Chương 54: Speeding up

Something was wrong with his Soul. Picking up Lily and putting her on his back was a usual routine at this point. He did it automatically, his body moving on its own, shifting weight, adjusting the rope, legs moving him somewhere without a conscious decision. Obviously, something was wrong with his Soul. He knew that. He just… thought that it was fixed. He wasn't expecting the error to hit him that hard. There was a simple hope in his heart.

Clearly there was some kind of correlation–or maybe even causation–between him being a fuckup in a moral department and his abysmally low Soul stat. Dennis was now aware of increasingly numerous reasons why he wasn't and couldn't be a hero, but surely there was a good chance that raising the Soul to what was normal could fix something. At least give him a chance to grow. To stop pretending and mimicking, and to be a hero, even if he couldn't comprehend what exactly that would entail.

Also, he kind of needed more magic to heal Lily. It was the only thing that worked, so far. She was looking better nowadays, as far as corpses went. His Soul couldn't grow. Putting a point in it did nothing. There was no scratching the door situation, or some change happening but failing to hold on. Only complete stillness. The closest thing to an explanation that he could feel was a vague impression of a cat in a fish bowl. There was absolutely no space for the stat to grow.

Dennis didn't even know that stats needed space. Just like that, the most straightforward way of both healing Lily and maybe having a chance to achieve his dream in the process was closed. Dennis was getting sick of things not working out for him. His legs brought him to the nearest skill-place without him even noticing. Some sort of aquarium? It didn't really matter. The Arm was beside the entrance. He put Lily down and took out his weapons. Heroic Dash 13 -> Heroic Dash 19 I know we can't do much, bud.

But until we find a way to save her, we need a way to keep her alive. She needs exp, and the scraps she gets from being the target aren't much. So we need to do a lot of killing, especially if we're going to take her all the way to the far-away target. I don't think I can kill the Arms without the freedom to move in all directions. You get me, right? To save her, I need to kill them. I know it's not 'reaching the target' but… Please. It's the only thing we can do.

Maybe Dennis imagined it, but just for a moment there was a hand resting on his shoulder. A silent acceptance, and a promise that everything will work out. He probably imagined it. The last month wasn't good for his mental state. The conceptual distribution of a skill was modified. Skill description updated. Heroic Dash 19. Passive. Unique. Just save everyone. Maybe apply a bit of triage. Effect: +19 Mind, +19 Dexterity while trying to reach an ally to save them.

Effect: +19 Mind, +19 Dexterity while trying to save an ally. A sigh of relief escaped his lips, followed by a quiet chuckle. System descriptions really didn't do skills any justice. The definitions of what was and wasn't 'trying to save' were packed tightly on those metaphysical sheets of paper. Heroic Dash did what it could with the available space, but Dennis was still a long way from declaring that making a sandwich in superspeed was instrumental to saving people faster or something abstract like that.

Honestly, what he could feel about the way the skill was supposed to work now was suspiciously specific to what he needed right now. He was glad that Lily's name didn't sneak in directly in the description on his status screen. That would've been weird, though justified. Despite the vague wording, it was limited as hell. But also, it was enough.

"You know," he said quietly as he rolled his shoulders and firmed his grip.

"This is still fucking scary. I don't actually know if the new speed will be enough. And if it's not… Well, then both of us are goners either way. Wish me luck." He imagined Lily wishing him luck as he selected her as a target for the skill. Could almost hear it." Healing," he muttered, expending all his mana and numbing the pain in his hands. He took a step away from her. Then another one. The skill didn't turn off.

By a weird cosmic coincidence, killing an Arm to give his target a little bit of shared exp to protect them from being erased from existence by the weird anti-reality space was something that was included in the skill's definition of 'saving'. Funny how that worked. Killing the Arm would mean that they had a way to stave off the void, potentially indefinitely. It meant getting a new skill sooner or later, which could be game-changing.

It meant having enough speed to cross the fucking ocean faster then he would need to stop for rest. His ability to win this fight meant everything, because he won't be getting to the next level through void refinement. He won't be getting stronger. It was win or die. The Arm was standing still, like a statue, looking straight ahead at nothing in particular. Dennis doubted it was even capable of thought. It probably was nothing more than a statue until something entered its aggro range.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Dennis stood directly in front of it just a few steps away, his posture relaxed and arms hanging loosely at his sides.

"What's up?" he casually asked in superspeed. The monster finally noticed him after what felt like an eternity, crouching and going for a lunge. Dennis patiently waited for it to do so. He silently thanked the gods for dumb enemies who were easily baited into good stabbing positions as the Arm finally moved. He didn't have a ladder. Casually sidestepping the punch, basically just walking alongside it, he proceeded with the beheading.

One, two, three, fou– After abandoning the fourth slash he crouched a bit below the second strike as it almost touched his hair, looking with worry at the cut becoming a bit more shallow from the ridiculous regeneration. Thankfully, it wasn't ridiculous enough to completely seal up the wound in less than a second. His daggers blurred again.

One, two, three, four, fi– Another dodge, this time the strike was coming from above, hitting the ground like a hammer, making chunks of the false-earth fly in all directions from the small explosion. Dennis just stepped a bit to the left and behind the creature to let it tank the shards. He didn't stop cutting. Slowly–though he wasn't sure if even a second passed yet since the start of the fight–the cut on the Arm's neck was deepening. It couldn't out-tank his damage.

Neither the insane durability nor regeneration was enough. Dennis was winning. Dennis was winning with ease. It was weird, fighting like that. He was completely dominating the fight, and sure, he was usually dominating his fights so it wasn't a new thing, but never like that. He wasn't using his fighting talent that much. Honestly, most people–unless they were especially dumb–could pull it off. His advantage in speed was absolute. It was ridiculous, just… not even close.

He moved in front of the Arm as it tried to backhand him, barely paying attention to the strike as he focused on cutting, his blades reaching almost halfway inside the neck. The only tricky part was to angle the strike just right so the daggers won't get stuck. The unbeatable monster looked so clumsy now. Like someone allergic to bees flailing around in panic. The only way for Dennis to lose would be to exhaust himself, but… it was what, two seconds since the fight started?

He could see himself getting in trouble–though not getting hit –if he fought, like, twenty Arms at the same time. It was the first time when Dennis was completely dominating a fight not because of his bullshit talent, but because of just sheer speed. He was what, about four times faster than the creature? Maybe a bit less? He was winning through speedsteriness, without really relying on anything else. It was a complete opposite of his previous fight. It was weird. He really, really liked the feeling.

He was fast as fuck. The head finally flew off. A dull thud of the Arm's body hitting the ground signified the end of the fight. The exp wasn't a rush anymore. About a tenth of what was needed for the next level? Okay, it wasn't a rush comparatively. He looked at Lily, trying to gauge how strong she got from basically just lying nearby. Not much. Clearly not enough to continue their trip.

"Huh," he said under his breath, the realization creeping on him only just now for some reason.

"Holy shit. Holy shit." Las Vegas was a big city. There were dozens of Arms in it, and after days of searching he pretty much knew where all of them were. And he could kill them all. He would kill them all. That was the initial plan. Not a surprise. He was just focused on the 'will I survive the fight' part of the plan too much to properly appreciate the 'holy shit that's gonna be a lot of exp' part. He picked the girl up and immediately went for the next spot.

"You know, if you won't revive after all this hard work I keep doing for you I'll be very disappointed," he kept muttering random things at the girl to pass the time. As far as conversation partners went, Lily was alright. Really good listener.

"You exp thief." The next spot was some sort of Sphinx replica. The Arm was sitting on its head. He was not going to climb up there.

"Oi!" he shouted after putting the girl in a safe spot.

"Get down here, you oversized Ken doll! Look how small and totally not threatening I am! And you're a higher level than me! Oh, what a shame it would be if you got down from that very inconvenient for climbing Sphinx head and tried to kill me! Oh, just what would I do then?!" Apparently, Arms didn't care about the noise. Getting a bit closer and into the aggro range worked. It flew down like a meteor, decimating the spot where he stood in an explosion of dust, cracking the ground. Dennis was nowhere near that spot.

Instead, he was lazily leaning his back on the Sphinx replica about fifty yards away, his arms crossed.

"Very impressive!" He rated the explosion.

"I would've totally died if that hit me!" The monster charged at him like a juggernaut, not really appreciating his banter. Dennis didn't mind, he was used to silent conversation partners. The trick was to imagine them answering instead. If he focused just right, he could almost hear them speaking. Sometimes he didn't even need to focus. Sometimes the replies caught him off guard. Sometimes, imagination was optional.

'I'm so angry because I don't have a dick!' the Arm screamed in rage as it tried to turn him into a bloody smear. The Sphinx statue shook from the impact.

"It's okay!" he replied as he dodged, finally getting a good angle for the attack.

"You have no game anyway! Those muscles are only good for impressing the bros!"

'It's the bros that I'm trying to impress!' the monster refuted, going for a rare kick. Dennis stood on the outstretched leg to not waste any time waiting for the Arm to lean forward again. The monster didn't have a throat anymore, which made it much more impressive that it didn't stop talking.

'But all my bros also don't have any, so all we can do–' The head separated from the body at the same time as Dennis jumped off the leg. A shame, but he would never know what was that only special thing that the Arms could do. Or maybe he'll just ask another one, unless he forgets. Which was straight up impossible with the whole eidetic memory thing going for him. He won't ever forget anything anymore.

Some new kind of giddiness overtook him as he watched the body slowly falling down on the ground, big and heavy enough that even such a minor thing still somehow looked impressive, like a tall building in the process of demolition. One time could be a fluke, but two times were a pattern. He looked at the daggers in his hands. The blades were chipped, worn down from use, but the steel endured. It was much harder to break a dagger than a sword, all other things being equal. He had his weapons. He had his speed.

Arms were no longer a threat to him. They were juicy, fat bags of exp. Lots and lots and lots of exp.

"Wasn't I supposed to get a new skill at level six?" he asked the Arm.

'I don't know,' the dead creature replied. For some reason the sound was coming from the body instead of the head.

'Why don't you ask Lily? She has better intuition for things like that. Maybe everyone gets only one skill?'

"That would be lame." Dennis frowned.

"I guess we'll see. Say, what was that thing that you and other Arms are–"'I'm dead,' the monster declared, as if that should somehow let it dodge the question. Dennis tsked.

"Well, keep your secrets." He turned around, walking back towards Lily.

"I'll just ask one of your living friends if you're being difficult."

'They will be silent. The secrets of the brotherhood are not–'"You were just about to tell me!"

'I'm dead.' Dennis scoffed, leaving the secretive ass to be dead alone. Lily felt a bit stronger. Whatever scraps of exp she got, they were enough to make a difference. She just needed more. He smiled as he picked her up. Two done, city to go.