Chương 33: Chapter 32 - Conviction

When the barrier went down Zhenyu knew they were in dire straits. He didn't attempt to go for a stab, the [Rogue] had dodged all his throws, predicted their trajectory with absolute confidence that it had shattered his. He did the logical thing when going up against an unstoppable force. He used their emergency card. They hadn't come completely empty handed in terms of emergencies. This was a procedure they'd drilled quite a few times. Flash and scramble. They just hadn't ever had to use it before and it showed…

Zhenyu had thrown it too early. All little mistakes, like having Jack, their [Rogue], in the center with two [Warriors] at the side. Like talking with the enemy, like throwing a flash grenade too early at a [Rogue] that knew what flash grenades were. All mistakes they might not have made if they'd been trained against that fear skill. There was a sickening crunch and a scream, then a flash of light and sound. It rung in his ears but it was nowhere near as intense as it should've been.

Zhenyu stopped trying to scramble away. He turned around to see Jack with a knife in his back. His [Rogue] was desperately trying to grab at it while squirming on the floor. His [Mage] lay on the ground, neck twisted in the wrong way. The blacklister was standing on top of a shield where the flash grenade had landed. The opening of the shield was directed at Kate, who had borne the brunt of the directed light and sound from the flashbang. She was running blindly into the forest, still following procedure.

Artigan just stood on top of the shield and gave him a disappointed look. Flash and scramble might have worked if they were dealing with a monster or a Trial being that didn't know what flash grenades were. – Right before the carnage: When Ryan saw the flashbang land at his feet, he had sprinted forward instinctively. Put a shield on a grenade, that was the classic. The [Rogue] stood still, in fear, in his way. He thrust his shield forward to shove the [Rogue].

The [Mage] of the team pulled the [Rogue] aside and came face with Avale's shield. There was a crunch as the [Mage] collapsed to the ground. He hadn't been worried about it, his focus was on the flashbang. He put the shield on top, handle towards the flashbang so that it would be firmly on the ground. The [Rogue] scrambled away, sprinting for his cowardly life. Ryan threw a knife, moving more on instinct than actually trying to kill him.

It surprised him when the knife just stabbed into the [Rogue]'s back and he just tumbled down. Then he felt the impact of the flash grenade go off under his shield. That had taken far, far too long. The [Warrior] had completely messed up with the fuse, a few seconds in a combat situation was far, far too much for realm twos like them. Ryan shook his head. That had been far too easy. Did guys like these really travel without a gun? The artillery [Warrior] sank to his knees, broken at the sight that lay before him.

He just kept blankly stared at his [Rogue]. They were desperately trying to pull the knife from their spine. The other [Warrior] was still running. That was the funny thing, if both [Warriors] and [Rogue] had worked together it would have been a difficult fight, Ryan might have been the one running.

"I did promise I'd kill everyone that tried to kill me." Ryan smiled as he walked towards the [Rogue]. He did truly mean it at the time. When he had given the chief enforcer his word he had meant it. Also killing these guys would have sent a message. … but after that discussion with the Witch Tyrant it felt wrong. He knew the truth. It was a desperate scramble to get strong enough so they could face what may come. I thought the Witch Tyrant was better than that.

He flipped a knife in the air, contemplating his choices. He could feel something tugging at him to continue, to keep building his momentum. He glanced at the [Warrior]. The artillery [Warrior] was still too shellshocked to do anything. The [Rogue] turned around at him. There was no fight in his eyes.

"Realmbound! p-please, I have no more lives. I'm realmbound!" Ryan sighed. He eyed the [Warrior] snapping out of his daze to scramble at his last javelin. The elf froze in fear as he turned to him. He sheathed his knife and the [Warrior] hesitated. Then squatted. Tilting his head like the Witch Tyrant liked to do, and met the [Rogue's] eyes.

"And you think I'd care about you being a Realmbound? What can you offer me for your life, huh?" The [Warrior] was the one that spoke for the shocked [Rogue].

"Stop! I'll give my life and anything else you want, please, just let him live." Perhaps it was Ryan's refusal to push forward, but his Epic came to a screeching halt, no longer as intense as it had once been. It was like a spell had washed away from the artillery [Warrior]. His eyes were no longer that of a man overwhelmed by despair and fear. Ryan turned to the despairing [Warrior]. Then he shrugged.

"Eh, fine. Go heal him up. Leave your potions and other valuables. I'm going to kill your friend that ran. she isn't realmbound too right?" They both just looked at him, incredulous.

"I'll take that as a no." –"Tell me if there's a fucking realmbound next time." Gamielle didn't even have the decency to appear. He ran towards the direction the [Warrior] had fled to, not really worrying about - He felt a tingle from his [Dangersense] and leapt behind a tree. A bolt whizzed past him, going way too wide. She definitely didn't have a targeting skill.

"You fucking monster! Jack was realmbound!"

"Yeah and you ran and left him behind, he was still alive you know."

"You fucker!" That was it for the banter from her, her voice quavered and Ryan felt his Epic start to build back up in full. He sprinted at her, not caring that he was a [Rogue] going up against a [Warrior]. She dropped her crossbow and reached for a longsword. [Enhanced Strike] Ryan dodged a wildly thrown skill and stabbed her through her armor with his sword. She was no Zedart. He kicked the [Warrior] off his blade. She stumbled backwards, staring at the wound on her chest.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Then the [Warrior] stepped forward in a quick dash, a desperate slash from below. Ryan just deflected it with his shield. He spun, using the force to smash the pommel of his sword into her head. Well that was easy, was everyone else really this bad at fighting? – He made his way back to where he had left the remaining team members. If both of them had run, then he wouldn't bother chasing them down.

What was more irritating was his Epic, it kept urging him forward, to build up momentum. He hadn't realized how subtle it was until he'd made a choice to not kill the [Rogue]. There was a second crossbow attached to his belt and a new minor healing potion. Courtesy of the female [Warrior]. I'm going to be better than both Zedart and the Witch Tyrant. Zhenyu sat by his [Mage]'s corpse, alone. The adventurer was a raven haired elf, a little stockier than average almost as big as he was.

Ryan wondered if he could wear that armor. He nodded to the forest.

"So he's run off?"

"Yes, thank you for not killing him." The artillery [Warrior] sounded genuine. A spinal injury and the [Rogue] had managed to get away? At minimum that was a moderate healing potion. Welp.

"You could've just ran with him, you know?"

"I have to make sure you stay here. I am Zhenyu, the leader of Rising Yets." The captain stood up and put his helmet back on, javelin held with one hand. His eyes burned, whatever fear or despair had been displayed earlier was gone. Just absolute determination. Something stirred in Ryan's chest. Now this was what a real adventurer was. How dare the Witch Tyrant call this fake. He waved his hand.

"Alright, we'll wait until you're happy your friend has had enough time to get away." Zhenyu let out a shaking breath and stood still, javelin pointed down. The bravado in the face of death was good, covering for your team like this? Better. They stared at each other in silence for a few more minutes, both ready to move the moment the other twitched. Ryan decided to break the silence with a question that was on his mind.

"Why did you bring a realmbound?" Realmbound was the term for non-Destined adventurers that had lost their safety and returned to The Realm. Unlike Destined, they weren't able to return to Earth again, being forever stuck in The Realm. Honestly, The Realm was so much better than Earth anyway. The only reason you'd stay on Earth was for friends and family.

"Because he's part of the team. He wanted to continue with us."

"Dumb." It was true, the [Rogue] had frozen up and the [Mage] had to tackle him out of the way. Their [Mage] ended up with a broken neck instead. Zhenyu flared up at Ryan's comment.

"Do you think every team has only those with extra lives?" Ryan sighed, that was true. The further he went, the more teams he'd encounter with realmbound adventurers. Zedart's words hung hollow in his head.

"I'd have to do this eventually."

"What?" Zhenyu asked. Ryan shook his head and stood up.

"Nothing, just something a bratty elf once said to me. Alright, when you do end up back at the Guild make sure to spread the word that I'm a ruthless monster and that Jack got lucky okay?" Zhenyu looked like he wanted to ask more questions. Instead he looked at the forest around him.

"Do you promise not to go after Jack?"

"Do I look like the type of person to go back on my word?" Ryan said that with a straight face. He wondered how his elf mask looked to the man in front of him. Zhenyu nodded at him. Taking his words seriously. Warriors, typical gullible idiots. The [Warrior] took a stance, he held his oversized javelin with both hands, like a spear. Wide stance, tip pointed at Ryan, a classic spearmaster stance, well practiced and trained. He grinned. Ryan ran forward, plucking three knives from his chest strap and throwing them.

Zhenyu swept two away with pure skill and dodged the other. With the same hand that had just thrown the knives he unbuckled the shield from his side and slammed forward at the speartip. [Instant Dodge] VS [Burst Of Might] Ryan lost the contest of strength, his own skill halted in midair as the [Warrior] launched him to the side. He used his right hand to touch the ground, pushing off it, twisting his body. He threw his shield at the [Warrior] in an absurd display of acrobatics while midair.

When he landed he had both his crossbows out and fired. Zhenyu swept the shield to the side and broke his stance to dodge a bolt. The second one landed in his gut.

"Shit." The [Warrior] didn't dare try to take the bolt out. Ryan already had a knife out, about to throw. Then he sheathed it.

"Well, that's that. I can just pepper you from the outside while waiting for you to bleed out."

"Bring it on, it'll take more than a gutshot to take me down." Ryan shook his head.

"Nah, I'm good. I'll tell you what, when you get back, send me half of your net worth into my adventurer account. My price for letting you live."

"I'd rather die with my team than pay you."" Whoa whoa, hold on there, are you going back on your word? you said you'd do anything if I let Jack go." Zhenyu opened his mouth, then got swayed by his [Warrior] honor and closed it. Ryan nodded his head then pointed in the direction of the woman he'd just knocked out.

"Your [Warrior] friend is over there with a nasty headwound. Better go check up on her before a monster finds her." He waved off the captain of Rising Yets and sheathed his weapons. Ryan went to pick up the scattered knives, coming awfully close to Zhenyu's striking range. The [Warrior] shook his head and ran off to the direction where Ryan had come from. He turned around to find the [Rogue] struggling to pull a javelin out of the tree.

"You're one messed up dude." He waved back at Zhenyu of the Rising Yets.

"And don't you forget it. Spread the word you hear? I'm a terrifying monster that'll kill you all!" Ryan hefted the javelin on his hand and realized there was no suitable clip for it. It was too large and too heavy to fit anywhere conveniently. He tutted and threw it away, disappointed. He walked to the fallen [Mage]. A floating Gamielle appeared above the corpse, her body back to the more reasonable half elf that she truly was. She had a smug look on her face.

"You keep your word huh? Didn't you say that you would kill everyone coming after you?"

"Hey, I'm a [Rogue]. You believing in my words is your fault, not mine." It was pretty messed up that he was getting comfortable with rummaging through dead adventurers' belongings. It was becoming methodical at this point. Put the weapons to the side, the [Mage] had a small knife. Check for electronics, no smartphone, no secret hidden camera… No potions or magical wand? Not even an adventurer's band? The female [Warrior] had those and an emergency potion. He groaned.

"I should've just killed them." Jack must have taken all their valuables. That was a mistake he wasn't making again. Next time he'd rob them all, then let them go after making them promise to transfer him their money. His groping hands finally found something, a piece of parchment. An old style adventurer's poster. Something still used as part of tradition. A bounty on a bullipede. Gamielle didn't seem interested in the poster. She just tilted her head at him. Ryan looked up in annoyance.

"Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to say something?" She was just haunting him like a ghost again, just observing with a creepy smile. He had a few ideas about what Gamielle was but nothing he wanted to say out loud in case he was wrong.

"You know fighting this team was stupid right?"

"Yeah but they didn't have guns."

"You got lucky with that you know." Ryan looked up in confusion.

"Did I? Didn't you lure this team here?" Gamielle returned his confused look"I didn't lure them, they were nearby and just tracked you down." She paused, "wait, did you fight these guys thinking I set up a team you could take on?" He turned around, eyes wide open, "oh shit."

"You're an idiot!"

"You did it with me and Zedart! You lured Patrick's team! Of course I thought you'd do it again!" Gamielle pulled at her hair.

"It wasn't supposed to be that way, remember?! We can't keep setting things up like that. It'll get diminishing returns. The risk isn't worth the reward at your realm."

"... at my realm?"

"I said what I said." She looked around conspiratorially then scrunched her nose like her mother did. The more he watched her, the more Gamielle acted like her mother.

"You're actually worried for me, huh?"

"Pfft, no. It'd be a waste of a good soulsword and a top tier artifact. Seriously, wisen up Ryan. Treat this like a marathon and not a race. Don't go charging into things without knowing their specs." Gamielle looked pointedly at the bounty poster in Ryan's hand. Sometimes it did feel like she could read his mind. He was still planning on going for it. If Zhenyu's team was planning on killing it then he should be able to as well.

It would help his achievements and maybe push him towards a skill that would cover his weaknesses as a [Rogue]. The [Mage] tried to distract him.

"Why did you hesitate in killing the adventurers?" Her question snapped him out of his planning, Ryan blinked a few times. He sighed.

"I guess, I'm just disappointed in your mother, that's all."

"You do know she's listening right?"

"Good. Then let her hear this. I always thought that she was someone that stood against it all. The Witch Tyrant I grew up believing in was someone that was larger than life. I thought that even if she could be ruthless, she would never step over that line, even at the end of the world that they'd stand firm until the end." He sighed, eyes a little wet.

"I guess I'm just a sucker that believed in childish illusions, that's all." Gamielle stared at the ground, she couldn't meet his eyes. She had also gone quieter during the discussion with the Witch Tyrant. The more vindictive the Witch became the less playful she became.

"She wasn't always like this. You didn't grow up believing a lie." Ryan smiled faintly.

"I don't know if that makes it better or worse. But thanks Gamielle."

"You know, letting them live will just bring more pressure." He nodded, that was a true, sobering fact. Still, he didn't want to just kill the very people he looked up to. That wasn't him. Ryan made up his mind." Good. Bring it. I'll take them all on. Do the impossible, right? But here's the thing, the Tyrants have already fought a world and won. It's been done before, old news." He grinned, and he felt something like his Epic stirring inside of him.

It wasn't his aura of intimidation but something that felt clearer, brighter. Now this felt more like him. No, this was who he wanted to be. If the Tyrants weren't going to do it... He spread his arms out wide, the dead [Mage] lay before his feet with the remains of a fight scattered around them. It was silly and very dramatic, but he had to cater to his audience. The Witch Tyrant was watching after all.

"What's more impossible than beating an entire world while keeping everyone I like alive?" The Trial System rewarded daring and madness. He chose to double down.