REAPER SCANS
Surviving as a Broken Hero
[Author – Farlight]
[Proofreader – Harley]
Chapter 119 - Unleashed (6)
She stood between me and Gregor with lightning flickering from her body in crackles of blue light, the stone floor around her charred black here and there and littered with shards of mosaic glass, reflecting spots of light around the room with each crackle of light.
Gregor looked as taken aback as I was. He took a faltering step backward and hesitated for a moment, the bloodlust in his eyes replaced by pure surprise.
Rhil briefly glanced around the room and took in the situation in mere moments—Koise lying unconscious against the wall, me looking battered at one end of the room, and Gregor’s monstrous form.
Next, she burst into motion.
I’d heard tales of her feats before she retired, though I had never seen them myself, despite all the time I’d spent with her. She’d used lightning, yes… but that wasn’t it.
Without knowing her exact skills, it looked more like she harmonized with the lightning rather than just used it as a tool.
Before Gregor could regain his wits and attack again, she bolted forward in an aftertrail of blue light. Lightning surged, and her hand traced a searing line down Gregor’s chest. At first, it looked like she almost gently traced a trail down his body, as quick as the movement was.
‘How is that supposed to do anything?’ I wondered, but then, having worked its way through his skin, muscles, and organs, electricity arced from Gregor’s back, and his muscles spasmed in unison, rippling in a sickening rhythm across his malformed body.
Whatever there was to heal, it must have been mostly internal. The only sign of the lightning itself on his body was a thin, charred line. He tried to react with spasming movements and somewhat sluggishly dragged his arm through the air in an overhead swipe.
Rhil easily dodged below the claw and moved even faster, tracing another line of electricity over his leg so quickly that, even to my Perception-enhanced eyes, it was a blur.
Gregor tried to bring his arm down in an overhead smash, but she deftly stepped aside and continued to attack at a blazing speed, drawing lightning over his body with steadily accelerating movements.
His body trying to adapt, Gregor took the blows better than he’d taken the first one, but it still slowed him and removed the efficiency from his movements. Her movements eventually reached the point of being almost completely indiscernible, and I only saw her as a raging storm of lightning sending blasts of power through Gregor’s body.
Eventually, his healing factor failed him, and Gregor fell to his knees only minutes after the two started fighting, gasping for breath, the glass crunching beneath him.
“Haa…” Gregor breathed out. “Where the hell did you come from?” His voice scratched and gurgled through the attempted words due to his burned-out vocal cords, which were still in the process of healing.
Sweat dripped from Rhil’s brow. Instead of answering his question, she cast the briefest glance back at me and said, “Finish it, Aizen.”
‘Is she also running out of mana?’ Maybe it was the case that her lightning form cost a certain amount of mana per second. Such abilities weren’t unheard of, after all.
One step after the other, I trudged my bruised body over beside her and stopped to look down at the monstrosity before us.
Gregor still knelt on the stone floor, his gaze cast upward and his eyes darting back and forth in erratic movements. Little currents of electricity snapped out of his body at random intervals, casting light in little rays of blue power.
All the while, his skin rippled while his muscles tried to adjust and reform themselves, but the lingering lightning interrupted the process, causing the reformation process to start over again.
Below it all, amidst the rippling and reforming muscles, skin, and even bone, an ominous purple glow leaked from Gregor’s chest—the dungeon core.
Truly, he’d tried to become one with the dungeon. It would’ve trapped him in the realm, but would that have been an issue if he could infinitely expand it with the lives of those stuck within?
That was one question I felt grateful I’d never have the answer to.
‘Let’s get this over with.’
There was no telling when or if his body would heal itself again from Rhil’s attacks, and she probably didn’t have a second round of such feats in her.
I drew my left hand back and retracted my wristblade, coiling my muscles for the final blow.
[«Enhanced Strike»]
⟬«Piercing Eruption»⟭
My arm shot forward in the blink of an eye, carrying all the force of… well, I never properly measured it. The force of a missile? A bomb?
Regardless, my arm shot forward, and I activated the wristblade at the same time.
By the time my closed fist made contact with Gregor’s chest, the blade had only shot out about half of its full length. The blade plunged into him like a knife through paper and met a brief spark of resistance at the core embedded in his ribcage.
Even still, the resistance was only brief.
Shock traveled up the length of my arm and shook my bones, and the core shattered. Carnage rocketed outward from the point of impact, sending his corrupted blood over the stone floor.
Past Gregor, the shockwave continued until it met the stone wall and exploded through the side of the castle.
I kicked the man's body away and retracted the wristblade.
Like that, it was over.
* * *
Reaper Scans
[Author – Farlight]
[Proofreader – Harley]
Join our discord for updates on releases! https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
Outside, the darkness covering the city faded away, but the distant sounds of the Awakeners battling against demons continued. Though they were without continued reinforcements, the demons showed no signs of retreat.
As the demonic portal above the city closed, something lashed out, the presence that flitted over Gregor’s body, plunged into his dying mind, and then sought me out moments later.
Heavy and laden with churning anger, it tried to rip into my mind but was stopped at the surface level by a golden flash of light—the Second System.
‘What is this?’ a raspy voice asked me, bodiless and soundless as it was directed straight into my head. ‘Who are you, to dare interfere?’
Grimacing beneath a building headache, I thought back, ‘I should be asking that question. Who are you?’
Through the connection, I felt the Second System doing more than just blocking the intrusion into my mind—it also intruded on the presence.
A surge of surprise registered for a moment; then, a face appeared in my mind, more human than Gregor’s but carrying a stable, more deep-seated corruption to the steady pulse of purple veins beneath the skin and slitted, snake-like green eyes.
Just as suddenly, the face retreated and left into the receding portal high above.
With that, Rhil, Koise, and I were left alone.
“Damn…” Rhil breathed out, looking down at the body at our feet and seemingly unaware of the presence that had briefly intruded. “That felt good.”
Koise was already pulling himself to his feet and making his way over to us, taking care of one of my worries.
“What the hell was that?” I asked. “Rhil…? How did you remove the collar?”
She brought a hand to her neck and rubbed the surface of her skin for a moment, still red where the collar had been locked around her.
“Better question, Aizen, what the hell are you two doing? You suddenly left without a word, and then I find you fighting yet another dungeon outbreak?”
“Well… last time it went well enough.”
“Sure, and I was taken to a frozen wasteland and captured by demons, unable to use my powers. You call that ‘going well’?”
She was right. I’d gained two systems and power, steadily leveling up and gaining new skills on my way to save her while the demons threw her into their arenas as a source of entertainment.
Rather than truly being angry, though, she gave me a grin a moment later. “I’m just pissed you didn’t invite me again. Lord knows these things are just asking for it.”
I smiled back. “I’ll be sure to make it as formal as possible next time, then.”
Our eyes locked over the short span of distance between us, and a moment of silence passed as we looked each other over.
We were both covered in rapidly drying demon blood and who-knows-what, but that didn’t stop us from closing the distance and sharing a close hug.
Her hair tickled my cheek as I whispered, “It’s good to have you back, Rhil.”
Breath flowed past my cheek. “And it’s good to be back.”
Koise interrupted our reunion by clearing his throat. “As much as I hate to interrupt, we still have the rest of the castle to go over, and I’m not sure I can do it myself like this.”
He was right; there would be time for Rhil and I to talk later.
On top of that, a persistent message flashed at the corner of my vision in gold color.
The Second System.
I opened the little notification.
⟬Quest Complete!
Destroy the city lord.
Quest Reward: 1,000 XP⟭
⟬Level Up!⟭
⟬XP: 16,000/32,000⟭
⟬Choose a skill!
《Earthborn》
Turns parts of your body into earth, heightens your connection to the earth, and merges with it.
《Dustborn》
Turn parts of your body and nearby earth to dust and manipulate nearby dust.
《Stoneborn》
Turn parts of your body and nearby earth to stone and manipulate nearby stone.⟭
⟬Tracking the intrusive presence…⟭
⟬Tracking Complete.⟭
⟬New Quest!
Kill the Demon King in time.
Sharing Location…⟭
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