Chương 93: Any Last Words?

"Can you hear this?" I asked, throwing the sand I was still holding into his eyes. It was a low move, but considering he just tried to flatten me with a house-sized rock while I was trying to have a conversation with someone who I totally wasn't going to shoot before he could slap me, I figured we were past the point of being polite. He recoiled, clawing at his face.

"You bitch!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, already moving. I wasn't going to waste time with clever comebacks when I could just shoot him in the face instead. I raised my revolver and fired a [Clean Entry] at his head. He raised a wall of stone just in time, but I'd already anticipated that. I blinked to his side and fired again. This time the bullet caught him in the neck. He didn't chuckle after that. [Generous Gift +20% Damage] [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] I didn't even have time to enjoy my new permanent damage buff before something heavy slammed into my side. I went flying through the air, which is never a great feeling, and crashed right through the door of the inn I'd been in earlier. I landed on a table, which thankfully broke my fall by also breaking itself. Bogumir was already coming in after me. His bottom half was walking through the door, his top half was crawling, and that stupid arm was scuttling across the ceiling.

It was honestly the most coordinated I'd ever seen a man in three pieces be. The legs kicked a chair at me and I crossed my arms to block it. The chair shattered against me, barely damaging my [Mana Shield]. I spotted my other revolver still on the ground. I willed it over to me and it reformed in my hand. I quickly pumped a [Clean Entry] into his shoulder, which exploded. He seemed startled by the increase in damage, but otherwise undeterred. His newly separated arm also started crawling to me.

I wanted to cast [Soul Index] so I could find out what his class was, but I was afraid that doing that might allow him to get the drop on me. Now I had to fight four Bogumirs. Kind of.

"What kind of bullshit class is that?" I asked. Bogumir's torso suddenly jerked upright and started hovering. Great. Even more Bullshit.

"This is what it means to be blessed by Stvora," he said.

"Oh come—" I tried to say, but I got hit in the side again and slammed into a wall. Once again I didn't see what had hit me, but the spot where I had been was on fire now. Which made sense since I was still on fire myself. I groaned, pushing myself out of the splintered wall, and managed to [Blink] just in time to avoid getting punched in the face by one of his severed arms. I tried to shoot him in the chest but his legs swept my legs out from under me. I rolled out of the way of another punch.

This bastard was everywhere at once. I used [Flame Breath] and managed to hit an arm and the legs. Nothing happened to them.

"Really? Fire immune?" I asked.

"You talk too much," he said. I dodged two arms trying to grab at me from different directions.

"You ever think that maybe you talk too little? Can't we all just get along?" I rolled out of the way of another leg sweep. While I was faster than him, there was just so damn much of him everywhere. I didn't even get the chance to shoot because I was constantly on the back foot.

"I'm really a pacifist at heart," I said.

"Ask anyone." Bogumir got an incredulous look on his face.

"Do you even hear yourself?"

"Yeah." I fired a shot at his arm, but it moved aside in time to dodge.

"Yeah, I hear myself. I have ears. Why?" Bogumir didn't explain why he asked, instead his two arms launched at me and I sensed his legs were about to hit me from behind. I simply blinked away and shook my head.

"Was that a rhetorical question? I don't get it. Did you know frogs have ears? They're called tympanum. Those flat, disc-like patches on the side of their heads. Those are their ears."

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, so they can hear obviously. If you're asking me why they look like that, don't ask me. I'm no frogolist or whatever it's called." I paused.

"And I'm no earologist either in case that was your next question." His expression turned into a mixture of anger and confusion. His parts stopped moving for a fraction of a second, and I used that moment to fire off two clean entries at his arms. Both separated the hands from the rest of the arm and the arms dropped to the floor, unmoving. Interesting. So it was the extremities that mattered. Would that also mean that if I shot his head off he would keep going?

Was I really going to have to waste such a promising head not to die? A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I readied a shot at his torso, but the legs came at me again. I jumped aside and attempted another shot but got slapped by one of the hands. Without the arms attached they were a lot faster.

"Don't make me shoot you in the head, Bogumir!"

"You couldn't shoot me in the head on your best day."

"What?! Look at you! You're in pieces, and it's not even close to my best day."

"You ever consider I'm in pieces because I wanted to be?"

"No." His torso launched at me and I stepped back. The legs tried to sweep me again, and I jumped out of the way of that too, only to feel the hands closing around my wrists like vices. I let my revolvers retract back into my hands, in case he was going to try to grab them or something. His legs jumped up and folded around me in a chokehold. Bogumir's torso slowly drifted over to me.

"Because if I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to do that." I couldn't move my arms, and I wouldn't have long before I'd pass out from the choke.

"It's… a bit… intimate… don't you think?" I managed to wheeze out. My [Mana Shield] was the only thing keeping my windpipe from being crushed, but it was draining fast.

"I'm going to enjoy watching the light leave your eyes." I looked around for any way to escape, but couldn't see a way out. I glanced down at Stabigail. If only I could wiggle it loose somehow… Bogumir nodded at it.

"You want that?"

"Can I?" I asked politely. He got a smug grin on his face.

"I suppose it would be poetic for the witch to be killed with her own weapon. And it would be a nice trophy for me."

"Not like that! That's not what I meant!" His intestines slowly drifted out of him and wrapped around the hilt of the dagger.

"Any last words?"

"Gross…" I managed to say. Bogumir shook his head and smiled. I closed my eyes, which made him laugh out loud. Then he pulled Stabigail free, and I could see the burst of white light through my closed eyes. The dagger released its extremely loud choir note, causing Bogumir to scream in surprise. I felt the grip of his appendages loosen and I shook them off, then blinked away. The glitter was everywhere. Bogumir's parts were stumbling around and he was still screaming.

I quickly fired off two [Clean Entry] infused shots at his heart and throat, which exploded and mixed and rained down with the glitter. The glitter settled over the scene like a festive shroud, and for a second, it was almost pretty. Then the reality of Bogumir being distributed across the floor set in, and the "pretty" part evaporated. His mangled torso hit the ground with a wet thud, the intestines spilling out like a pile of dropped sausages.

The legs just kind of tipped over, and the hands gave one final twitch before going still. I stood there for a second, rubbing my neck.

"All according to plan." I walked over to the pile of intestiny, glittery remains and picked up Stabigail. I put her back on my hip and gave her an appreciative pat.

"Thanks, girl. You really came through." The head was covered in guts and glitter, but I used [Headhunter] on it anyway. The head shrank to the size of a plum. I grabbed it, shook most of the blood, guts, and glitter off, blew on it a couple of times hoping to get the rest, then dropped it into my satchel. I gave his remains a once over and pulled two rings from his hands. The rest of him was pretty disgusting so I didn't feel like touching it. I straightened and strode out of the ruined inn back into the street.

When I glanced back, I saw the flames were spreading. Soon there wouldn't be much left of The Tail End. The crowd was still there, and when they saw me walk out unharmed, completely ablaze, they all went silent. I threw my hand up, trying to look as heroic and triumphant as possible.

"The children are safe!" I shouted.

"You can all go back to your lives now." A few people in the front started to clap. Then more joined in. I wasn't sure if they were clapping because they thought they'd found their savior, or if they were terrified that if they didn't clap I'd splatter them across the street like I'd done with the inquisitors. After way too long, the clapping slowly stopped, and most of the crowd dispersed. [You have crossed the 10 believer threshold. You can now see how many believers you have.] [Believers: 11] Oh cool eleven believers. Wait. What?

===== [Hecate, Gunwitch Level 17] STATS Strength: 1 (1 + 0) Dexterity: 66 (33 + 33) Barrier: 1 (1 + 0) Attunement: 113 (21 + 92) Stamina: 6 (1 + 5) Luck: 1 (1 + 0) Chaos: 1 (1 + 0) Headhunter Totems Equipped: 2/3 SKILLS Quickdraw Omniglot Clean Entry Soul Index Artifact Index Headhunter Blink Mana Shield Mēnē's Watchful Eye Reload* Each bullet created by [Reload] gains the following bonuses: +100% Kinetic force +25% Damage +5% Life or Barrier stolen per hit All is One* You gain the [Flame Breath] ability.

Toggle: +5% chance to apply [Pyroclasm] on hit. This is doubled while on fire. +34 Attunement. Scales with level. +17% Mana regeneration. Scales with level. +68% Attack Speed while on fire. Scales with level. +68% Movement Speed while on fire. Scales with level. +68% Damage while on fire. Scales with level. +34% Fire Damage. Scales with level. +17% Fire Resistance. Scales with level. +17% Fire Absorption. Scales with level. -17% to enemy Fire Resistance. Scales with level.

Generous Gift +20% Damage (4 kills) EQUIPMENT Head #N/A Torso [Adder - PoisonSpeedHand - Tunic] 1/1 charges of [Venom]. Recharges every twelve hours. +15 Dexterity +15% Enhanced Attack Speed Poison Length Reduced By 25% -12% Enemy Poison Resistance Hands [Flamegrip - Bracers, ethereal] These bracers can not be repaired. +10 Attunement +20% Fire Resistance +5% Mana stolen per hit +5% chance to summon a [Flame Serpent] on hit. Belt Regular belt.

Totem: Pavel Rak, Seeker +5 Dexterity +5 Stamina +15% Stamina Regeneration +15% Movement Speed Legs [Delirium - HandStarWave - Pants] 10% chance to cast [Confusion] when struck +10 Dexterity +10 Attunement +20% Status effect duration Enemies affected by status effects take 10% increased damage Feet [Russet Boots of Attunement - Boots] +20% Fire Resistance +5 Attunement -10% Stamina drain Amulet [Blessing of the Firemind - Amulet] Killing an enemy restores 10% of maximum Mana +20% Fire Damage +20% Fire Resistance +10 Attunement Ring1 [Ring of Kindling - Ring] When you ignite an enemy, nearby enemies have a 25% chance to also ignite +10% Fire Damage +7 Attunement Ring2 [Russet Damage Conversion Ring - Ring] 12% of Damage is converted into Barrier +9% Fire Resistance +6 Attunement Main hand [Hecate's Revolver 1] Totem: None Offhand [Hecate's Revolver 2] Totem: Lubomir Drevek, Flame Adept Weapon fires flaming projectiles Deal +30% damage to burning targets.

Killing a burning target restores a small amount of Mana +10 Attunement +20% Mana Regeneration Sidearm [Stabigail - Dagger] When unsheathed, the dagger momentarily emits a blinding white glow and releases a puff of glittery smoke accompanied by a dramatic choral note. +3 Dexterity