Chapter 317: Over-Nonchalant Josh
At the Fallen event, the Gemini group was barely making it out of the main room that they encountered a man nonchalantly eating chips.
All that Josh did upon noticing them was to wave gently. It was as if he was meeting some acquaintances on a sunny day off. He was so serene that the Climbers couldn't help but eye him warily, one even shouting.
"Careful, he's with them!"
"Poor guy ran out of brain cells." Josh sighed with compassion.
"W-what?! How dare you—"
"Worry not. I have a trick for you. If you shut up, you won't sound as dumb." Josh advised.
"Who the fuck do you think—"
"Enough!" That's when the old lady interrupted before turning toward Josh. "You, what's the name of the boat that perished to an iceberg?"
"Titani—" Josh replied by reflex.
"Good. See, he's a Fallen. Let's go!"
Josh couldn't help but smile wryly at this identification method. He then began following Gemini from a distance, receiving dirty looks from that one Climber. But, once more, Lana intervened.
"Stop lurking behind and come closer. You better fight with us if we're attacked."
"Fine." Josh couldn't help but grumble.
In total, there were 6 Climbers, meaning he'd need to get rid of 5 to handle his target. How was he supposed to do such a thing? Right now, he was getting suspicious looks from all of them beside Lana.
The old lady was instead staring straight in front, peering at the fog warily. The smoke bombs of this world were definitely better than the ones he knew.
Actually, what if he yanked out Gemini's gas mask? Would it disable them? It could quickly turn awkward, especially if they had spares in their inventory. No, for now, he would bide his time.
Suddenly Josh felt something. Enemies were approaching, four of them. Any second, they would turn the corner and be upon them. But he didn't say anything and ever so slightly slowed his pace.
A few instants later, the sound of projectiles whooshing forward resounded. Clang—Clang— ARGG! Their group almost blocked them all. Almost, for one of them had turned into a porcupine but was surprisingly still alive.
There was no respite. As soon as their sneak attack failed, the enemies pushed forward! Three became extremely visible as they were enveloped in glowing green light. The last one was missing, but it was even more remarkable how the light spread akin to chains linking them all.
The one at the very front swung a colossal axe in an arc. A Gemini Climber smirked as he made a large shield appear and executed a perfect block.
But suddenly, the old lady cried out: "Don't block, dodge!"
A few seconds later, the shield and its owner were both cleanly cleaved in half.
"Nooooo! Jerome!!!" One of them shouted, heartbroken.
RIP extra character. You shall not be missed.
Josh couldn't help but be impressed. The power in that one blow had been so intense! The volunteer was most definitely a tank, and yet he had been one-shot?! Gemini was an A-ranked guild. Such strength was probably even beyond S-rank!
But, it became even stranger. After such an impossibly strong attack, the attacker didn't even seem tired. How?! but then Josh understood it all. The men linked to him were actually panting. He wasn't sure how that worked, but they could visibly help one another.
"Careful! Ignore this guy and attack the ones behind!" the old lady instructed.
Wow, she had seen through it. This was pretty good judgment right there.
The Gemini members showed excellent coordination as they quickly spread out. They charged forward while slashing and hammering with their respective weapons. They fought bravely, but the enemies quickly overpowered them, pushing them back.
As they regrouped, they couldn't help but curse:
"How the fuck are they that strong?!"
"I think it's that link between them. It's some kind of buff, and it's huge!"
"It gives them a defensive barrier too. I couldn't penetrate it even with my strongest attack."
"That's not all. They can draw on the strength of the others. It's impossible to gang up on only one of them, no matter how great our positioning is."
"I tried cutting the link, and I couldn't. It's not physical at all. Heck, even magic doesn't seem to work against it."
"This is crazy, there's three of them against the five of us, and we're still the weaker side. What the hell are we supposed to do?
That's when the old lady turned Josh's way, visible displeasure on her face: "Are you going to help any time soon?"
Now came the troublesome part. The old lady was relatively nice, and it would be nice if she could survive. But, it was definitively better for him if more people from Gemini could die. After all, there were still four standing between him and his target.
Then again, these guys could be annoying too. They were anti-Fallen extremists, right? Ah, whatever. He could get rid of the xenophobic bastards first, use them to gain the trust of Gemini, and back-stab his newfound allies later. Yep, that could work.
"We should get rid of him just to be safe."
"Yes, let's kill him."
A few members of Gemini were getting pretty angry at Josh. He was ignoring them and observing the magical chain linking the terrorists.
This thing resisted both physical and magical damage? How peculiar. Josh truly believed that nothing in this world was without weakness.
As he pondered on this, the attackers went on the offensive once more. The guy with the axe deserved a special mention as he swung his weapon everywhere like a madman. He had so much speed and power that approaching him was pretty much impossible.
As for the ranged attacks? He would freaking deflect them with his axe too, how?! Gemini had no choice but to scurry around to evade it. Even such a task was challenging because they were in a corridor, albeit a large castle one.
"Ignore that guy for now and focus on not dying." The old lady spat out.
"Should we retreat to the main room?"
"No. I think that's their plan…." She denied.
Josh heard echoes of their conversations but didn't care. He was still staring at that magical light. Somehow it was a power that gave him an odd feeling as if he was supposed to know what it was.
It was as if the answer was just out of his reach. He could feel it but not make sense of it, and it was super frustrating! It was as frustrating as having corn stuck in one's teeth all day long.
Effectively, Josh was just standing there like a dumbass. The others gave him bitter glances. Earlier, he had been eating chips while they fought, and now he was just daydreaming? Fuck that guy!
Lana had expressly told them not to attack him and to focus on the terrorists. While he wasn't worth wasting their energy on, they still felt pissed. He was so relaxed while they risked their fucking lives.
That's when the one fighting the axe guy grinned as he decided to retreat a few paces. By doing so, he was bringing the fight directly to Josh. He couldn't help but wish for the idiot to end up cleaved in half like their unfortunate friend.
Not only did Josh not react, but he didn't show any sign of having noticed at all— he honestly hadn't either.
In fact, there was now a humongous axe flying right next to him over and over as the two fought. The Gemini Climber couldn't understand what the heck was going on. Why wasn't the idiot attacked?! He couldn't help but ask his opponent.
"Are you guys together?! Why won't you attack him?!"
"Because you'll counterattack when I do so…" A raspy voice replied.
"No, no! Look, I'll even fall back!" The Gemini Climber cooperated as much as he could.
"Tch— There's no way I'll do your bidding. If you want to kill him, you can do so yourself." The masked terrorist objected.
At this point, the Gemini guy was so fed up with Josh that he had long forgotten that they weren't enemies. Seeing him so relaxed while he himself was fighting for his life was driving him mad. Why should he stand there while he was facing an invincible enemy!
In the back came the reassuring and heroic voice of the old lady:
"They aren't that dangerous. They are more powerful, can deflect attacks but aren't that fast. It's all thanks to that link, so we just need to figure out how to get rid of it! Keep fighting!"
"Tch— if only it was that easy." The Josh-hating Climber spat out before a smile suddenly blossomed on his face. He then shouted at Josh: "Hey man, what's the title of that Fallen boat movie with the iceberg again?!"
Josh was still pondering, wholly lost in thoughts, but still absentmindedly replied. "Titani—" That's the exact moment the enemy realized that Josh was a Fallen.
Without waiting, he ruthlessly swung his axe toward him. There was only one outcome for a man caught by surprise by such a mighty cleave: death! Well, that's how it was supposed to be.
Josh instantly perceived the killing intent and came back to his senses. His pondering expression changed drastically. However, he wasn't scared or even stern. Nope, he began smiling radiantly. He just had a flash of insight.
So that's what it was!
That's why he felt that the energy was familiar! It had some similarities with killing intent yet was the complete opposite! What was this? Life intent, protecting intent, green intent even? He didn't fucking know!
But if this was intent, he knew what to do. He would fight intent with intent! The enemy swung his axe with incredible momentum. Josh moved at the last second but, instead of retreating, he took a step forward.
He was now right next to the guy. The few that saw the scene couldn't help but give sneers, what a dumbass! As long as he had the buff, the terrorist was pretty much invincible. Getting closer was a death sentence!
Josh relaxedly swung at the guy….only to fucking miss!— or so they thought. His scimitar drew an arc before colliding with the energy linking the man to his allies.
Everyone expected such action to be pointless, but what they couldn't see was that the scimitar was coated with some mana, but more importantly, raw killing intent.
— Kacha!—
The link broke, the light around the axe guy disappeared, and he began coughing blood from the backlash. The last thing he saw was Josh's weapon slit his throat. The entire corridor fell silent with the fighters staring shellshocked.
"What? He attacked me, so I killed him." Josh very innocently replied as he shrugged.
In fact, he looked as nonchalant as he had been while eating chips or standing still…
Creator's Thought
The more I think about it and the stranger it seems. How did I learn killing intent again? For some reason, I can't seem to remember it. It had to be during those two years right? Oh well, if I can't remember, then it's probably not important...
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