Chapter 41: [41] Birth Of The Reaper
"I’m back, Captain. Did you miss me?" Ark asked, staring at Soo-jin.
She watched him with wide eyes, and then to his surprise, she smiled.
It was not that he had not seen her smile before, he had seen her smile countless times. But this smile was different, for someone as sly as she was, her smile actually seemed genuine.
But Ark did not get to enjoy it for long, because it took only a second for her to revert to her normal self.
Ark tried to drop her, but she latched onto his arm, very much uneager to let go just yet.
"You sure took your sweet time getting here~"
"I was a little busy. You know? The alimentary canal of a worm can be a little difficult to navigate."
"Mmhm. I can imagine."
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, before someone suddenly slammed into them, knocking them both to the ground.
"Skelly, you’re alive!!" Olivia cried, despite her broken wing, she wrapped her arm around his neck, crying all over his body.
Isabella was next to them too, and it looked like she was holding back tears. While Miguel was atop him as well, crushing him under his weight.
"You made it alive, I knew you would make it!"
"Huh?" Ark gave him a deadpan stare. "And who are you again?"
"Ahh! Come on, don’t do me like that!"
The remaining players watched their reunion in utter disbelief. They knew Ark, the student who had awakened a common class, the failure of the academy.
Miracles were often unbelievable, and although they had prayed for one, never did they think it would be to the point that it defied reason.
Even if the high goblins were injured, to kill them that easily... didn’t that mean he surpassed even the hero, Darius, in strength?
Not only that, he used a dagger when he was a mage? The students were beyond baffled.
But their shock could not even compare to a fraction of the surprise and rage that one of the players was feeling.
’How? How did that vermin survive?’ Cain thought, his eyes wide with shock.
Most of the talented students in their class had barely managed to survive in this hell, he even lost his arm!
How then was he alive?!
Not only that, the goblins that had given them hell. How did he manage to kill them both with one single attack?!
’What the fuck is happening?’
Ark stood up after managing to pull Olivia off him, then he turned around, his glowing eyes meeting Cain’s.
Throughout their time in the academy, not once had Cain feared him, but right then, he felt cold sweat run down his back.
Ark’s dagger was dripping fresh blood, its edge gleaming dangerously... his eyes still locked on him.
’This bastard...’ Ark thought as he watched him.
He had arrived earlier, but masked his presence using [Stealth], he had seen what Cain had done...
The bastard deserved death, and even that would be a mercy. But as much as he wanted to end his pathetic life, Ark knew this was neither the time, nor the place.
"Leave him." Soo-jin said calmly. "We can afford to stop at every barking dog."
A vein twitched on Cain’s jaw, his jaws clenched tightly.
Then something flashed in Soo-jin’s eyes. "I’ll handle you later. But for now..."
Soo-jin was interrupted by a wave of sinister mana that seemed to hang over them like a nefarious cloud.
They froze stiff in their positions, sweat already beginning to form on their faces.
Throughout their time in the tutorial, not once had the students encountered such a potent force, mana so thick, so sickening that it seemed to sink its claws into their mind.
They all turned their attention to what could be the only source of the mana, and sure enough, the king’s finger twitched.
He was waking up.
"Ark..." Olivia was about to speak when he nodded. He already knew what she was going to say
The students had been scattered around during the fight, some of them were severely injured, meaning they could not walk, while a few were unconscious.
If he fought the boss while they were there, they would die in the cross fire.
"All of you go as far away from here as possible. Get to the exit where Cain is and throw up a shield...."
"What?" Soo-jin sounded shocked. "Are you saying you will engage the boss on your own?"
Ark could not smile, so all he did was nod. "Trust me..."
It was an illogical thing to request. One student facing a boss that all of them probably couldn’t beat alone...
Did he have some sort of plan? Or a hidden card?
Soo-jin had no idea. But if there was one thing she had learned through this journey, it was that Ark should not be underestimated.
"Do try to come out in one piece..." she said in a snarky tone. Then her expression wavered. "I mean it. We’ll do as much as we can to assist you from there...."
With that, Soo-jin turned around and left with the rest of them, leaving Ark alone.
Thankfully, this boss’s animations seemed to take an eternity, meaning he had enough time to rescue the remaining students.
Of course, Ark had not chosen this task purely out of the goodness of his heart. He needed to save the students if he wanted to beat the boss....
He suddenly began launching his iron webs around the room, string by string, he turned the entire place into a labyrinth of webs, just before he swung.
Ark appeared in front of the first person faster than a heartbeat, but when he stopped, he nearly froze with shock.
’Darius?’
The hero was on his knees, eyes soaked with tears as he stared at a pile of ashes. Ark had no idea what had happened to him, what had broken him.... But he had no time to figure it out.
He grabbed Darius and slung him over his shoulder, before catapulting towards where Soo-jin and the others were.
[Harvest successful!....]
One by one, Ark rescued the students. Because of his webs, he was moving far faster than he should have been able to, and as a result, he had rescued them all in the space of ten seconds.
He had managed to gather a total of seven skills and six unassigned stat points, and that was excluding [Stealth] and the seven unassigned points he got from leveling up.
But just as he finished—
"Kehehehehe~"
The goblin king took its sweet time rising from its throne, its scarlet eyes fixed on Ark. It took off its crown and placed it on what was left of his throne...
Step~
The castle seemed to tremble, responding to the actions of its master. The ground split open, a large fissure nearly tearing the place in half.
Step~
His eyes swept over the floor, what had once been spotless white was now coated in a thick layer of red, the blood of Ark’s classmates, the blood of the people he had spent the last six months with.
Maybe it was because of his race, but Ark did not feel much revulsion to the blood, he had noticed that the stronger he got, the more detached his emotions became as he aligned with his race.
But the human part of him, what was still remaining of it at least felt torn.
He had been in a hurry to save Soo-jin. He had rushed to gather what remained of his classmates, he did not have time to think...
...To think of just how many of his classmates had met a brutal end in this cursed palace.
But seeing them now, his hands tightened to fists by his side.
"To think a bag of bones would pique my interest, how fascinating!"
Ark could tell that the goblin king was speaking in a different language, but the system translated the words in his head.
"What can I say?" Ark’s voice was devoid of any form of emotion, yet there was a certain sharpness to it.
Golden sparks materialized in his hands, a black shaft forming just before it ended at a curved crimson blade.
The weapon looked like it had been pulled right out of the depths of the abyss, and an eerie, dark mana swirled around the entirety of it.
"...When life gives you a bag of bones." A calamitous ball of fire formed on his other hand...
"You pick up a scythe and role play death."
—
[Gate of the abyss, A-Rank]
[Summons lvl one undead soldiers that will fight for your cause. The more they rise to do battle, the stronger these soldiers will grow.]
[Heros Balde, A-Rank ]
[A mythical weapon that has long forgotten its true form. It can be moulded according to the users need, and can advance as the user advances]
[Phase, C-Rank]
[Allows the user to become intangible for the space of a second.]
[Iron Body, D-Rank]
[Forms a think layer of protective coat over the host, bolstering their defenses]
[Pay-Back, B-Rank]
[Extracts 30% of mana from defeated foes.]
[Elemental Summon, D Rank]
[Summons low ranked elemental beings. These elementals will remain until dismissed or destroyed.]
[Spell Amplification, B-Rank]
[Multiplies the efficiency and attack power of spells by up to fifty percent]
Strength: 9+7=16
Mana: 120/190+60= 180/250
Agility: 13.5
—
"Let us begin...."