. But that's enough to reconstruct and stabilize a limb until you can take a potion to knit the flesh back together." He gestured toward Delilah.

"Now, may I?"

"Fine." Gray reluctantly stepped aside, though Tobari remained drawn.

"But if you try anything else, I'll end you right here." Jun walked past him, flicking a dismissive hand in Gray's direction.

"Yeah, yeah. Real tough talk coming from a guy who hides in his own fart cloud." Gray stared at him deadpan.

"Andre," Gray called.

"Did you—""Yeah, I heard it all," Andre cut in.

"It's the only option we have right now." He carefully lowered Delilah's head onto the grass and stood. His gaze shifted to Jun.

"I appreciate you doing this. Whatever your intentions are." Jun answered with a grunt. He knelt beside Delilah and assessed the damage. His first priority was clearing the shattered bone fragments from her exposed chest cavity. Jun curled his fingers into a claw, and the blood-slick bone shards trembled before lifting free of her torso. With a whip of his hand, he sent the debris scattering across the field. Jun flattened his hand and hovered his palm over her sternum.

What remained of her ribs began to hum beneath his power, glowing with a soft white light. The fractured ends slowly extended from their bases, curving outward as new bone formed until each rib had reconstructed itself into its original shape. Her spine came next. The jagged gaps between her vertebrae glowed as thin strands of bone stretched across the breaks. They thickened and hardened, fusing together piece by piece until her spinal column was whole again. Perfect execution, my apprentice!

With a little more practice, you'll possess the power to conjure an entire skeleton to keep your grumpy little head company! Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka! His mentor released a breathy huff that was apparently supposed to be laughter. I don't need a skeleton for company. The System already forced you on me, Jun replied. I am inherently different from a mere skeleton, kid. Learn your anatomy. I am… Bone-Man! Ka-Ka-Ka!

"Where's the damn setting to mute mentor transmissions?!" Jun howled at the sky.

"What?" Jun glanced over his shoulder. Gray stood directly behind him, his blade poised with its edge only inches from his neck. Jun waved him away.

"Nothing. Get that sword away from my head, will you?" he muttered before returning his attention to Delilah. Gray reluctantly lowered the blade until its tip hovered near the grass.

"Will she live?" Andre asked.

"If she were going to die, she'd probably already be dead," Jun replied casually.

"Bone-mending doesn't actually save lives. It stabilizes injuries. I repaired her skeletal structure so you can move her without jostling broken bones through her organs until the potion cooldown ends." Gray folded his arms.

"Great bedside manner. So, what's the catch?"

"Catch?" Jun arched a brow as he rose.

"Yeah. Why are you doing this for us?" Gray asked.

"You want our pylon now or something?"

"I don't need your points." Jun's gaze dropped to Delilah's unconscious form.

"I did it because she deserves to live."

"I completely agree, but what made you decide that?" Gray countered.

"You don't even know her."

"Not personally." Jun swept a hand toward the clearing and the dozens of Hydra corpses strewn across it.

"But I know what she accomplished. An Awakened capable of nearly soloing a Fractured Rift shouldn't die because she got unlucky enough to have an incompetent leader." Gray's expression hardened. His gaze drifted across the field of slaughtered Hydras, and his fists slowly clenched at his sides. The thought of Jun sitting in the canopy and watching while Delilah fought the swarm alone made his gut twist in fury. Every instinct urged him to lash out—to wipe that smug look from Jun's face and draw blood.

But the anger was misplaced. Gray drew a slow breath through his nose. Jun was right. Delilah had nearly died because of his decision. Gray had split the party. He had sent them toward separate Rifts. He had gambled with everyone's lives, and she had paid the price. Jun hadn't been obligated to help an enemy at all. If anything, the archer had done more to save Delilah than Gray had. Gray slowly unclenched his hands. The tension drained from his shoulders, and he let out a long, heavy breath.

"Th… thank you," he managed, dipping his head in a stiff nod.

"For doing everything you could to help her."

"I already told you, I didn't save her life." Jun folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"And you don't have to thank a 'conniving little weasel' like me."

"Yeah, whatever. I said it, and I meant it." Gray mirrored his stance.

"Anyway, where is your team, really?" Jun's gaze dropped to the dirt. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"There was a disagreement. We decided it'd be better if they worked as a trio while I went off on my own." He shrugged.

"Honestly, I prefer it."" We decided, or your party decided?" Gray narrowed his eyes. Jun clicked his tongue.

"That's beside the point."

"Can you even handle yourself without a bunch of meat shields protecting you?" Gray asked as he pulled up the archer's status sheet. Name: Jun Song Class: BoneMan Level: 5 Rank: Awakened Ladder Rank: 9 Gray's eyebrows shot up.

"Holy crap. Rank 9? How many people did you kill to climb that high?"

"Fifty-five." Jun's expression remained flat.

"I've killed fifty-five people so far." Behind Gray, Eugene audibly gulped. Gray grimaced.

"You keep count, you psycho?" Jun's jaw tightened.

"You think I want to remember every face I've killed? I'm not allowed to forget. The clarity from my Archer Mastery etches every one of them into my memory."

"Feel guilty all you want. It doesn't change the fact that you murdered those people in cold blood when you didn't have to." Gray scoffed.

"I hope every one of them haunts your dreams in high definition." Andre stepped past Gray and stopped directly in front of Jun.

"I apologize for him." He shot Gray a brief look before returning his attention to the archer.

"Psycho or not, you still had enough heart to do what you did for us. Thank you." Andre dipped his head respectfully. Jun stared at him for a beat, visibly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna get out of here now. Any more praise and I might actually turn psycho." He raised an arm toward the treeline. A curved bone spike shot from his palm, trailing a translucent wire before burying itself into a high branch. Jun glanced back at Gray.

"I'll pay you back during the entrance exam for what you did to me on the second level." A faint edge entered his voice.

"And this time… I'll be prepared." The wire snapped taut. Jun was yanked off his feet and hurtled toward the canopy. He swung through the branches and landed neatly atop a thick limb. A beat later, he launched himself deeper into the forest, leaving only a blur between the trees. Eugene's hands flew across his invisible keyboard.

"He's already a hundred feet away!" Gray watched the spot where Jun had disappeared. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of Gray's mouth. I am sort of curious to see if I can actually fight him in a duel…