40 War & Deceit
A silver streak passed through the darkness like a shooting star crossing the cloudless sky.
*Thud*
The silver streak impacted, impaling the target that slumped to the ground writhing and thrashing for dear life.
The violent movements lasted a few seconds, but nobody came to the target’s aid. Instead, a shadow emerged next to the dying man.
“This is really disgusting,” The shadow mumbled.
A thin longsword materialized in his right hand, and he sliced it through the dying man’s neck with a single move, ending his suffering.
Blood spurted through the surrounding area while the dying man finally went still.
The longsword turned into a white wisp that disappeared in the shadow’s War Rune a moment later. Meanwhile, the shadow stepped forward to retrieve the arrow that was stuck deep in the Gogi’s gaping mouth.
One moment, the Gogi was yawning – tired from a long night watch – and the next moment an arrow drilled into his mouth.
The Gogi didn’t even realize what happened before it was already too late. The shadow killed him without a second thought.
“I still feel guilty whenever I kill someone,” The shadow mumbled to himself, “I wonder if it’s possible to kill without remorse…”
As the shadow looked at the dead Gogi, the first rays of the early sunrise shone through the canopy of humongous trees. The sunrays showered the shadow with soft light, revealing Michael beneath a black cloak.
Michael received a cloak made from the Gogis’ black hair as a present the day before. One of his subjects made it for him, and Michael made use of it immediately.
His left hand reached out to the inside pocket of the black cloak when he heard a twig breaking. His ears perked up and he dashed to the side, hiding in the shadow of the nearest tree.
“Gurastan! Walkata, Meria!”
A second Gogi emerged through the thicket after his hoarse voice tore through the silence. The Gogi was less than ten meters away from Michael and the dead Gogi’s body.
Tigerfang and the Boots of Taran materialized the moment the Gogi saw his comrade. The Gogi jumped to his comrade in the hopes of rescuing him, however, it was already too late. The body was deathly still.
“Join your friend,” Michael muttered as he emerged next to the Gogi. Tigerfang sliced through the Gogi’s neck like a hot knife through butter living up to the sharpness of an Epic Artifact.
Michael used more force to twist Tigerfang, dealing the finishing blow to the helpless Gogi.
The Gogi’s lethal mistake was that it didn’t expect anyone to be daring enough to attack their territory. Night duty was just a formality to make sure that no untoward incidents occurred. Until today, no monster had been foolish enough to attack the Gogi Lord in the dense forest.
Today, however, was different.
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Michael initiated an all-out war, and he wouldn’t stop until his last breath – or until he won.
Of course, he had a plan.
Blood splattered on his face as he pulled Tigerfang out of the dead Gogi. The thin longsword returned to his War Rune where he could summon it at will, instantaneously.
He twitched when the warm blood spurted on his face before it trickled down slowly. He made a disgusted face as he looked around in his surrounding area.
Michael received the energy influx from the second Gogi after the life in its eye dispersed. He reached into the inner pocket of the cloak and dropped something on each corpse before he departed.
His movements were deadly silent as he entered the Gogi Lord’s territory.
“Let’s see how fierce you can be…and how much you love your offspring…” Michael mumbled to himself as he dropped another object from his cloak’s inner pocket.
Michael felt a little bit bad about what he was going to do, but he was also painfully aware that being merciful and not utilizing every possible means at his disposal would result in a disastrous end for him and his territory.
He was not a good person; he had never been one. Michael always desired to use the Origin Expanse to become stronger, and he knew what that entailed, the choices and sacrifices he would have to make. It required tremendous strength and courage to stay alive in places that were controlled by the strong and wealthy.
The strength Michael had to accumulate was not only physical but also mental. He had to bear the responsibility for his actions no matter how burdensome it might be.
whenever he killed someone for his sake – if only to survive – Michael felt a slight pang of guilt, but he only had two choices- either choose to live with the burden or to perish with it. And he knew that over time, this feeling of guilt would lessen though it was debatable if he wanted to become a senseless killing machine or not. But that thought could wait for now.
He clenched his fists tightly while going further ahead. Michael knew what he was going to do, and what he had to do to survive. Never in his life had he been more aware of his action’s repercussions than today.
Now that he was inside the Gogi Lord’s territory all by himself, Michael had to be vigilant. He didn’t think that the Gogis had installed traps around their territory because they were more likely to trigger them rather than catching invaders, being a somewhat dumb species but it would be troublesome if he was to encounter a group of them.
No sooner had he thought this, a group of two Gogis appeared on the trodden trail to his right, as he was jinxed.
His eyes began to glow, and his stance changed at once as he burst into their direction. The Gogis were simply strolling around in their territory and had their guard lowered. Who would expect a fully armed opponent to appear next to them? Nor had t expected a silver streak to pass by, forget about the possibility of their head rolling over the ground the first thing in the morning.
Their energy influx reached Michael a moment later, but it didn’t boost his strength significantly like usual. This was because he had attained the Mid-level refinement degree last night.
‘Mid-level degree of refinement and an enhancement from three Artifacts, combined with a Soultrait seems to be enough to handle unguarded Gogis…what a wonder…’ He thought ironically as he retrieved another object from his cloak’s inner pocket.
He put it on one of the corpses and looked around afterward. Few Gogis were awake yet, but Michael could hear some commotion a little further ahead. The densely grown flora and fauna blocked his sight, however, that could be considered an advantage.
‘She is not here yet, so I might as well–…’
Just when that thought flashed through his mind a terrifying roar reverberated through the surroundings.
The corners of Michael’s lip curled upward, and goosebumps spread all over his body upon hearing the familiar sound.
‘What did I even expect?’ He thought, questioning whether it was just fate that he jinxed himself repetitively, or if it was related to the first ancestors and his sins.
Maybe, it was both.
Either way, Michael retrieved the remaining fist-sized oval-shaped objects hurriedly before he threw them closer to the center of the Gogi Lord’s territory.
The ‘objects’, also known as a lizard’s eggs, shattered without resistance.
Mayhem followed soon after as the Lizard mother paved her way through the dense rainforest, pursuing the filthy thief who had stolen her eggs.
This filthy thief was none other than Michael, who resorted to calling his backup to thrust the Gogi Lord in a battle he will never forget.
Unfortunately, his backup required some ‘motivation’, which Michael gladly delivered.