Three days later,
Going opposite the sunset, I was driving back with about 50 to 60 Red Mana Cores in my hands. I was still about 30 minutes away from the cavern as I was riding my bike. In these three days, I had to plan and strategize a way to kill those Harpies while also making sure they went berserk, otherwise killing them wouldn't be fruitful at all.
I was really cheerful today as we were getting closer to cure the black blood disease and I couldn't help but want to see the cheerful faces of those people I had been living with for the past 3 months.
As I drove, I kept looking ahead and not too soon, I saw something that seemed out of the ordinary. A chill ran down my spine as the scene in front of me became clearer.
'Parasites?' I thought as I looked ahead in front of me… a massive herd of parasites… about a hundred of them were at the gas station and more were still going towards it.
I increased my speed to the max and after another 15 minutes or so; I reached the gas station, which was crawling with parasites wherever my eyes could see.
While most of them were entering inside the market one by one, the others were just waiting for their turn as they waited in front of the gate looking at others passing. I… couldn't believe my eyes… What is… why?... Why is this happening?
I questioned myself… my fate… why was this happening? I was scared… not because of the parasites… but the thought… what if the parasites had already reached them?
'Alaric…' I thought as I took out my Scythe and then used one of my critical skills,
"Shadow Style: Blood Moon: Slashes of the Night"
It was a combination of First Moon and Shadow Style, along with an extension of my own blood. I had no idea how long I would last with this alone…
I then took out a couple of grenades and other artifacts that I had. Those artifacts increased my strength and defences by some margin while also giving me light passive healing. The grenades were specifically designed to be used against parasites, they won't kill the parasites though… just weaken them enough for one to escape from them.
-BOOM!!
-SWISH!!
-AAAAAAAAAAA!!
Because my blood was etched on my scythe, it reacted with the parasite's blood, killing them in one strike. Though the parasites who were killed were merely scout level…. the captains were still standing behind.
For the next hour or so, I kept killing them as fast as I could… the Scouts were fine, even though I had to take a break every now and then in between the fighting, it was still better than fighting those captains.
When those captains joined, I had to give my everything to even stand against a chance in front of them.
'19 against 1 doesn't seem fair to be honest,' I thought as I once again dodged their attacks and countered them with pure skill. My power… well I used it only half the time, trying to save it for the fight I might need to engage in inside.
Time passed… hours passed… and then when I had finally managed to kill all the captains, I saw that it was already midnight. I saw the full moon before I glanced at the gate of the market inside which a couple of scout parasites were visible.
I moved hurriedly, and killed those parasites, before moving even deeper… there was no end to those parasites as I kept going in. Though, I couldn't care less that I kept brutally killing them one after another.
Finally, I reached the inner gate… I opened it… and what I saw next… almost took my soul away from my body; it was blood curdling. I, for a few moments, forgot to breathe. I was standing still. I kind of wanted to think… but I could not…
The whole place was a colossal mess… the parasites were killing everyone… or perhaps they had already done so. I kept walking, subconsciously inside that cavern and saw the dead bodies of the people who had been brutally killed by the parasites. They were sucked dry…
The fact that I knew each and everyone here… makes me feel… suffocated. At this point, I just thoughtlessly killed those parasites who were coming my way, while I moved forward towards where Alaric was supposed to be.
I soon reached the large camp in which Alaric was living… though the camp was torned apart into pieces with the dead body of Alaric lying right in front of the camp.
-BAM!!!
Something came behind me… something strong… before I could turn…
-BOOOM!!!
Whatever it was, it was kicked away by someone. I then turned to see a familiar face, which shocked me immensely.
"Alaric?!!!!" I spoke out loud before checking the dead body… which was gone from where it was. For a few moments I was confused but then a slightly happy expression formed on my face as I spoke,
"So you are alive-"
"Listen Reaper… sigh… all right, let me just get it done with this…" he spoke before I saw him vanishing from there and then all the parasites started screeching all at once. I just dumbfoundedly kept looking in that direction wondering what was going on.
'Alaric… you… who are you?' I thought as I tried to figure it out. The thing that Alaric kicked before… it came back… and tried to attack me again. This time I saw it very clearly… it was a Parasite General…? What is something like that doing here? They say… that even 100s of captains won't be able to deal with a single Parasitic General.
-BOOM!!!
Once again, Alaric just stood in front of me as he blocked that Parasitic General's attack before pushing him away again. Though it looked like Alaric took a serious hit from this one. I just stood there watching the scene.
"Listen Reaper… I am using one of my life Sacrificial Skills right now so I don't have much time left. Listen carefully to what I am about to say…" Alaric spoke as he focused on that parasite….
I… couldn't believe what he was saying right now… he was joking right? What is he babbling…. I kept looking at him as he began speaking,
"There is much more to Blood Assimilation Magic than what I have shown you… also, the Black Blood disease… Can you do me a favour? Can you complete the research on it for me? Not just for the sake of curing people but also trying to find out what exactly caused it… I feel like there is more to that disease than it seems… other than that, I have a family in the western continent… Can you find them? I have some documents left, so use them. They might not be enough, but… well, try to see what you can do. Also, all my locks have the same password… Martha. Use it to open my belongings and you will find many things that will be beneficial for your journey,"
He then attacked that parasite over and over and over… Alaric fought for sometime before the parasite was finally dead. I just stood there… weak… useless.. Even if I wanted to do something, I still couldn't do anything at all.
"Reaper… it was nice knowing you. I wished things could have ended differently though… You were like a younger brother to me… perhaps like a son… I wonder if my son is fine. If you find him, can you take care of him…. and … if you survive to the bitter end then… kill all of these f*king parasites please too?... If you can't… maybe let's have a cup of sake in the afterlife…." I just stood there as I tried my best to speak something… but words failed to come out of my mouth.
I saw him vanishing from there as he spoke,"Goodbye… friend." and then there was nothing left behind. All the parasites and the people were dead with only silence enshrouding me as I just stood there…
It was a suffocating feeling… yet I was calm for some reason…
It was a calm feeling… yet I was suffocating…
I wanted to let my fury out… yet there was nothing I could have done…
There was nothing I could do… yet I wanted to let my fury out.
'Would it have made a difference if I had stayed here? Would it have made a difference if I had gone a few days later… or maybe I had come a day earlier?
Why did I take my time to kill those Harpies again? Why did I not rush back faster?' the thoughts kept consuming me… they made me doubt my decisions and before I knew it…
Hating the parasites became like a second nature to me… If earlier I was surviving and moving from place to place, while killing parasites whenever I needed to… now I would be hunting them exclusively… those fuckers… each and every one of them fuckers… they are going to die by my hands.
'Even if it takes a thousand years… I will eradicate them all…' I thought as I closed my eyes before preparing to walk on a path which will later on take me to become one of the strongest people alive on Planet Vermillion.
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