When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 121: Commupence

I reached him and drove my boot hard into his ribs. He gasped, clutching his chest, and kept scrambling until his back slammed against the cold cave wall. In desperation, he raised his hand. Before I could move, Ken nocked an arrow and loosed it in one smooth motion. The arrow punched straight through his palm with a wet thock, pinning the hand to the stone behind it.

The man screamed, a high, animal sound that echoed off the damp cave walls.

He stared at the arrow shaft protruding from both sides of his hand, blood already running down his wrist. "Stop! Stop! Please, gods, stop!"

I crouched beside him, calm despite the adrenaline still burning in my veins. "Why did you do it?"

"NO! Please... let me go!"

I grabbed the arrow shaft and twisted it sharply. The wet grinding of metal against bone made him shriek even louder.

"Or things’ll get uglier," I said quietly. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Coin! I did it for the coin!" he shrieked, spit and tears mixing on his face. "Pleaseee!"

"Who hired you?"

"I... I can’t! I can’t tell you!"

I stood up slowly. "You’re already dead, Ed. You’re just still breathing. And you’re more scared of them than the man standing over you with a dagger?"

I took one step closer.

"Is it a noble?"

"N-no... no!" He was hyperventilating now. "Okay! Okay! I’ll leave the city. I swear it, just..."

I kicked him hard across the face. His head snapped sideways and he collapsed, groaning, staring up at the jagged cave ceiling.

"Leave the city?" I laughed coldly. "Cute."

Ken looked away, face tight. "Can’t watch this. I’ll keep watch at the entrance. Make sure no one comes."

"Hmm."

Ken disappeared into the darkness of the tunnel, leaving only the flickering light of our torch and the steady drip of water from the ceiling.

The man pushed himself up on his elbows, back against the wall, eyes wide with terror as we locked gazes.

"What’s your name?" I asked.

"Ed... Ed. Let me go, and I’ll tell you everything."

"There’s no letting go, Ed. Are you really that fucking stupid?"

He started sobbing. "It was supposed to be an easy job..."

"Why Jelda?"

"Gods... let me go! I won’t talk!"

I stepped forward and pressed my boot against the side of his head, pinning it to the wall. "Why. Jelda? Last time I ask nicely."

"They’ll kill me!"

"At least they’ll make it quick. Unlike me." I exhaled. "And you just lost that privilege."

"No..."

"You know what my favorite word is, Ed?"

He shook his head frantically.

"Commupence."

I grabbed his shoulder, slammed him flat onto the ground, and straddled his chest. I grabbed my dagger tightly and drove it down with all my weight, just above his elbow. The blade punched through skin, muscle, and into the hard ground beneath with a sickening crunch.

Ed’s scream tore through the cave like a dying animal, raw and guttural. "NOOOOO! FUCK! STOP! PLEASE, GODS, STOP!"

I wiggled the dagger viciously left and right, sawing through sinew and scraping against bone. The wound widened into a ragged, gaping mess of shredded pink muscle, splintered white bone, and pulsing blue veins. Hot blood sprayed in thick arcs with every twist, soaking my face, chest, and arms. The metallic stench mixed with the sharp reek of piss as his bowels released in terror. He thrashed wildly beneath me, legs kicking uselessly, heels scraping bloody furrows into the dirt floor.

"STOP! I’LL TELL YOU ANYTHING! ANYTHING! PLEASE... AAAAGHHH!"

I yanked the dagger free with a wet sucking sound, then hacked sideways into the ruined flesh, once, twice, three times, each brutal chop opening the wound wider. Gore and strings of tissue flew. On the fourth swing, the last tendons snapped with a sickening rip. His forearm came away in my hand with a final wet tear, leaving a jagged stump that spurted arterial blood in weakening jets. The exposed end looked like ground meat mixed with shattered bone fragments.

I got up, gripping the severed arm like a club. "Told you. Swift death no more."

Ed kept screaming, staring at his stump in pure disbelief, his remaining hand clawing desperately at the cave wall behind him. His nails broke and split as he scraped and scratched at the stone, just like Jelda had in her final moments... fingers raw and bleeding, leaving long, smeared red streaks across the rock as he tried to drag his broken body away from me. His voice cracked into hoarse, wet whimpers between screams. "Please... no more... I’ll tell you... gods, my arm... it’s gone..."

I didn’t stop. I raised the severed arm high and brought it down like a club onto his head.

The wet smack of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the cave. Blood exploded everywhere, hot, sticky sprays that painted my face, my clothes, and the walls in thick crimson.

The carnage was immediate.

I kept hitting him, over and over, the severed arm’s fingers snapping and breaking on impact, the bones inside crunching like dry twigs. Some of his teeth flew from his shattered mouth in bloody fragments, clattering across the stone floor. Another heavy blow caved in his nose with a sickening crunch, flattening it into a pulped mess of cartilage and blood. His left eye dented inward from the force, swelling shut into a grotesque, purple-black bulge.

I hit him again. Then again. Then again.

Then again.

The arm grew slicker with every strike, blood and bits of skin flying in all directions. Ed’s desperate scraping grew weaker, his broken fingers still twitching against the wall as if he could somehow claw his way through the stone to escape. His screams turned into wet gurgles, choked by blood filling his throat.

I felt alive.

One final, savage blow landed square on his temple. His skull gave way with a dull, meaty crack. His body jerked once, then went limp beneath me. The cave fell silent except for the dripping water and the sound of my own ragged breathing.

Blood was everywhere, coating the walls, pooling on the floor, soaking my clothes and skin.

"Not even worth the EXP." I spat, still panting. "Asswipe."

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> ENEMY SLAIN

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> +34 EXP

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