“Ah!” The brown-haired man gasped for air as a strange electric current suddenly ran down his spine. He couldn’t move, as if he were tased.
He tried to call for help from his girlfriend, but then he saw her motionless.
Her shoulder had been cut by some kind of sharp object.
The man then felt something hot fall down his back as if he were bleeding!
Suddenly, hands appeared in his vision, holding some kind of ripped cloth.
The hands then wrapped the cloth around his mouth, and then he felt a strong tug on his collar as he was suddenly thrown to the ground.
He saw a black-cloaked figure approaching his girlfriend.
At that moment, he remembered Jock’s warning about the person who had attacked them at the abandoned house.
He and his girlfriend didn’t care about it, as there was a small chance of encountering him again.
Yet he was now standing right in front of them.
The cloaked figure wrapped the ripped cloth around the black-haired woman’s mouth and tossed her to the ground.
He then pulled a thin thread from his pocket and tied her limbs with it. He tied the thread so tightly that it cut slightly into her skin.
“Mmm!” The brown-haired man screamed and squirmed.
He was slowly regaining the mobility of his limbs, but then a shadow appeared above him.
The dark-cloaked figure looked coldly at him and then tied his limbs with the same thin thread.
At first, the man thought it would be easy to break through them as he had put plenty of stats on strength, but he couldn’t use any of his strength with his bound limbs.
He was incredibly frustrated.
Crash—an earth-shaking sound sounded from the direction of the farmhouse.
[You killed a Player!]
[450 XP Earned!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 30 -> 31]
‘I see, the game registered that as my kill.’ Ambrose thought, opened the barn doors, and looked back at the two tied players. “Wait here, thanks.”
Slam—the doors of the barn shut down with a slam, leaving the man and woman struggling alone in the darkness.
…
“What the hell was that?!” Jock shouted and rushed to the kitchen. He then felt something sticky on the floor and looked at it.
The whole floor was black and covered in some kind of sticky substance.
“What the fuck is this now?!”
“Jock, Quinn died!” A frightened-looking man shouted behind a crushed shelf.
“I got the notification!” Jock shouted. “How did he die?!”
“He got crushed by a fucking shelf!”
Miguel ran to the kitchen from upstairs.
He had already taken his spare sword out, thinking that the black-cloaked figure had returned.
He lost his longsword after his death, so he only had a wooden sword left.
After seeing the crushed shelf and pond of blue blood, he sheathed his sword and drew a cross on his chest. “That is one terrifying way of dying.”
“Huh, why the fuck was there a shelf on the ceiling?!” Jock shouted.
“M-maybe it was the owner of this farm’s last fuck you?” The frightened-looking man made a guess.
Quinn, the person who died, was the impatient guy who treated this mission as a joke and a waste of time.
“Also, what is this sticky shit on the ground?” Jock groaned angrily.
Miguel frowned and touched the floor and the black substance. He smelled it and frowned. “This smells like… gasoline?”
“Gasoline? Why does this game have gasoline when they can’t use it?” Jock asked.
With his knowledge, he knew that this game didn’t have automobiles, aircraft, or any generators that needed gasoline.
“Maybe this game has some kind of generator to keep the light going? Don’t bigger cities have lightbulbs as light sources?” The frightened man said.
“Damn, I don’t care. Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Jock walked to the window and opened it. He looked at the barn and angrily shouted. “Morris, Wilma, have you checked the barn already?!”
After several seconds of silence, Jock gritted his teeth. “Why aren’t they answering?!”
“Maybe they are banging again, like always when they are out of sight.” Miguel sighed and massaged his temples. “Every time.”
“If they have removed a single piece of cloth, I will beat their asses!” Jock said and angrily stomped towards the front door, but then his body froze.
Miguel and the frightened-looking man were about to follow, but after Jock stopped, so did they.
“Jock?” Miguel looked at the silent back of the tattooed man. He didn’t move an inch.
Jock gulped with a bleached face and slowly pointed outside with a trembling finger. Miguel turned to look outside and paled significantly, as if he had stepped into a snowstorm.
“What is it?” The frightened man asked and stepped forward just to see the sight outside.
They all saw a dark-cloaked figure outside with a hood over his head and a baseball bat in his right hand. The figure grabbed a matchstick, lit it up, and tossed it into the cloth that was wrapped around the baseball bat.
A brilliant, burning fire enveloped the baseball bat.
Jock and Miguel gulped deeply and looked down at their feet, which were covered in sticky gasoline.
They looked frightened and began to shake uncontrollably.
Ambrose looked down at his burning baseball bat, lifted it over his head, and hurled it across the air.
The bat crashed through the house’s window and landed on the kitchen floor.
Swoosh—instantly, fire began spreading across the entire first floor, enveloping the three players in it.
A second later, a burning explosion destroyed the house, sending burning pieces of furniture flying across the air.
Ambrose looked silently at the explosions, with several burning pieces of furniture landing around him.
A framed picture with cracked glass landed beside him; the picture was slowly burning to ash with the faces of the family melting away.
[You killed a Player!]
[450 XP Earned!]
[You killed a Player!] 𝑜𝒱𝓛xt.𝐂𝔬
[425 XP Earned!]
[You killed a Player!]
[525 XP Earned!]
Ambrose looked away from the burning farmhouse and returned to the barn. After opening the doors, the couple were still struggling, but the man was trying to bite off the threads around his girlfriend’s limbs.
After seeing the light return to the dark barn, they hopefully looked at the entrance, hoping that Jock and others had killed the black-cloaked figure. But to their horror, it wasn’t the case.
Ambrose drew his black-bladed sword and slashed at the black-haired woman’s throat, killing her swiftly.
[You killed a Player!]
[425 XP Earned!]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 31 -> 32]
“Mmm!” The brown-haired man squirmed and tried to scream.
Ambrose was about to smash the sword down, but then decided otherwise. He crouched and removed the cloth from the man’s mouth. The man’s eyes were filled with anger.
“You are dead, man!” Morris shouted. “We are Death Blade; do you think you can kill us and get away?!”
Ambrose kept his head low as the hood covered his face nicely, so the man couldn’t see his face.
“And how would you find me?” Ambrose asked with a stoic tone.
“We are allies of Zahhak!” Morris shouted and laughed crazily. “Hahaha, are you scared? You should be!”
“And how would they find me?” Ambrose asked with a small smile creeping up on his face.
“Huh, are you a fool? Of course they find you!” Morris shouted and tried to get rid of the threads. “They have informants in every city who are willing to do anything for them.
“I heard some of them are even real-life bounty hunters!”
“Oh, very interesting, indeed.” Ambrose lifted his sword and smiled. “However, I do not care.”
“Huh?” Morris’s eyes widened, and then the sword slashed through his head. He vanished to pixels.
[You killed a Player!]
[450 XP Earned!]
‘I leveled up twice today already by simply killing players.’ Ambrose thought and rose to his feet, then walked out of the barn to see the burning farmhouse. ‘No wonder Zahhak only kills players. It is a way faster way of leveling up if they find enough players.
‘However, fighting against players also increases the chance of death by many times. A single death would halve their accumulated experience points, wasting many hours of grinding.
‘That’s why only killing players is not a choice for weaker players. It is dangerous, especially when one can accidentally encounter someone powerful and influential. Players are known to harbor grudges…
‘Killing only players is not a choice for me either. With each encounter with players, I expose myself to potential danger. It only needs one player who knows about the bounty to see my face. Then I would get a lot of players after me.’
Ambrose looked at the burning building and clenched his fists. He had already done enough and could walk away with his life intact. Death Blade wouldn’t be able to find him if he truly wanted to escape.
‘I am still not done.’ Ambrose caressed the hilt of his Black Sword. ‘If they are really allies with Zahhak, they are my enemies. I also don’t really like them.
‘If I die to them, that is too bad; I will put my temporary spawn on the abandoned house and will escape. However, if I happen to kill them, they will lose Tonshen when I raze that place to the ground.’
Ambrose looked at the bright blue sky. It was still early, and he had plenty of time left today to create some chaos.
He smirked and glanced at the burning house before turning back to the barn.
There were two dropped items on the ground, but they were only pieces of cloth, not interesting at all.
Also, he couldn’t check the dropped items from the burning house. Those items have most likely been burned to ash by now.
‘Well, I have nothing left to do here.’ Ambrose stepped on the dirt road and began his journey back to Tonshen Village, having only one goal—destroy.