Chương 13

A crossbow bolt smashed into the drone that suspended Kiki. A split second after the metal projectile pierced through its mechanical body, an explosion of scrap metal announced her departure from beside Oliver. She dropped. Benjamin did not delay even a moment in reacting. The drone holding Oliver swerved and he narrowly missed a bolt to his leg. The projectile, identical to the one that had blown up Kiki's drone, zipped past his limb and clinked into a skyscraper window.

The window exploded, pelting Oliver with shards of glass.

"What the—"" Emergency landing. Retrieval of Kiki is priority number one. Help me." And then they were descending, before Oliver could even voice his agreement. While not as quick a descent as gravity's natural pull on Kiki, it still took less than a score of seconds and Oliver had no doubt it would have shattered his legs if not for his Resilience. A glance to the side showed Oliver how his companion had survived the fall.

A katana sized tear ripped from halfway up the closest skyscraper all the way down to its base. Oliver wondered just how sharp Kiki's blade must be to cut through glass and metal so effectively. But he didn't have time to ponder long. Kiki was already engaged with the enemy. She ducked under a crossbow bolt and parried a chainsaw wielded by a large man. The chainsaw roared as it attempted to grind through the katana, sending a cascade of sparks into the air over Kiki.

Oliver dashed forward with the intent to slam his shovel's blade into the chainsaw wielder's neck." Shadow Slice!" someone shouted. Oliver swung around, shovel in hand, and parried his own shadow. The darkness now formed into a writhing blade aimed at his chest. The strength of his shadow was surprising and he fell to his knees in an attempt to keep the attack at bay. The attack didn't let up, instead pressing down on him.

Normally, he would let the momentum of the enemy blow break and slip to the side, then put some distance between himself and his attacker before reengaging. That wasn't as much of an option when it was his own shadow, tied to the bottoms of his feet. His shadow was mostly solidified by a massive neon sign to his back. Oliver debated shooting it with his blunderbuss. That would require a hand to accomplish, both of which were currently pressed against the shaft of his shovel to keep the blade away from his flesh."

Shadow Trap!" Oliver's shadow shifted from a blade into a blob of blackness. It descended on him, engulfing him in darkness." Shadow Slice!" Oliver felt blades slice into his skin. There was no warding off an attack that came from every direction. Only his Resilience kept the sharp edges from piercing deep. But at this rate it would still be a death by a thousand cuts within the next few seconds." Slink," he said, activating his own shadow ability.

"Where the–" came the response from his attacker. Whatever awareness his shadow skills granted, Oliver's skill overrode it. Oliver shifted through the shadow, following the sound of the voice. He stepped out into the light. A sandyhaired young man stood three feet to his right, staring into the globe of darkness that Oliver had just emerged from. Without even giving his opponent an opportunity to turn and face him, a shovel's blade met his temple. The man crumpled at Oliver's feet.

A notification appeared but Oliver ignored it. There was far more than one test subject fighting them. Kiki was on the defensive, deflecting crossbow bolts and blasts of fire. The man with the chainsaw was now a corpse at her feet. The chainsaw bucked about on the metal floor, bouncing like a demented ball and spewing out chunks of metal whenever the blade connected with the ground. After witnessing the death of the chainsaw guy, the other hunters seemed unwilling to allow Kiki to close the gap between them.

The two ranged opponents darted between abandoned cars, shooting at Kiki from afar, one with a crossbow and the other with blasts of fire magic like a flamethrower. They also had one big man with a baseball bat who stood guard patiently off to the side of his companions, clearly prepared to intervene if Kiki closed the gap. Meanwhile, there was another attacker teleporting around, engaged in a game of tag with Benjamin's drone. Bang!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Oliver's bullet embedded itself in the neck of the fire mage. Another notification appeared as the woman crumpled to the ground, dead. That drew the big man's attention. He turned and his eyes flicked from the dead mage, to the dead shadow user at Oliver's feet, then finally to Oliver himself, who still held a smoking blunderbuss.

With the crossbow wielder still desperately trying to keep Kiki away, the baseball bat man roared and charged at Oliver. The shot at the fire mage had been a nice clean straight line while she had been hunched over a car's hood, sending out one of her fire blasts in Kiki's direction. Oliver was not as lucky with the baseball bat man. He barreled through all obstacles in his way, shoving aside vehicles in his charge at Oliver.

Which would have offered a clear shot, if Oliver had the opportunity to reload his blunderbuss in time. The shaft of Oliver's silver shovel blocked the bat's swing, but the power behind the blow nearly ripped the tool out of Oliver's hands. His hands jittered and shook as he stumbled backward. The man's Strength must be something incredible. If he had to bet money, Oliver would gamble it all on the man being beyond the 100 stat point threshold. Oliver was lucky he'd had his shovel reinforced back in Ventri.

His old weapon would have snapped under that amount of pressure.

"You killed Yev!" the big man snarled.

"You shoot me out of the sky!" Oliver shot back. The man spat a glob of green spit at Oliver's feet. Then he raised his baseball bat. His lips twitched up like a chimp exerting dominance. Oliver took a fighting stance, ready to dodge and lunge after the man's strike. He planned to use the man's anger to get inside his reach and finish this with a quick thrust. But the baseball bat's next swing wasn't aimed at him." Earth Shatter!" The bat connected with the ground.

The steel street rent under the impact, splitting open into a chasm that stretched to Oliver's feet. As he fell, Oliver swung his shovel to the side, embedding it in the dirt that lay beneath the street's metal casing. His shovel dug deep into the dirt wall and held his weight, his feet dangling towards a dark unknown. The bright side was that Oliver was decently confident that a skill that powerful would only be available once a day. He just needed to get himself out of the chasm." Batter up!"

The big man threw a chunk of fist-sized rubble into the air. His bat connected, hurling the metal and concrete in Oliver's direction at a breakneck speed. But he wasn't the only one who'd hit a 100 point threshold. Oliver swung himself up as the rubble slammed into the dirt wall, the impact left a crater in the earth right where Oliver had been hanging a second earlier. He felt the pebbles from the shattered rubble pelt him as he swung himself.

His momentum carried him up, where he was able to grab the edge of the metal street and yank himself up to safety. He rolled into a crouch. Then he blinked, confused about where his opponent had disappeared to. He scanned the destroyed street for the baseball bat man. He hadn't seemed like a very stealthy individual, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. A shadow under Oliver grew. He barely managed to shove himself out of the way as a pair of boots slammed down and demolished the street under the shadow.

The man had thrown himself into the air and attempted to crush Oliver with an attack from above. But Oliver hadn't simply dodged again. This time, he left behind a little present. Instead of the boot crushing his head, like intended, his bat wielding foe's foot pulverized a small glass vial as well. Coils of steam rose up from the man's foot as the air filled with the acrid scent of burning leather.

"My boot—" That was all the guy got out before the acid burned up to the sole of his foot. He toppled over, yowling in pain.

"A present from a [Witch] I met," Oliver said, swiftly reloading his blunderbuss. Bang! A bullet to the head. His opponent crumpled, falling on the destroyed street.

"Ironic that she helped me out of this ambush when she put me in one." But, as Oliver stepped, he realized he hadn't received a death notification yet. The man was on the metal ground, still struggling, and reaching for his bat. That made no sense. With the amount of Strength his opponent had displayed, he couldn't also have enough Resilience to shrug off a bullet from Oliver's blunderbuss.

And yet, the silver bullet looked to be stuck in his cheek, slowly spreading a spiderweb of black veins from the point of contact. Then Oliver realized what must have happened. His foe had used his high Strength to bite down on the bullet right as it entered his cheek. It had shattered his teeth but saved his life. If Oliver didn't also have the Silver Potency skill, that gamble might have paid off. As it was, the man was dying, but not yet dead. Oliver strained his Dexterity as he lunged forward.

He snatched the bat away when it was a mere inch from his opponent's fingertips. The next instant he slammed the bat down on the man's head. Not only did he feel the crack of a shattered skull, but the blow carried enough power behind it that it left behind a sizable dent in the steel street. Finally, he saw the notification pop up. Without taking time to read it, Oliver was already reloading his pistol. Without his shovel on hand, he stood no chance in another melee fight.

This baseball bat was powerful and clearly reinforced, but all he knew how to do with it was swing it. Hopefully that would be enough. The teleporter had fled while Oliver had fought with the big man. Benjamin's drone had disappeared in pursuit. How the [Technomancer] knew where his opponent had escaped to was anyone's guess. Probably either a surveillance system set up across the city or a skill. Either way, it wasn't Oliver's problem. Thankfully, Shovel Proficiency wasn't Oliver's only weapon skill anymore.

His gun was cocked and ready just in time to watch Kiki unsheath her sword from between the crossbowman's ribs. Out of curiosity, Oliver used Appraisal as the dying man slumped to the ground. An [Arbalist] level 41. Before Oliver had time to even read the other two classes on the man, someone else caught his attention. Sasha Smith. Human. Level 64. [Tracker], [Assassin], [Blood Hunter], [Invisible Stalker]. He felt his Uncanny Sight activate. Then he saw her.

She wore a cloak of swirling scarlet liquid, her face so pale as to be a sickly gray. Black hair pressed against her skin, slick with grease and sweat. She didn't even bother looking at him while he raised his weapon in her direction. Her eyes were solely on Kiki, her crimson knife raised to slice open Kiki's throat. Bang! Kiki whirled in his direction as the shot went off, eyes wide in betrayal as she spotted Oliver, his gun raised in her direction.

She steadied her stance and raised her blade, clearly readying herself to confront Oliver. Then Sasha's fresh corpse thumped to her feet.