Remedy and Serene stepped into the Inner Zone. Their boots pressed into snow mixed with dried blood, a sickly, bruised pink. The heavy, metallic tang of blood stung their nostrils. Both of them instinctively lifted their hands to cover their noses.
The forest swallowed them. Beneath their feet, the snow crunched.
The trees, spaced much closer together, made the forest denser and darker. Almost all of them were dead. Some were entirely webbed in red roots that pulsed like veins.
They pushed deeper into the woods. No monsters crossed their path. Then, as Remedy parted a screen of tall grass, his gaze locked onto a creature.
The beast was a stag. Its fur had been flayed from multiple parts of its body, leaving raw, exposed flesh. Its antlers were a deep, visceral red, looking as if they were forged from solidified blood. Droplets of gore seeped from its antlers and exposed tissue, dripping onto the frozen ground.
Flayed Blood Stag
Remedy peered through the parted grass. Is this a mutated version of the Corrupted Black Stag?
The stag's muscles coiled. Its muscle fibers twitched violently beneath its skin.
Before Remedy could even take a step back, the monster closed the distance between them. To the naked human eye, it was instantaneous—a lethal motion blur, its gore-slicked antlers pointed straight at Remedy's throat.
But Remedy's arms had already moved. The chains snapped forward, coiling to intercept the beast mid-air.
Then:
Phantom Sprint
The beast literally vanished from the center of the closing chains.
Ehh—?!
The monster reappeared right in front of Remedy, its hooves kicking up a fresh burst of speed. Remedy threw his arms up to shield his face by pure instinct. The charge exploded against his forearms. The sickening crunch of dislocated joints echoed through the trees. Remedy was sent hurtling backward, crashing into a tree that splintered and collapsed behind him.
Slumped against the broken trunk, Remedy spat out a mouthful of warm blood.
Health: 65% ➔ 40%
He lifted a pained gaze toward the stag. It was pawing at the ground with its hooves, snorting reddish steam, gearing up for a second pass.
Brutal acceleration over a short distance? Is that a skill?
Off to the side, Serene hadn't moved an inch. She wasn't even looking at the fight. She was staring up at a tree, high above.
Remedy pushed himself up with difficulty, his two arms hanging limp and useless at his sides. He shrugged his shoulders, gritted his teeth, and with a sharp, violent backward jerk of his upper body, his joints snapped back into place. He breathed heavily through his mouth, exhaling a plume of hot vapor.
He rolled his shoulders and tilted his neck. The beast was charging again.
A fractured black sphere materialized above the stag's head. Its velocity plummeted by half. Yet, just as it got close to Remedy, the monster seemed to vanish into thin air again.
Again? It can spam that skill?!
Remedy's eyes widened. The creature's silhouette reflected in his pupils. You think you can take me by surprise a second time? I can see you.
He thrust both hands forward. The beast materialized directly in front of him. Its antlers slammed violently into his palms, which snapped shut around the bone. His feet skidded backward, plowing deep furrows into the earth as the shock of the impact traveled up his spine to his shoulders. He shut one eye against the pain.
He lifted a grinning face toward the monster.
"Haa... Now that your double stats are gone, shall we fight for real?"
His torso dipped slightly to the right, angling low. His right hand released its grip. His left hand shoved the stag's head to the side and slightly upward. Then, he drove a savage uppercut straight into the beast's throat. His fist seemed to bury itself deep into the raw flesh.
The stag's front hooves were lifted off the ground by the sheer force of the blow. The antlers tore free from Remedy's grip. Instantly, as it was lifted, the stag's sharp front hooves lashed upward, tearing across Remedy's chest.
Remedy stumbled backward, his eyes widening in shock. The monster had moved with perfectly normal, un-debuffed speed.
Health: 40% ➔ 30%
[DING! YOUR ATTACK HAS BEEN NEGATED.]
Instantly, Remedy's expression underwent a total shift. Excitement painted his features, followed by a dark, knowing smile.
I knew it.
Time seemed to dilate, slowing to a crawl.
Reality is playing with me. These attack negations aren't random. It decides exactly which attacks to nullify. What's stopping it from nullifying a strike at the absolute worst moment?
Ely's words echoed in his mind: "BREAKING THE RULES IN THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE."
Time remained slow. The stag was rising, Remedy was falling. The heavy chain materialized in his left hand. It moved, its tip slithering like a viper to coil around the stag's two rear legs—the beast's only point of leverage.
Yes, it's not me against the monsters. It's me against Reality. I'm cheating to evolve. And Reality is cursing my path, making my enemies stronger, helping them in the most twisted ways possible.
Remedy slammed onto his back in the snow. His palm tightened around the chain. The beast was coming back down, its front hooves descending to crush his skull.
I can't afford to hold back.
His arm yanked the chain. As it uncoiled from the stag's hind legs, it sliced through flesh and bone, severing them clean off.
Because Reality isn't going to spare me.
With its rear leverage ripped away, the animal's weight shifted violently backward mid-air. Remedy had already bounced back to his feet. His bloodshot eyes looked up at the stag's falling jaw. A heavy punch smashed into the jawbone, sending the beast tumbling upward.
Remedy stared up at it, a near-sadistic expression of pleasure washing over his face. Across the clearing, Serene's finger twitched ever so slightly. A faint, almost imperceptible smile curved her lips.
Remedy's gaze dropped to the grass directly beneath the falling monster. He extended his arm.
[TARGET WITHIN ACTION ZONE (15 METERS).]
I will use my laws in the worst way possible, too.
[DING! LAW OF THE SHARPNESS OF A VIBRATING BLADE APPLIED TO THE GRASS: 20% MANA CONSUMED. DURATION: 2 SECONDS.]
The monster fell onto the grass. Some blades, bent at an angle, sliced its skin. Others, standing perfectly erect, slid into its back like butter and tore out of its abdomen, blooming from its flesh like blades of steel. Blood geysered into the air, painting the clearing.
Flayed Blood Stag — Health: 0.1%
Remedy watched. The monster was on the brink of death. Then, the blood splattered across the snow began to slither beneath the corpse, being reabsorbed into its wounds.
Remedy frowned. Its body reabsorbs its own blood?
Flayed Blood Stag — Health: 0.1% ➔ 0.5%
It regenerates?The monsters in the Inner Zone have some seriously interesting skills.
He walked over to the monster and stood over it. Just as he was about to deliver the killing blow, a sharp arrow whistled through the air and buried itself deep in the stag's flank.
Flayed Blood Stag — Health: 0%
Remedy didn't flinch. His eyes slid from the arrow to the silhouettes emerging from the shadows.
Four figures detached from the dark treeline—the exact spot Serene had been staring at moments ago—and approached. Remedy turned his gaze toward them. Serene did the same.
They were in formation: an athletic man in the lead, resting a greatsword casually over his shoulder; flanking slightly behind to his left, a stocky young man holding a massive tower shield; to his right, a woman holding a bow, a quiver full of arrows strapped to her back. Bringing up the rear was a young woman in white healer's robes, gripping a tall wooden staff.
The archer said, her eyes half-closed in arrogance: "No need to thank us for the help. That one was on the house."
The swordsman added: "Do you need any more specific assistance? Because next time, we charge a fee."
He unslung the greatsword from his shoulder and drove it into the earth, resting both hands on the pommel.
"Paid in party points, of course."
Silence.
Remedy looked at them for a long moment without saying a word. Then, a slow smile curved his lips.
Welcome... benefactors.
End of chapter 18