BXBX NOVEL Chapter 31: I need souls! Now!
"Oy, Liv is a fucking masochist! She would die before she can invoke {Counter}."
"Smith-San, Liv is so used to pain she wouldn\'t notice the limit to {Suffer}. Please do not force her to use it."
Upon invoking {Suffer} your heart would begin to undergo pain. The greater the degree you endure, the more powerful {Counter} would become.
But because Liv was so used to suffering, according to her, she could not even sense it. Since the heart\'s strength would be the limit both Robyn and Aki were terrified of Liv\'s heart suddenly exploding.
Aki had a {fate} centered around food, Robyn\'s centered around transport while Liv\'s was for her to withstand hardship. I have not known them for long, but just what have these girls gone through to have such extreme regrets?
Although inferior to Liv, if there was one thing, I was confident about, it would be my pain threshold. And ever since gaining {Rewind} I felt like I repeatedly pushed that threshold to the limit.
{Suffer} and {Regen} worked incredibly well together. But they were all just in preparation for the star of the show.
"FEEL THE RAGE OF THE FORMLESS YOU FUCKING BASTARD! {COUNTER}!"
My roar which resounded in the sky, made my very soul quake.
Just how much damage could I return to this bastard from all the damage I endured up to this point? The brute\'s single punch broke and shattered bone, exploded my flesh, and ruptured all my organs. I felt it with {Regen}, I died a hundred times just from that one blow.
If 100 points pain was needed to send a person to shock. My limit was around 150. In relation to that you would need 200 units to kill someone. The amount I stored right now? It was enough to kill me about 500 times.
No wonder they said it was impossible for wraiths to take this bastard down. All this damage I got was from a single punch. Even phantoms would die from one blow, and this was only rank D.
My heart burned like a star as the pain energy was converted into power. My fist was tiny in comparison to this undead. But size had nothing to do with it, {Withstand} broke the logic of force. Thus {Counter} allowed for feats no one would believe otherwise.
The heat in my heart started to rapidly cool, and in response traveled to my hand like all the cells that made it up vibrated. I punched the brute\'s wall like fist. An intense tremor left my hand and entered the undead\'s fist.
I heard it with {Listen} and saw the effects with {Perceive}. Like wriggling worms, the tremor made the skin and flesh of the zombie bubble up like soap going faster as it traveled.
Due to my distance from the undead brute. I could see its gigantic face warp in pain as tremor went down the length of its arm. The bubbles that came out of its skin suddenly began to explode as if they had enough.
Explosions like cannons firing began to rapidly thunder across the skies. Like angry roars that fell from heaven, the booms and release of energy made the very air tremble.
{Counter} began a chain explosion that erupted every segment of the undead brute\'s body. Unwillingly I saw the fear, confusion and pain from the brute\'s eyes. It looked like it wanted to ask for help.
\'Sorry but I couldn\'t careless, even if you aren\'t evil, my survival needed your death. So do not expect any mercy from me and die.\'
The energy then traveled to the undead\'s head where his skull started to deform as a result. After a few seconds, rumbles came from its scalp until its entire head exploded into a bloody mist. Blood and brain matter sprayed in the skies covering me with the stuff.
After releasing {Counter} my body went limp. I noticed I suddenly no longer had any feeling on any of my limbs.
"{Rewind}! What? {Rewind}! Why is nothing happening?! Is this a side effect?" I asked to no one in particular.
Although my wounds all healed to some degree with {Regen} I still was on the way to kiss the ground. Luckily the explosions were quick, so they traveled down faster than me. However, it seemed like I used up all my souls on {Regen} so much so I couldn\'t even {Rewind}.
Unable to witness anymore, I closed my eyes and tried to think. The darkness felt comforting, only the feeling of falling and explosions from the brute\'s corpse told me the nightmare was far from over.
\'Shit, how am I going to land? Do I have enough souls for {Withstand} and {Endure} again?\'
Just as abruptly as the explosions began the area suddenly turned silent. Wondering what was going on, I opened my eyes and noticed all the zombies stop moving, it might have been hard to see it on the ground but in the air, it was extremely clear.
"Why are they all just standing? What is going on?"
As I worried about plunging to my death before I could think of a solution, a female figure caught me midair. She embraced my body like it was her greatest treasure as our trajectory violently changed. The woman then whispered in a gentle voice.
"As amazing as you were, do you have to worry me like this? But I will settle for finally being with you again, my dearest husband."
We then slammed into the ground with a powerful crash, yet my savior endured the impact without any signs of injury. As I looked up to the one who declared herself my wife, I saw Jasmine with a love-struck expression.
Why did she call me husband? What the hell was up with these girls? They kept calling me such terms of their own accord.
I tried to speak only to notice my voice was extremely hoarse and barely audible. She gingerly placed me on the floor to rest. Five other girls ran towards our position. I still couldn\'t move, nor could I speak, but three of them threw themselves over me in a human pile.
"Honey… we won! We won!" Bella said between sobs.
"Darling! Darling! Darling!" Josephine moaned in happiness.
"Wombat! You were so fucking awesome!" Robyn praised with a large grin.
Aki and Liv also stood near, but they were just as elated in our victory. While I tried to get up a few other familiar faces approached. It was a 7-foot tall bald African American with a Caucasian redhead woman around his arm.
"Reaper, that was a splendid victory. Well done."
"Hey John! Congratulations! And thank you for keeping your promise!"
Aki and Liv however drew their weapons as they got between the couple and me. The other girls all similarly got off and began forming a protective circle around my position.
"What do you want Amari, Mia?" Liv asked with a cold voice.
"Liv, calm down we come in peace. Your man threw mine headfirst into a rank D and shot both my legs. I think if we wanted to fight, we would not have greeted you guys at all, no?"
Bella wordlessly helped me up and glued herself to my side. {Regen} healed my body enough that I could talk so I tried to defuse the situation.
"Everyone, stand down. Amari thank you for your help earlier, and I apologize for throwing you like that. Mia, I fulfilled my end of the deal. You similarly tried to kill me so let\'s end it here, okay?"
Like hostile puppies my girls had frowns as they sheathed their weapons. Amari and Mia both had wry smiles seeing my girls disappointed reactions. What surprised us however was that Amari bowed his head while asking for our forgiveness.
"I apologize for my misconceptions of the Formless. My fiancée and I would have died if not for your group tonight. I will return this favor in the future."
Mia also similarly bowed and expressed the same sentiments. I noticed the smiles of pride radiating off my girls. It must have felt like a vindication of their existence to be acknowledged by the manifested, especially those as powerful as Amari and Mia.
Before the girls could respond, more people gathered around, all similarly expressing their thanks. It seems like the fight with the boss was so flashy everyone came here afterwards. With the zombies no longer moving, the danger at the moment was low.
Bella then asked me in a quiet manner, "Honey why isn\'t Lily\'s group showing up if the boss is already dead?"
From Bella\'s words I felt a chill creep up my spine. In the best rpgs a string of bosses was normal. What if the brute was not the actual boss but a sub boss instead.
\'FUUUUCCCCCKKKK!!!!\'
I pulled out a gun and shot zombies one after another.
"I need souls! NOW!"
My girls quickly drew blades and started killing the zombies that did not move. Amari, Mia and the rest of the reapers were confused about our abrupt actions. When we took down around twenty zombies I casted a {Kismet}.
"{Identify}!"
I then saw a vague outline moving around us. Its shape looked like a dinosaur of some sort.
"One dinosaur like target, invisible! Form up!"
My girls and I quickly got into our defensive formation as I began to shoot the bastard. The enemy then changed towards us in haste!
\'SHIT! It is around 6 ft looks as big as a car, And the girls can\'t even see it.\' I inwardly panicked.
"{Identify}."
However, as my kismet was invoked by a heroic voice, Liv then perfectly intercepted the invisible assassin and warded it off with her shield. She then smiled at me as she attacked the monster.