Chapter 13

Marcus felt like he was on hard ground. His whole body was in pain and he was slowly bleeding out.

[HP:1752/10 000 000]

[-900]

[HP:852/10 000 000]

"Mar...cus..." he heard a weak voice of a woman say and felt someone crawl on his body.

He couldn't the person's face, all he saw was a blur.

"Please, live" the woman said kissing him.

Then they were both impaled by a spear.

"NO!" Marcus said sitting up and gasping for air.

He sat up and put his hand on his forehead.

"Marcus, are you good?!" Ben asked running out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bad dream" he said.

He noticed he was drenched in sweat.

"You done in there?" he asked.

"Yeah man, you got it" he said letting Marcus walk past.

Marcus filled the bath with cold water and took a deep breath before he submerged himself inside.

He opened his eyes and looked at the bubbles floating up.

[Flow activated]

He shut his eyes and exhaled hot air that made the bath warm up. The bath water started to boil and while it did he felt his whole body become light.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was in a dark area that was submerged in water, this area was called the mental space. His feet touched the ground and a sword appeared in his hand.

He moved his arm and it felt heavy but he kept moving.

The water felt like it was trying to keep him from moving and it was doing a good job.

Every swing was only 5% of his usual swing speed.

When he tried to move in different directions his whole body would feel like it was getting crushed.

The process was called Image training, it was painful but it was necessary to train [Flow] effectively, because unlike other skills [Flow] is a skill that goes up not by Exp, but how well you can use the sword and how well you understand the sword.

[Flow] was a perfect skill that is easily incorporated to other skills and if mastered to a high degree can increase power output by 200%, a skill like that of course wouldn't be easy to master and even gaining the skill was something that took decades of training.

'It took me 20 years to even start using flow at the minor level and another 10 to get to beginner level, but even at beginner level mastery it was powerful' Marcus thought as he swung his sword again.

The weight of the water trained your control of every sword swing, weight control and every muscle movement.

When he felt he finally needed oxygen his consciousness left the mental space and his head emerged from the boiling water.

[Flow deactivated]

Ben was sitting on his bed looking at the bathroom door.

"I hope he's okay, he's been in there for a while" Ben said eating.

The door swung open and steam shot out of the bathroom.

Marcus walked out drying himself.

"Hey Ben, how long was I in there for?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know, 20 minutes maybe" Ben said.

"Not bad" Marcus said smiling.

He picked up his sword and equipped his chest plate.

"Let's go" Marcus said walking out.

Ben followed behind.

When they got downstairs Marcus sensed a man watching them as they walked.

'They left one here to watch for us, cute' Marcus thought.

"We'll go to the East forest again, less competition for Exp that side" Marcus said.

Ben nodded.

The guy watching them smiled and hurried ran towards where his teammates were.

"Boss, they went to east forest" he said.

A man in a black and silver suite of armor smiled.

"Good" he said picking up his giant battle axe.

Marcus and Ben got to east forest.

"So you think they'll follow us?" Ben asked.

"Yeah" Marcus said.

"Why did you say our destination like that?" Ben asked.

"It's better to take care of small fries like this sooner rather then later" Marcus said as he saw a few [Brown bears]. "We'll gain some Exp while we wait" he said unsheathing his blade.

Ten minutes later a group of 12 players came to the forest and saw Marcus and Ben sitting on logs.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone would be here, I thought we would be alone here" the man in the suite of armor said with a smile on his face.

"Great minds think alike it seems" Marcus said with a smile on his face.

The man in armor chuckled and looked at Marcus' sword. It had a light white glow on it showing it was enhanced.

"So, how is it looking, you guys gained any good Exp?" he asked.

"Not really, hunting these guys isn't worth it!" Ben yelled looking at his status.

The man in armor looked at Ben in. 'They must be struggling to get to level 3, to bad we've got a few at level 4 already' he thought. "Maybe if we party up, we can go to the higher level areas and gain more Exp" he said.

"You guys already have a lot of guys, we wouldn't wish to be a burden" Marcus said. 'I hate when they take their time with the nice guy act, just say what you want and let's get this over with' he thought and looked at Ben. 'It would be good for Ben to get some experience fighting humans' he thought.

"We'll your right, you would be a burden" he said.

The man made a facial expression that made it look like he was thinking then clapped his hands.

"How about this, you pay us and we'll carry you, all your money and your sword will suffice as payment" he said with an evil grin on his face.

Marcus and Ben stood up.

"Man you were right, they do try hard with the nice act" Ben said.

"Yeah, their acting gets better after a couple years" Marcus said.

"What are you talking about right now?" the man in armor asked.

"Yiu haven't realized? We aren't paying you bums shit" Ben said holding a middle finger up.

The group got angry at them.

"You guys got guts that's for sure" he said holding the handle of his battle axe. "You probably didn't realize but, we've got..."

"Four guys at Level 4, you included" Marcus said.

"What, how did...?"

"I knew because I'm not blind" Marcus replied.

"How...?"

"I know what your gonna say because after some point it gets predictable and before you ask anymore, I know your level 4 because I see the silver grade items you guys have and silver grade can only be equipped at level 4 and higher" Marcus said.

"You are very well informed" the man said. "But your outnumbered 6 to 1 and we're higher levels then you are" he said chuckling and brandishing his battle axe.

'A level 4 [Axeman], he's not all talk' Marcus thought.

"We are outnumbered very true, but you don't know our levels" Ben said.

"Don't get cocky" a woman in the group walked forward smiling, she was dressed lightly in cloth armor that had a silver shine.

'They only have 1 mage? She's level 4 so she probably has impressive skills' Marcus thought.

"Just give us your items and money like good little boys or you might get hurt" She said.

"How about this as a counter offer, leave us alone and go fuck yourselves" Marcus said smiling.

"Forget talk, level 3s get them!" the Axeman said as the lower level players charged.

"[Fire ball]!" the mage yelled.

A fire ball was shot towards them, while Ben dodged Marcus got hit.

"All talk!" the mage yelled.

[-0]

The mage was stunned, but it seemed she was the only one that noticed.

Marcus dodged the plethora of blades and arrows getting shot in his direction without breaking a sweat.

"Wait, Brandon, that guy is weird!" she said looking at the Axeman.

"What?" he asked.

"He didn't receive damage when my magic hit" She said.

"You must be seeing things" he said.

"[Earth throw]!" Ben yelled.

Rocks hit the level 3 players of their team and almost all of them got to half health immediately.

"What the fuck?!"

"What level is that spell at?!"

"Healer!"

"No you don't! [Fire ball]!" Ben yelled again and 4 got killed including one of their healers.

Marcus walked out of Ben's attack unscathed and began walking to the level 4 players.

The level 3 players moved out of his way in fear.

"How wasn't he effected?"

"He's a monster!"

'It's obviously because attacks by party members can't damage you, they probably forgot that from fear' he thought.

"Get him" Brandon said. "You guys get the mage, he's dangerous!" he yelled.

The [Shield Swordsman] nodded and walked towards him.

"Your quite impressive, you must be a very talented man" the shield Swordsman said getting his shield out. "But this is wear your journey ends!"

[Shield bash]

He charged towards Marcus with a smile on his face.

Marcus raised his left hand and when the shield hit, the man hit Marcus' and backed up from the impact.

[-0]

'Impossible!' he thought.

"You must be a strength focused build" Marcus said.

The [Shield Swordsman] began to sweat.

"Hope you have high HP" He said before swinging his sword and cutting through his shield, arm and armor.

His forearm fell to the ground with half his shield and blood gushed from the cut of the armor.

[-157]

"Your still up, impressive" Marcus said.

"Wait, please" he pleaded.

Marcus didn't listen and disappeared from his view. The next thing he saw was the world spinning before seeing darkness.

[-98]

Marcus walked past the now headless body as it fell to the ground and walked towards the three that were now in shock that their friend was killed so fast and the damage values that appeared with the basic attacks that were used.

"We underestimated this guy" Brandon said a bit shaken up by how easily Marcus committed murder. 'Both of these guys aren't normal, they must be level 4 as well' he thought.

The archer behind him backed away and got an arrow ready and the mage was preparing a spell.

"Your impressive" Brandon said charging towards him.

"Thanks" Marcus said as he vanished from their site and appeared behind the archer.

"No!" Brandon yelled.

"Fuck" the archer said before getting cut in half.

[Critcal strike!]

[-200]

"[Flame thrower]!" the mage yelled.

A blast of fire shit towards him and he vanished.

"Its really unfortunate that you guys decided to fight me, by the strength you've grown so far you would've been very strong in the future" Marcus said as he appeared behind the mage.

"Wait!" the mage yelled as her head flew off.

[Critical strike!]

[-300]

"Now then" Marcus said looking at Brandon.

Brandon looked at him as cold sweat trickled down his back.

"Wait, let's talk about this" he said.

He heard screams from behind him and saw the rest of his party was dead.

'Fuck' he thought.

"Sure, let's talk" Marcus said.

"Hiw about this, you can take all my party members items and sell them, but you have to let me live" Brandon said smiling.

"No" Marcus replied.

"Why?!" Brandon asked screaming.

"There's no telling, how much of a pain you will become in the future if I let you live" Marcus said.

Brandon heard Bens footsteps behind him.

"Do you know who your fucking with?!" Brandon asked angrily. "You'll regret this!" he yelled.

"Sure I will" Marcus said readying his sword.

"Don't you know who my brother...?!" Brandon yelled as the whole world flipped upside down. "...is?" the words slipped out as his head hit the ground.

"Now that that's done, let's go" Marcus said. He looked at Ben and saw how much he was shaking. "You good?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Ben answered taking deep breaths.

Marcus pat him in the back.

"It gets easier, trust me" Marcus said.

"It's messed up that it does" Ben said before throwing up.

"We'll take their items and sell them in town, but we should hunt for a couple of hours so the PK penalty goes away" Marcus said.

Ben nodded as he wiped vomit with a handkerchief.

To be continued...