Lukas turned and blurred through the air, his feet leaving behind a crack in the ground.
His sword streaked through the air as he zipped to a stop behind Kylo, a fine red mist spraying into the air.
Kylo's eyes were wide, his jaw opening and closing but no sound coming out. A thin red line appeared on his neck, and a second later, his head severed from his body.
[You have killed an E-rank Human]
His body slumped to the floor a second later to join his head.
Lukas turned, and began running towards Melody.
He could see the quest timer running down at the edge of his vision. He had less than two minutes to kill the remaining Awakeners. With Melody on his side, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.
He joined the fight with a swing of his sword, trying to bisect the Awakener missing an arm, but the man's senses were alive and he dodged the attack, his sword missing him by a hairsbreadth.
The man thought he'd evaded the attack before Melody's sword appeared out of nowhere, slicing from his right shoulder and emerging from his left waist. His severed body plopped in two different directions.
The two remaining Awakeners were smart enough to see that the odds were no longer in their favor.
They were now facing a B-rank Awakener and an inhumanely strong E-rank Awakener, and they were matched in numbers, two against two. Their leader and the brat they were protecting were dead. There was no logical reason to remain here. So that meant escaping with their lives. But that was easier said than done.
They immediately dove in two different directions, hoping to paralyze their opponents with a momentary indecision of who to chase and gain a headstart but they miscalculated.
Lukas and Melody simply dove towards the Awakener that was closest to them.
The one Melody chased cursed his luck, while the one Lukas chased was more optimistic.
Knowing that Lukas was faster than him, he suddenly stopped and turned around, swinging his axe in an attempt to catch Lukas off guard.
Lukas stopped just short of the attack, casting a [Hex Shield]. The man's axe slammed into the shield, shattering it, but it gave Lukas enough time to leap back, creating space between them.
"Lucky bastard." The man spat, swinging his hand. A wave of sound swept through the air, slamming into Lukas.
However, the wave didn't deal any damage. Instead, it knocked Lukas off balance, stunning him and making him dizzy.
'Shit! A [Bounty Hunter].'
Lukas didn't bother with anything, materializing a [Hex Shield] and leaping away with all his strength.
He heard as the shield shattered, the man going relentlessly after him. Lukas didn't stop, and even though his legs were weak under him with his dizziness, he didn't rest for one second, making use of his superior speed.
He knew how dangerous [Bounty Hunters] were. They had two skills at the Awakener rank.
[Concussion Round], which allowed them to fire a wave of non-lethal sound that stunned their enemies, and [Mark Target], which allowed them to apply a mark on their target through contact, allowing them to track the target through walls and terrains for a limited period of time.
The worst part was that [Mark Target] didn't need direct contact. Just the man's axe grazing him was enough to apply the mark.
The effect of the [Concussion Round] finally faded away, just in time for Lukas to see another one moving towards him. He didn't know how, but apparently, he'd dodged all the follow-up [Concussion Rounds] the man had casted in his attempt to kill Lukas.
Lukas dodged the attack, blurring to the side. Before the man could reorient himself, Lukas streaked towards him, his sword descending in a mighty cleave.
The man's eyes widened, raising his axe to block the attack.
Lukas put all his strength behind the attack, betting on it to help him incapacitate the man, or in the best case scenario, kill him.
His sword slammed into the edge of the man's axe, the weapon holding the attack at bay for a moment before the dark steel of his sword sliced through the metal, continuing down to slash the chest of the man open.
Blood sprayed into the air as the man leapt back, the wound bleeding rapidly through his shirt but he didn't seem bothered by the injury. Instead, he seemed to be more concerned with the loss of his axe.
He gripped the axe, swinging the half axe head at Lukas.
Lukas dodged the attack, pulling his sword back with a two-handed grip, then slashed.
The attack tore through the man's neck and came out the other side, the momentum of the attack sending him stumbling.
[You have killed a C-rank Human.]
He quickly regained his balance, the man's corpse tumbling to the floor. He was breathing hard from the exertion of the fight, knowing how close he came to losing his life.
If the man had kept chaining his [Concussion Rounds] on Lukas, he would have never been able to turn the tide.
[Congratulations, you have cleared the quest.]
[Reward: +200 Gacha Points.]
He exhaled in relief. He'd completed the quest before the time limit elapsed.
He turned to see Melody jogging towards him, having already killed her opponent. His eyes swept through the landscape, seeing no one around them except the corpses and the beasts drawn by the bloodshed.
They had to get out of there before anyone caught sight of them. He didn't even have to worry about the bodies. The beasts would consume them, destroying any evidence.
"Let's go." He said to Melody, and they both took off running deeper into the Scorched Forest, not stopping until the battleground was far behind them and out of sight.
They finally stopped, both of them breathing hard. After catching their breath, Melody straightened, a question on her lips. "Why did you kill Kylo?"
"I got a quest." He said simply. "And if I didn't kill him, he would have hired even more powerful Awakeners and come after us. He wouldn't let us go. Not when I humiliated him like that."
Melody sighed at his explanation. "I hope the rewards were worth it."
Lukas grinned, pulling up his system interface. "Trust me, it was more than worth it."
[Gacha Harem System]
[Gacha points: 750]
[Banners:]
[Wife (cost: 2000 Gacha points)]
[Skills (cost: 500 gacha points)]
[Item (cost: 500 Gacha points)]
[Mystery box (cost: 1000 Gacha points)]
Now that he had 750 Gacha Points, he had two courses of action. Draw a new skill now, or gain 250 more points to later try his luck on the mystery box.
He cracked his neck at the thought. "Draw skill."
The mystery box was too much of a gamble for him right now. What he needed was a good, strong skill. And that was what he was going to get, whether the system liked it or not.