In The Cave

He's not a psychopath. Even though he intends to kill those Hunters, Rama is only doing it because of what they did to him. Leaving him to die in that tomb just to take the treasure for themselves.

He won't simply kill someone without a clear reason. However, it's not because he values the human soul; it's just that he doesn't see a reason to bother killing them.

Something inside Rama makes it difficult for him to feel empathy for others unless he has a good relationship with them or knows them well, like Adrien, who willingly became his mentor. Rama won't forget his kindness.

Growing up without parental guidance and in a place that was far from ideal played a significant role in shaping his current personality. Rama can't help it.

He steps further into the cave. The air becomes even more stifling and damp, but none of it bothers him. He's used to breathing in bad places like the basement he used to live in.

No more Ghosts are attacking him now. Perhaps it's because he killed most of them earlier, and the rest are probably chasing after the five D-Rank Hunters.

A few minutes later, as he ventures deeper into the cave, Rama sees three tunnel branches. All three tunnels lead to unknown places, and each could be as dangerous as the other.

'Where should I go now?'

Rama ponders as he stares at the branching tunnels. Suddenly, a sound comes from the left tunnel, as if answering his question.

It's a human scream. The scream is faint, but it's enough. Rama immediately enters the left tunnel.

He sees Hugh and Jeff at the end of the cave, trapped between a furious onslaught of Ghosts.

Rama presses his body against the tunnel wall to avoid being noticed. He wants to assess the situation first.

"Their too many, Jeff!" Hugh exclaims, holding his sword with a terrified expression.

"We can do this! Don't panic!" Jeff shouts, swinging his sword hard and managing to strike down a charging Ghost.

Hugh, on the other hand, seems to be struggling more. He keeps swinging his sword, but all his attacks miss. With trembling hands and agile Ghosts, Hugh looks pathetic. He would surely be dead if not for Jeff by his side.

Rama can see all of this from his hiding spot. There are many more Ghosts there than the ones that surrounded him earlier. He decides to wait until the two of them reduce the number of Ghosts and become weaker.

'No need to rush,' Rama says to himself. He sticks to the wall while continuing to observe the situation.

He waits and waits until finally, the opportunity arrives.

Only ten Ghosts are left. Hugh and Jeff kill them in seconds. Well, mostly Jeff does the work.

The two of them stand there, panting with their hands on their knees. Their stamina is depleted after killing all those Ghosts.

"Damn! That was intense!" Hugh says, grinning with satisfaction.

"You didn't do anything, Hugh," Jeff remarks.

"Haha!" Instead of getting offended, Hugh laughs. He's used to this situation and knows his abilities are far below theirs.

"Let's go find Shad, Sammy, and Chase," Jeff says.

Hugh nods, and they prepare to leave the cave. However, before their steps take them too far, Rama emerges from his hiding place.

"Oh, it seems you're still alive, porter," Hugh says. "Good. But where is our stuff?"

Rama remains silent and gazes at him. Jeff, on the other hand, notices that something is wrong. The porter somehow looks dangerous.

"Why are you so quiet? Don't tell me you left our stuff behind because you were chased by Ghosts?!" Hugh exclaims.

"Hugh," Jeff says, placing his hand on Hugh's shoulder.

Hugh looks at him. "What?" Then he sees Jeff's expression. Hugh immediately knows something is wrong.

When he turns to look at the porter, he has already charged toward them.

Rama moves so quickly that he can close the distance between them in an instant and swing his sword.

Jeff moves quickly enough to pull Hugh back and raise his sword to block Rama's strike.

*CLANG!*

But beyond his expectations, the power behind Rama's slash was quite strong. Forcing him to let out a groan as a sign of struggle.

Rama clicked his tongue because he couldn't land an attack on Hugh. But basically, it will make no difference. He still has to kill them both in the end.

Jeff retaliated without pause, he pushed Rama's sword then thrust his sword towards his stomach. Rama could see the stab and dodge it so he didn't need to use his Soul Fusion power now.

"What the fuck are you doing, porter?!" a shocked Hugh asked.

But Jeff didn't waste time asking. He didn't need to know why Rama attacked him because he could recognize those eyes anywhere. Those were the eyes of someone who had bloodlust and didn't care about reason.

So Jeff immediately attacked him without caring what his reason was for attacking them. Besides, it won't make any difference whether he knows or not.

Jeff and Rama trade blows while Hugh retreats in the corner. He saw with wide eyes full of shock how Jeff and the porter clashed their swords.

'H-He... he's not just a porter.' Hugh thought.

Metal clashed against metal, the resounding clang echoing through the cave, growing even more thunderous as it reverberated off the cave walls.

Small sparks emitted from the clash of their swords indicating how hard they were swinging their swords at each other.

Suddenly something happened. Hugh couldn't see it because they were moving very fast but Jeff suddenly collapsed to the ground, blood dripping from his chest.

"JEFF!" Hugh screamed and ran towards him while holding his sword. But he stopped where he was when he saw what happened next.

Rama slit Jeff's throat, blood poured out of his neck accompanied by a terrible gurgling sound. Jeff turned to Hugh with his eyes wide in shock before finally collapsing to the ground, dead.

Hugh let out a cry, and then he charged towards Rama blindly.

On the other hand, Rama grinned at Hugh. Luckily, he was too cowardly to attack him earlier. If he and Jeff attack him together then maybe Rama will be in trouble.

It turns out, with his stats right now he can match a D-Rank Hunter though with some effort. However, nothing appeared in his vision.

Deciding to think about the matter later, Rama approached Hugh, slashing his sword.

~~~