First Kill

"Help!" the Scarlet Bear cried in a desperate tone and for a moment I felt that it would be best to run away when I've still got the chance. But the tone of its voice was too painful for my soul to take and from the way this guy Karl murdered his partner, I bet my life savings that this guy isn't someone good. (I'm just saying, I'm not betting 'kay. Don't tell my wife that I'm gambling. I will become homeless.)

And thus, I plan my way of my first kill. First of all, I move to a better location and scan the battlefield intently. The place where the humans and the beast fought has almost become a clearing due to the force of the bear and the human skills but there were still some branches and sorts which could give me a positional advantage over the human Karl. I'm going to air-assassinate this guy, I decided almost instantly. And as I look around, more and more of the surroundings were registered in my brain, the more better a plan started to flesh out. Finally, when I saw a broken trunk of a tree near one of the dead bodies of the human party, a plan formed in my mind.

After confirming my plan, I close my eyes, clench my fist and mumble slightly under my tongue, "Legacy skill, virtual clone. Appear!" almost instantly, I felt a suction force inside my body as a purplish-black cloud escaped from my body and forms a different but altogether same body beside me. The new body was exactly similar to me from the tip of his hair to the tip of his toe nail.

My clone looks at me silently, waiting for its order and I ask him in all seriousness, "Can you do whatever I tell you. Telepathically?"

The clone gives a simple nod. Of course, I knew there was a telepathic transmission of order for clones but I just needed to know it from the clone itself and also to test its artificial intelligence.

"Good." I say as I pat his shoulder. "Look at that guy," I point to human Karl and say, "We're going to take him down. You with me?"

The clone frowns a bit and says in a childish, broken tone, "Powaful…" (It's 'powerful,' okay. He's a clone and has a child's intelligence, give him some break.)

I smile tensely and reply, "I have a plan. Hopefully, it will work." The clone nods at my words and replies, "Awright!" The tone of his voice is kinda cute.

After instructing my clone, whom I named Rommie, to stay there silently while I stealthily moved towards the broken trunk, masking my path with the thick undergrowth of the forest. Reaching the tree trunk, I look at human Karl and see him rummaging through his bag in an unhurried fashion. He's kinda too chill for his situation but I don't care.

I hurriedly try to pull the dead body of his party mate which was leaning against the broken trunk but due to my unprofessional way of handling, the dead body tumbled from its position and fell sideways, making a slight thump!

"Who's there!" almost immediately, human Karl stood up alerted, his sword ready in his hand but he saw nothing, except his former teammate lying dead beside a broken tree trunk. His frown was deep and he started walking towards the trunk with his weapon drawn. I heard his footsteps and my heart nearly jumped out of my throat.

'Rommie, distract him immediately!!' I said telepathically and he replied with a simple roger.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Suddenly, three large thuds were heard in the opposite direction to where I was. Karl was surprised but he immediately turned his attention towards the origin of that sound, leaving me alone. I sighed a breath of relief. As for what Rommie did, it was quite ingenious. Right when I told him to distract human Karl, he picked up somewhat of a rounded stone and threw it at an angle to a faraway tree trunk. The rock ricocheted against that tree trunk and hit two more trees before falling to the ground.

After confirming that human Karl was really distracted, I immediately pulled the dead body as close to me as possible and started to rummage through his body, even though I was visibly disgusted by my action. This guy seemed to be a Mage of sort and carried a lot of tomes and potions. Fortunately, most of the potions were labelled. I pulled out three potions from his body, one had a skull painted to his body, other had a flame printed and the last had a cloud printed on it. I cast my identification on them immediately.

<Potion of Burning Poison (Normal) —After entering the body of the target, this poison creates a burning sensation and causes a damage of 20/sec.>

<Red Flame Potion (Intermediate)—After thorough research and study, a magician was successfully able to create a potion which could mimic the effect of a fireball spell. Throwing this potion at the target will engulf the spot where the bottle hit in a majestic red flame.>

<Potion of Smoke (Normal) – Breaking this potion bottle will engulf 5x5 meter square area in grey smoke. It's quite useless in windy situations>

Immediately, I pocket the Potion of Smoke and the Red Flame Potion while I uncork the Potion of Burning Poison and wash both my original knife and the one I acquired recently, the Poison-Fanged Blade with the poison.

<Ping! Ordinary Knife has been poisoned. Uses left—5>

<Ping! Poison-Fanged Blade has been poisoned. Uses left—8> (The greater number of uses is due to the higher grade of the dagger)

After pocketing the half-empty bottle of poison, I clutch the two daggers with both my hands and climb the trunk slowly and steadily walk upward, taking to the branches of the trees. Looking down, I saw human Karl still searching for the source of the sound. Until now, everything has gone according to the plan. Now, this is the time for battle!

'Rommie, get started!'

'Roger.'

For a few more minutes, human Karl searched the shrubs but found nothing. Frowning dangerously, he returned back to the clearing with a doubtful heart but suddenly he saw a silhouette move in the grasses.

"Hey! Whoever it is, come out now! Or else—"

"Plea don hurt me!!!" cried Rommie in his cute, shota voice as he stood up from his place with his hands up. He was currently unarmed and was pretty dirty but it was all a setup. Karl looked at him and was visibly perplexed.

"How did you get here, son?" he asked in a mild tone and Rommie replied just like I told him via telepathy.

'Say, I don't know.''

"I don't know."

In the meantime, I move through the branches stealthily and steady myself a few meters away from Rommie's position.

Human Karl, not entirely believing, Rommie's words came near him cautiously but when he saw the strange purplish eyes of Rommie, his own eyes twinkled with greed. He crouched down near Rommie and placed his sword right under Rommie's throat but unlike most children, Rommie didn't tremble or cry. Heck, he didn't do anything and stood there like a complete frozen statue which would've been quite odd for anyone but human Karl was on cloud nine!

"Finally! Finally, I found a demi-human! Now, I can finally get a promotion in the cult! Hahaha!" he laughed maniacally as he pulled Rommie by his scruff. Normally, a child would cry and beat around but again, Rommie didn't. I waited silently for them to pass under the tree and right when they were in the perfect spot, I cried a nursery rhyme to hype myself up and jumped with my dual daggers in hand.

"hippity-hoppity-jolly-HOOOOO—"

Like an experienced snake making its kill, I jump down the branch right at 'ho' and even though human Karl was shocked at my sudden shout, before he could do anything, I fell right on top of him! I clutched the edges of steel armor with my right hand and without wasting a single moment of delay, I plunge the dagger in my left hand right into the base of his left nape.

<Critical hit!....>

<Target has been poisoned>

"Graghhhhh!!!" human Karl cried in pain but before giving him any chance, using the plunged dagger as my support, I heaved myself up a little and drive my right hand dagger, which also happens to be the Poison-Fanged Blade into the base of his throat!

Puchi!!

<Critical strike!....>

<Target has been poisoned>

"ARGH!! YOU SONUVABITCH!!" Human Karl cursed loudly at me as his flashed like thunder and before I knew it, he grabbed a large tuft of my head and flung me away from him.

A flashflood of pain wreck through my brain and scalp and an old anger which hid deep inside me woke up. I never liked pain. Falling face first into the ground, I glare at the human Karl with hate-filled eyes before picking up whatever random stone my hand could find and threw it right at his goddamn face!

SMACK!!

<Headshot!....>

A loud, unearthly smacking sound was heard as the stone which I threw hit right in the middle of his right eye and defying every logic I had, I saw his entire right eye and part of his right face being destroyed completely by that stone.

Now, you would think this much damage would surely kill a man but not in virtual world. Human Karl glared at me with pure hatred as he crumbled to his knees. His steel sword fell from his arm and Rommie instantly picked it up and using all of his strength drove it right into the gap of his armor, right below his lungs. I received a critical strike notification but even then, he did not die. Instead, with a tight slap from human Karl, Rommie flew like a bolt and died before he could reach the ground. And just like that my faithful companion was dead.

I gulped down hard and took out two of my potion bottles. I dropped the Potion of Smoke and readied the Red Flame Potion. It didn't take long for human Karl to recover and stand on his ground. He stood up, removed the sword from his body and walked slowly towards me. Gritting my teeth, I prayed that the 13 luck wasn't all faux and threw the bottle with all the force I had towards human Karl's face. And he didn't even dodge it.

Blinded by pure rage, human let the potion bottle break on his face and within milli-seconds, his face was covered in blood-red flames. But even then, he didn't die. I scrambled away from a monster with a flaming head but he caught up with me pretty soon. But right when I was about to be stabbed to death, the sword fell from human Karl's hand and he suddenly clutched his throat. I looked surprised when human Karl dropped to both his knees and started huffing madly and scratching his face.

I didn't get to see what his expression was but it wouldn't be anywhere good. Soon, he fell flat on the ground and a notification rang confirming his death.

<Congratulation, Rubik. You killed Gin, a level 5 Warrior of the Whiteskull Guild by asphyxiation using the Red Flame Potion. You received 2,500 xp points.>

"Ha…ha…ha… that was pretty intense…. Not bad."

…