Bad Encounter III

They almost wiped out the monsters invading the camp, there were only a few left before they could take a rest, and for Zio to start questioning Jin. That was if he excluded the matter with the death aura that came from the demonic human.

The last monster was down and they celebrated it shortly, clapping or hugging or something like that. The countdown was almost over. Just 3 more minutes.

"We did it!"

"Fvck yeah!"

They were so happy that Zio'd felt bad if he was to tell them that it was not over yet. But, it was a matter of life, surely they won't hate him for it, right?

"Thanks for your help, I didn't know you were good with swords," Jin said as he approached Zio while extending his hand for a handshake.

Zio's mind was already occupied by the matter of the demonic human and the countdown. Noticing his eyebrow was knitted, Jin asked

"What's wrong, kid?"

Zio slipped from his thoughts and shook his head.

"If you're looking for the rest… Don't worry, they're safe."

That was one thing to be excluded from Zio's worry list. But, it was not like he worry only about one thing. There were matters of Jin's credibility, whether he was actually a good person which turned evil by the demon, or a secretly evil person from the beginning. Zio hate it when he was clueless.

There was also the demonic human that needed immediate attention.

"Listen. I know it's only three minutes left before we get out of this place but–"

The death aura shrouded the air around the camp. Everyone here was feeling it. They were shivering as the aura lingered on their body, suffocating them.

Zio realized that he was too late.

The demonic human was already sighted a hundred meters from the camp. An invisible death aura slowly materialized death incarnation. Everyone knew that it was just an illusion but they couldn't help but be terrified.

"Ahhh…" The moment he let out a voice, his head was cut off from the body.

The head dropped to the ground, making a loud thud sound.

Everyone's heart was beating fast the moment they heard the thud sound. Slowly, one by one, their eyes looked at the head on the ground with a pool of blood already.

"D-dem—"

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Another three head was severed from their body.

"Playtime is over." A loud, hoarse deep domineering sound echoed in the air.

The demonic human was walking arrogantly, spreading his arms wide. With the wide grin which couldn't be torn off plastered over his face, he believed he had already won the battle.

Zio was shaking, he looked like he was about to crumble at any moment. As the adrenaline raced, the clairvoyance was activated unexpectedly. A piece of information that he should have obtained from the moment he met the demonic human was just received by his brain.

[Name: Nado (Male sign)

Age: 24

Race: Half-demon]

'Ah…'

A scene of memory was being played inside Zio's head. It was the scene in this very same dungeon, but the situation was completely different.

The camp was already obliterated. Corpses scattered all over the camp, leaving only 5 Enhanceds–Jin was there, but not Zio.–kneeling before the demonic human, Nado. They begged the demonic human to spare their life. Nado laughed and spared them.

In the next scene, there were only Nado and Jin. Nado was giving Jin the plain white familiar mask, the Avatar Mask before the dungeon's countdown was over.

The memory ended. Zio was back to reality with blurry vision.

'What was that?' he thought.

"Hey, you! Black-haired brat!" the demonic human shouted.

Although Zio couldn't see anything because everything was blurry for him, he knew that the one Nado referred to was him. The reason was that there was no one among the Enhanceds who was a brat except him.

"W-what…?" He said while gripping his sword nervously.

Jin gritted his teeth full of frustration, he knew that the boy would be the next one to die so he wanted to save him. But, he couldn't move his body, it seemed like his body didn't listen to him, either of the pressure or because he didn't want to risk his life to save a stranger he just meet a week ago. Instead, he tried to look at the countdown up in the sky.

'One minute left! Hold on there, Zio!' he said in his mind, hoping that his inner voice would reach Zio but it won't. After all, he didn't have telepathy skills.

"Give me the artifacts you little sh*t!"

The demonic human walked closer and closer to the frozen group. Every step he took made the Enhanceds' fighting spirit leave their body.

One pace. Two paces. Three. Four. Five… Eight paces and then Zio pulled out the mask hidden beneath his jacket.

"S-stop!" Zio lifted the mask. "T-this. I-is this w-what you want?"

45 seconds left before the countdown was over…

The demonic human's eyes and smile widened as he saw the mask, but the next second, his expression turned sour.

"It won't do… That artifact is bounded to you."

"So?" Zio gripped the sword even harder, ready to swing it if the demon approached.

In fact, a bounded artifact meant that only the user was capable of using it. If the other wanted to use it, they would need to have the user's approval and the artifact itself–if it was an artifact with ego.

The only way to steal a bounded artifact was to kill the artifact's owner.

Having known that fact, both Zio and Nado exchanged a hostile stare at each other.

30 seconds before the countdown was over…

The demon had paid no attention to the countdown, but he knew that he didn't have the luxury of time. Meanwhile, Zio kept peeking at the countdown using his Clairvoyance - Pathfinding, but he couldn't keep on doing that as his mana was almost depleted.

Nado's hand getting bigger and now was resembling a demon's hand and claws.

Zio, Jin, and the other Enhanceds flinched. Their fighting spirit continued to decline. Their only wish was for the countdown to speed up.

Nado looked at his hand amazedly.

20 seconds left…

Zio's vision has been restored to normal condition.

Swoosh–!

Nado's figure became blurry and then he disappeared. Not even before the Enhanceds could react, Nado appeared again in front of Zio. His sharp claw was already stretched out forward like a spear.

Zio had seen it coming, so he was the only one who could react to Nado's surprise attack. It was all thanks to his Clairvoyance skill which could predict his target's movement. Not that Zio was aware of that though. He always had a gut that it was because of Clairvoyance that made him could track the shadow's movement in that dungeon, but since there was no such description telling him that it could predict or track his target's movement, he was left with doubt. But, after this, maybe he would realize that Clairvoyance wasn't just a skill used for obtaining information.

The only way to counter a thrust attack was to avoid and quick attack or block it in perfect timing. But, since it was not that easy to do a perfect timing block, most preferred to avoid the attack than to counter with a block.

Zio also preferred to avoid it since it was only two weeks since he learned the way of the sword. But, his prediction said otherwise. If he was to dodge, he would absolutely die to Nado's force trajecting attack—His hand would suddenly make a sharp turn because he already used his [Lock-in] skill.

[Lock-in] was a type of skill to accurately hit the target. It was usually used for a projectile attack, but it didn't mean that it won't work for a close-range attack like what Nado just did. He made it possible to change his attack trajectory with [Lock-in] because his hand was no longer a human. Even if he broke his bone, it would immediately be healed due to the demon's blood regeneration.

Zio desperately lifted his sword, attempting to block Nado's claw attack.

Clang–!

A lucky shot! Zio managed to perfectly time his block. But, due to the difference in strength, Zio was knocked back flying several meters back.

Nado caught the mask Zio had released. But, it wasn't enough, he needed to kill Zio if he wanted to use the artifact. Not only that, but his greed to have the sword held by Zio was also his target.

"Kuh!"

It all happened in a split second that not everyone could react. But, the next second when Zio was landing on the ground did then that Jin reacted immediately.

"Stop him!!!"

The Enhanceds broke free from their petrified state and immediately gripped their sword tight and positioned themselves in front of Nado.

"Don't get in my way, insect!!"

Nado shouted as he kept rushing forward, breaking through the Enhanceds' formation without shedding any sweat. The Enhanceds blocking him either lost their limb or heavy bleeding.

10 seconds left…

"Die!! You little fly!!!"

With all his might, Nado threw a punch at Zio who was busy trying to get up.

At that moment, time seemed slow for Zio as he was hearing sounds inside his head.

"Swing your sword, master!"

Zio was confused as to where the sound came from, but it was not the time to think about it. So, he just followed what the sound told him to.

There was a glint of light that traced the blade before he swung it.

Splurt–!

A slash wound suddenly carved from the top of his head down to his waist. Blood was gushing out like a fountain from Nado's wound. It all happened even before Zio drew his sword. The same technique as the shadow in the dim room used against him.

"Wha—?!!" Even Nado was surprised that he suddenly getting cut off into two suddenly. His soul won't rest in peace if he did not know what just killed him, not that he could rest in peace in the first place after selling his soul to the demon.

The demonic human's body split into two. And when Zio swung his sword upward, vertically, he was just slashing an empty air as Nado's body was already dropped on the ground beside him.

The faces of the Enhanced who were originally preoccupied with their situation couldn't even hide their shock at what Zio had done to Nado.

Zio was covered in Nado's blood while the demonic human split body was lying beside him.

"You…" said Jin.

But before he could speak more, the countdown has ended.

Portals appeared behind everyone's backs and sucked them in like a vacuum cleaner. Fortunately, Zio had taken the Avatar Mask back before he got sucked in.

Traveling by the portal was like those scenes when people got sucked into a wormhole in sci-fi stories. It felt serene, if only it'd last a bit longer, all the memory that Zio, Jin, and the others experienced inside the dungeon might be forgotten.

No one wanted to remember that demonic human power or how Zio killed him in one slash.

…

Thrown out of the portal, I found myself on the highest floor of the Garuda Soar Tower, the last place I visited before I got transported to the flash dungeon. The blood covering me and the sword was gone when I checked my body.

With a sigh, I lay down on the cold floor. Resting my eyes and my body. Now that the adrenaline went down, my body suddenly felt numb.

The sound of footsteps was coming closer and then it stopped.

"Hey, are you dead?" Came a voice that sounded calm and cold.

Opening my eyes slowly, I saw a shoe blocking my view. Tracing my eyes up, I found a face I thought I'd seen before.

Her hair was long and red colored resembled a flame. She gave me a cold-eyed stare that somehow almost didn't suit her red eyes. Her oval face was framed by the layered curtain bang. Her entire cool and calm demeanor was the complete opposite of her red color scheme, which represented courage or energy.

I didn't know what she wanted from me but… unfortunately for her. She needed to wait for another time.

"Hmm. Looks like you're alive," she said then walked toward the elevator.

Eh… I thought she was going to question me…

Oh well, I was going to sleep anyway. So… Good night.