World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 15 Everything Goes Wrong

However, the newcomers were shocked; the girl went limp in my arms and lost her consciousness and the fat man didn't notice that he had burst into tears. People were different.

On the other hand, I was struck by the old-timers and Fox who had stayed to cover the newcomers. Maybe one shouldn't say that people did things for selfish reasons. Maybe one could find traces of humanity in all of us if one dug deep enough.

Thinking this way, I grinned to myself, and made a detour toward the swamp. I waited for the fat man's next cry to die down, gave him a minute, and said that I was going to scout the neighborhood. What could I do during this short time? I could either walk around, as I said I would, or run to the swamp and bury my portable tombstone. A 1,000 deception points didn't make me as happy as did the fact that my safety didn't depend on other people anymore. Even breathing became somewhat easier.

I dragged the newcomers to the base only to learn that no one had returned yet. That was surprising.

"Dmitri, look after the newbies," Petrovich said, materializing next to us. "I told them it wouldn't go well... Alexander, you go third, we'll look for the others."

The second one was, apparently, me. I was to show the way, it seemed. Well, who else could they take? Everyone else was a low level and could hardly understand what was happening. And Dmitri... Well, someone had to stay and look after the newbies and the tombstones.

"Can it wait?" I didn't expect this from Alex. I told him about the hooded figure, of course, and he was now noticeably shaking.

"Wait for them to find the base's location and come to kill us?" Petrovich spat. "Personally, I'm not going to give up that easily."

Petrovich, who had previously seemed to be weak and only capable of intrigue, suddenly took the matters into his own hands, intent on saving everyone. Purely for a selfish reason, but still. He led us to the glade this time; had it not been for him, I doubt that Alex and I would've decided to get out.

For the first half an hour we almost ran. We slowed down once we started to run out of breath. Fortunately, there were no more Cadavers on the road. It looked like they were trained not to attack anyone on their way. Despite all of our concentration and attentiveness, we ran into several figures, which jumped out of the bushes.

"d.a.m.n you!" Oddly enough, Petrovich reacted first once again. Changing the trajectory of his blow he removed his lance from Suren's belly. The man was breathing heavily. Under different circ.u.mstances the a.s.sistant commander would have told him a word or two about such a meeting; but now, both Suren and Andrei remained silent as they tried to catch their breath.

And then I noticed that Suren was missing his right hand.

"It was a real Reaper." He followed my gaze and added, "He just ripped it off and devoured it. I've never felt such horror in my life. We just... We turned around and ran. Anyone would've done the same."

Okay, he was definitely under duress. He wanted to get it off his chest.

"Not anyone!" Andrei, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "Igor stayed. Had he not managed to stall the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, we wouldn't have managed to leave!"

"Why didn't you just kill yourself?" Confused, Alexander kept shifting his gaze between the commander and his a.s.sistant, who had left a member of their squad to fight alone.

"Easy for you to say!" Suren couldn't contain his anger. "Do you know what the system showed me when that brute ate my hand?! That the wound can't be cured! It won't come back even if I die! After all of this… I'm not sure if we can even resurrect if it eats our corpses!"

"Then let's get back! Fast!" Petrovich turned toward the camp resolutely. "The Reaper won't gain anything if he destroys our base, and I don't want to risk getting caught."

"You're right," Andrei suddenly supported him. "We can't do anything against him. Let's get back!"

They all went back while I continued to stand still. What's going on with me? Did that spare resurrection stone give me confidence? Is something inside of me trying to rebel against the fact that one needs to bend under pressure? Maybe I just want to stay human? These thoughts must've been spinning in my head for a reason. I knew that I would break down and accept what was going on around me if I left now. I would slowly level-up, hitting skeletons and hoping that someone would save everyone one day. I didn't want that!

"I'll go get cigarettes and catch up!" everyone froze for a second, trying to understand my words. I just waved my hand and went toward the glade. I got only a dozen of deception points. Apparently, the joke was not very good.

"Don't be a hero!" Andrei said. Really, was he going to dissuade me? "You see our guys, just kill them. And come back. We'll be waiting for you."

Admitting that another person was doing something that you didn't have the guts to do was very difficult. It was much easier to just say that it's stupid. Feeling kind of better, I ran off.

For some reason it seemed that something important was about to happen, and that I would miss it. I arrived at the glade. It was empty and significantly darker. Maybe I should have gone back. I'll do that… But first, I'll walk a bit in the direction the Reaper came from, I thought. My heart sank, but I pulled myself together: Yes, the risk was great, but I had a feeling that, in this world, one could get something really valuable only under dire circ.u.mstances.

Trying to imitate Baldy's habits, I moved a little to the side and walked parallel to the path from which our mysterious guest had probably come. Another ten minutes and then I'll return, I promised to myself after stepping on a twig and getting scared by the sharp crunch. Time pa.s.sed. It was quiet around. I stayed longer than I thought I would.

"Grahhh!" I've no idea how failed to notice the skeleton from afar. We collided and faced each other. I froze, shocked. The undead creature slapped my left shoulder, immobilizing my arm. It hung uselessly at my side. Thank G.o.d it missed my right one. I can still use the scythe.

The realization that I could have died so stupidly brought me back to my senses.

You have used Cure Light Wounds on Ordinary Skeleton (level 10).

Regeneration has pa.s.sed.

You have used Curse.

You have used Curse.

You have used Curse.

Regeneration has changed to Dark Mark. All enemy's stats are reduced by 30%

The Curse got activated after the third attempt, once Regeneration was almost over. Things moved faster, but I wasn't worried. This enemy was not a threat for me now that I had a new scythe.

I began to creep slower and more carefully. Perhaps that's why I managed to sneak up to the edge of a large clearing on the river bank. All characters involved had already gathered there. In the center lay a cauldron, bottom up, in which, most likely, dinner was being cooked. Militants we had met in the morning lay side by side everywhere. Baldy was right—there were two squads of ten people each. Nineteen of them were sleeping, and the twentieth was placing their unconscious bodies onto the tombstones. The Reaper's follower... I've found you… You're no different from all the others in appearance, I thought.

"Come here!" a familiar voice flew over the clearing. Only then did I notice the shadow standing a little to the side. It was the Reaper himself. Why hadn't I seen him? It was nice that he, in turn, hadn't noticed me either. I had to lay low, and try not to move. For some reason, I thought that he could hear me breathe.

I started inhaling and exhaling less, often involuntarily. I didn't immediately notice that a shadow had appeared on the opposite edge. It slipped silently into the camp while the follower moved to his teacher. Were it not for the bright moon that had shed its light onto the clearing I wouldn't have noticed the shadow as well. I couldn't keep my eyes on it. Not a bad natural disguise... Disguise… Remembering the name of the skill, I immediately recognized the night guest... Fox!

The girl bent over one of the players, a knife flashed several times in the dim light, and she moved on to her next victim. Her speed was gradually increasing. Was she really killing them? Not only killing, but also leveling up instead of the Reaper's follower, who had organized it all. What would happen to her if she gets noticed? At that moment, Fox finished the first round and went on to the second. The bodies reappeared on their tombstones and the clearing turned into a scene fit for a butcher's fest.

"Look, follower," the Reaper and his student, who was trembling with rage, suddenly appeared beside the girl. "Someone used your plan… This trash pile won't be of any use for the whole month. Lera…" the Reaper suddenly turned to Fox, who had reached level 40 in a matter of minutes, "Do you want to take this loser's place?"

"Yes!" she replied without hesitation. She had been planning this from the very beginning. That's why she wanted to leave the base. That's why she stayed behind when we went to the clearing and when we were escaping the Cadavers. She didn't want to bother anyone, so she decided to leave and ask to be apprenticed by someone who was really strong. I had to admit that she found a very impressive way to express her desire.

"Then you'll need to destroy their tombstones," the Reaper waved his hand over the clearing, and I finally stopped breathing. Everything else might've been considered a trick, but he was asking her to commit murder.

She froze for a second and then, with some desperation, plunged her knife into the center of the nearest tombstone. Cracks spread over its surface and then it broke into several large pieces.

"More," the Reaper encouraged her, though he didn't have to. Fox methodically went from one stone to another and hit them with the knife that was rather unsuitable for this task. The blade broke soon enough, but she summoned another one from her inventory and continued.

"Nineteen," She stood opposite the figure with her head bowed.

"Catch the twentieth," the Reaper said, and the silent follower screamed in horror. "I only have time for one ward, so I think I'll have to get rid of the excess."

As if to demonstrate, the Reaper waved his hand and simply tore off the head of the man in front of him.

"We're done here," he looked right at me. "Now it's your turn."

I wondered if he would kill me or have Fox deal with me. Maybe I should kill myself before it's too late. Perhaps the only thing that kept me from doing that was Suren saying that he didn't know what would happen if your body gets eaten.

"Your bald friend before finally left us," the Reaper said. Did he really kill Igor? For real? Did his two years here come to an end just like that? "...asked me to give you a piece of advice."

"Let's hear it," my mouth was dry, I could barely move my tongue.

"He asked you to die as many times as it takes to get back to level five. Then, he said, you'd find out what to do. That man had some guts. He survived a full minute against me, so I decided to do what he asked." I could see nothing, but it seemed to me that the face under the hood grinned.

Keep dying until I reach level five? Baldy wanted me to follow his path and start raising my stats? It might be worth a shot... Even though he lost, Baldy was strong. And I will become even stronger.

"Follower, we're leaving!" said the one who killed his G.o.d in a cold voice. Fox collected the things from the dead players and moved behind him. Without saying a word they went into the forest.

I don't remember how long I stood there, not knowing what to do next. I regained consciousness when the moonlight shone onto the metal spine of the book lying near the body of the ex-follower.

Spellbook: Stone Spikes

Spell

Level 2

Quant.i.ty: 2

Height: 2 inches

Requirement: Deception level 2

Did Fox leave it for me? Was this a farewell gift? But why the book? She couldn't have known about my magic.