Reward (2)

"I regret that this game doesn't have censorship," Luke said. He had muffled his mouth and nose with his palm, just in case he felt like vomiting, seeing the brutal sense of rats eating one another.

Well, he wasn't the only one. All of them were in a similar situation, Elise more than everyone else. The slender girl had turned her head and was waiting near the exit point. She could have exited the dungeon if she wanted, but for being courteous, she remained, even though her stomach was screaming in indignation at the sight.

"On second thought, Luke," Rin said, his voice coming muffled through his palm, "Why don't you deal with this? You can take all the rewards if you want."

Luke shot him a sceptical look.

"I'm being serious, dude," Rin added.

Rin would rather go for a swim on the beach in the cold rather than get involved in such a disgusting affair. Well, he was already more involved than anyone else, but that didn't mean he would dirty his hand in such brutal filth.

"Nope," Luke said, "we came together, so we're going to finish this together."

Ulysses snorted. He was standing there idly, so he decided to absorb the six Spirit Enhancing Gems he got for killing the Rat Boss. Other than him, Elise had Spirit as an awakened attribute, but Rin called dibs on the green gems, leaving Recovery and Agility for her.

Well, they still hadn't split up their shares of loot, considering there were a couple of hundreds more other gems in their tally.

[+ 0.1 Spirit]

[+ 0.2 Spirit]

[+ 0.2 Spirit]

[. . .]

[+ 0.1 Spirit]

[Spirit: 17.3]

That refreshed him almost completely, relieving him of most of his muscle pain, as well as recovering a large portion of his mana pool.

Ulysses would still need over a dozen green gems to reach the limit of a common grade Spirit. Well, the Sprit Enhancing Gems were hard to find, but not like the Mind enhancing ones. He had seen none of those in the three days of play.

Ulysses figured that was going to be the only issue with his ranking up. His Fortune was already over three times the required number.

Sprit and Mind. Rin guessed he would get a few of the spirit enhancing gems after dealing with the winner of the cannibalising contest, leading him a little closer to rank up.

'Well, why I'm even bothered?' Rin mused. He had to admit the game was becoming a little addicting.

It seemed the contest of rats reached its climax already, barely having about a dozen more survivors left. But they had swollen up so much from the overeating, they could barely move an inch.

"Let's get done with it now," Ulysses reminded Luke, the Kingmaker. He said that, but he didn't move an inch from where he was standing; still, with his palm muffled to his mouth and nose.

Luke turned to arch an eyebrow at him.

"On second thought, I think my new ability is a godsend to deal with these disgusting creatures," Ulysses said, and raised his left hand.

He worked his mana into the outer sphere of the mark as emerald light started to coalesce into his fist. Ulysses moved a few more steps, and shot the [Hand of the Guardian] at the horrifyingly swollen rat.

All the rats that remained were the ones that ate the most of their kind, fattening up so excessively that they could barely move, save for one which was shrieking, rolling on the ground.

Ulysses shot the Hand of the Guardian, aiming for the fat rat relatively closer to them. With enough mana into the ability, it worked differently than what happened when he tried before. The emerald semi-substantial fist rammed into the round rat's bulging stomach and exploded into purple blood and gore.

[You have defeated a Corrupted Giant Rat (common), a threat to Avalon and the universe. You have gained 28 Avalon credits.]

"That totally works," Rin said, celebrating that he wouldn't have to deal with the disgusting rats at close distance.

He found Luke staring at him, hoping that he would deal with all the disgusting creatures on his own.

"What are you looking at, mate?" Ulysses prepared another Hand of the Guardian. "Go on, you can't leave everything to me."

Ulysses shot again and killed another one with it. Luke remained standing, though; his eyes darting towards the loudest one, that was rolling in their direction with its veins bulging and muscle transforming in naked sight.

"That's the one that won the lottery," Rin said, and shot his next hand at it.

But the semi-substantial hand wasn't enough to kill the thing it was transforming to be. It only sent the transforming rat flying to where it came from.

Rin didn't cast any other Hand of the Guardian, though, causing Luke to give him a stink eye.

"Why did you stop?" Kingmaker asked.

Rin narrowed his eyes at him. He pulled the bow and an arrow from the quiver, and aimed at the shrieking monster.

"You're becoming reliant on me," Ulysses said, shooting the arrow. "What did I say when I joined?"

The arrow sprang into motion and pierced through the air to dig into the rat's back. One wasn't enough to kill it, but it just happened to slow the transforming rat down.

Ulysses shot two arrows back to back, one at the neck and another at its head, killing it completely.

[You have defeated an incomplete Corrupted Famine Rat (Metamorphing), a threat to Avalon and the universe. You have gained 200 Avalon credits.]

"And I'm out of mana again," Rin said, resting the bow on his back. "Anyway, the job is done."

Saying that, he crept towards the exit point, leaving the dumbfounded figure of Kingmaker.

"Aren't you going to loot the corpses?" Luke shouted after him.

Rin turned his head to meet his gaze. "Mate, I ain't your bitch. Do your disgusting work on your own."

"But they are your kill. I remember you used to be extremely eager about the rewards. What happened to you?"

"I got my reward." Rin joined Elise under the hole which led them into the dungeon.

Both of them stared at Luke, who was torn between touching the disgusting corpses or going back with them. In the end, his earnestness won over his cynical tendencies, as Luke kept on looting the corpse one after another. He even looted the rats that Ulysses left behind, of course, after killing them. That made him even filthier than he already was.

"You know," Rin told Elise, gesturing towards Luke, "that guy, even if he isn't a billionaire, he's damn close to it. Look at how humble he is."

Elise shot him a wield look, unable to figure out his thoughts behind the phrase.

"Nothing," Rin said, sensing her uncertainty, "Luke just act like a young Lord of some great house now and then. I just reminded him of his roots now."

Elise blinked at him, still not completely convinced. "Then what about you?"

"Me?" Rin laughed. "I'm just a miserable sap who feels glee at others' misery."

_______________

Had to put some mind into the character of my MC to make him distinct from my other MC.

I fear he isn't going to be very likeable in the beginning.