BXBX NOVEL Chapter 32: What's a hundred more?
Meaning if Jasmine gave Bella her blood and taught her {Perceive}, Bella automatically lost the chance to learn {Aim} and {Snipe}. It served as a limiter to reapers in general.
There were only two exceptions: one, demons who were able to extract all {fates} available from the same blood. Two, the reaper's kindred or spouse. And I broke this common sense without even trying by not belonging to either.
While this logic does not apply to me this applies to the girls. They cannot learn {Rewind}, {Reload} and {Regen} unless if I give them my saliva. Jasmine removes {Rewind} and uses {Reload} most of the time and drinks my blood to shift to {Rewind}. Even {Robyn} needed to do the same just so she could use {Loot}.
What baffles me the most is that I had yet to give Liv my blood again. I didn't have {Identify} when I gave her my blood the first time.
'All I did was kiss her for {Counter}. Then how does she have {Identify}?'
Even if she somehow got my blood, giving up {Rewind} now was suicide! But before I could berate her another invoked my {Kismet}.
"{Identify}. Jas, Jo. It looks like an undead raptor with two sets of eyes and no nose," Bella advised.
The one to answer in a panicked voice was Mia.
"Thats an undead stalker! A rank D undead nicknamed the Phantom killer. There is one here? Choco, we need to run away!"
The stalker was fast, and it intentionally took some distance to prevent us from following it. In the darkness with hundreds of zombies unmoving it had a lot of cover to hide itself in.
'Shit I guess I needed to forget about the {Kismet} thing for now.'
"Its weakness is to blind it with light! a stalker's skin is not very tough, but it moves really fast. Does anyone have a {Fate} that can make a bright light?" Jasmine yelled.
Amari and Mia placed their backs behind one another to cover their blind spots. As for the other reapers around us, they had annoyed expressions and just stood around.
"You guys are lying, another rank D? Thats impossible! You formless really enjoy being in the spotlight huh?"
"Ignore them, they are just looking for attention. We barely have half an hour before the sun rises, let's just farm souls."
"What the fuck?! My sister is not lying you dickheads!"
"What does being Formless have anything to do with this you cunts!"
Jo and Robyn started swearing at the other reapers who gave us looks of contempt. Even after killing the brute the misconception of the formless could not be removed so easily.
"Light, light. Bella, can we use the flood lights?" I suggested.
"Honey! you are a genius! Everyone! Head for the platform!"
"How do we avoid getting attacked Taurus-san, I can barely sense it."
Right now, only Liv, Bella and I could see it. Jo and Jas due to their superior senses could react passively. I then noticed some black objects stuck on the stalker's body.
"Are those goggles? They look familiar." I couldn't help wondering.
Where did I see them before…AH! The night vision guys at the beginning! It meant this bastard already killed them all? If they could find it with night vision then its invisibility is not based on {fates} but physics? Then we can beat it!
I then took a zombie and brought it to Bella. "Bella, slice this things neck across, make it as bloody as possible."
Without questioning my commands, she used her dagger to rip apart the corpse's neck and stomach.
"{Pack}."
Using Robyn's {fate} I grabbed the zombie by the waist and threw it towards the stalker. Blood gushed out of the zombie as it flew, the sanguine liquid fell on both a couple reapers and the hidden monster.
"What are you doing you bastard!" a reaper cried.
As some got on the stalker, the red blood now outlined its silhouette. Jasmine then began sending arrows to the stalker. Robyn copied my actions and tried to drench the monster in more zombie blood.
The stalker seemed to have lost it's cool and began attacking the ones nearest it. It bit a reaper's torso and lifted him off the ground. His screams and the fact that he was 5 feet in the air proved to the others that we told the truth.
"KYA! There really is a stalker! Run!"
"Ignore them. Everyone! Move! It will come for us soon!" I roared.
The girls and I began running towards the platform. Amari and Mia similarly followed our group taking care not to get killed. I saw numerous other reapers got crushed and ripped apart by the undead raptor as we ran.
I kept looking behind me we left the scene; the panicking reapers all ran around like headless chickens. Compared to my group they severely lacked combat experience. Suddenly my vision showed an invisible target pursuing us.
"Shit! How did you even wash the blood off with those tiny arms!" I complained.
"Ignore him honey, let's just get to the platform."
With the regular undead all standing still, our vanguard just smashed them away. Before I even noticed Amari and Mia were already ahead of us chatting without a care in the world.
"Fluffy, the sponsors are not going to be happy with us."
"Ignore them Choco, I will beg for forgiveness later. Dying was not part of the deal."
"Indeed, but we owe our lives to the Formless. They may ask me to leave Fluffy."
"Shut it Choco, I refuse to partner with anyone else." Mia passionately rebuked.
"Fluffy, you get his name?"
"John Smith."
Amari made a sigh and complained, "So you didn't?"
At that moment Josephine started laughing in earnest.
"Hahaha darling your name sucks! No one ever believes you!"
Look at this woman, something was coming for us, and she was busy eavesdropping on the couple running ahead. Jo and Robyn began laughing heartily as they ran. Unknowingly I and the rest of our group did as well.
"Just you wait, In the future they will kneel when they hear my name," I boasted.
"With what wombat? The thousands of others who have the exact same name?"
"Robyn stop teasing him. Darling, how about calling yourself Mario Rossi instead?"
Despite our chatter, Bella, Liv, Aki and Jas remained focused on the stalker. The closer we got the more I noticed the gruesome sight. The number of bodies on the way to the platform was ten times worse than anywhere else.
"{Connect}."
When we arrived Bella quickly casted her {fate}. She placed a hand over her right ear while both her eyes turned empty.
My group all created a circle around the Brazilian to ensure she would not be disturbed.
"Well, now what wombat?"
"{Save}. Protect, Bella. I will be bait. Jas try to snipe it if you can. The rest of you are to ensure Bella finishes and prepare to counterattack when the lights turn on."
I left the formation and charged towards the stalker. The 1911 fired .45 ACP bullets towards it as I moved. However even with {Aim} my shots kept missing due to its speed. Well back to the old tactics it was then.
Like a fish in water, the stalker dashed and dived around my bullets. The moment it came for my neck, I shoved the 1911 into its mouth and squeezed the trigger. Bullets pierced and punctured the insides of the stalker's mouth, but it didn't stop and simply tore off my entire arm.
"AHHHHH! FUCK THAT HURT!" I screamed.
I then used my squirting blood like a brush and drenched the undead monster's skin like paint on a canvas. Arrows, steel balls and kunai flew towards the dinosaur in response with none of them hitting the stalker.
Instead of getting discouraged I rammed my body towards the hidden boss marking him with my blood even further. Surprisingly due to the number of times my body got rekted beyond recognition. Dismemberment no longer phased me as much.
Just then, we all heard a silent hum like a computer turning on. Immediately after sounds of metal twisting resounded from behind us. The floodlights including the posts were all turning towards our position.
Bella's voice then cried out in excitement. "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"
At that moment the powerful lighting devices turned on all at once. For us who spent almost the entire night in darkness the illumination was absolutely blinding. But as we had our backs to the lights it was bearable. To the stalker however, it probably felt like staring into the sun.
An inhumane growl came about, and though I still couldn't see its body, because of the number of lights the stalker casted so many shadows anyone could figure out its position.
Liv, Aki, Jo and Robyn all charged for the undead and stabbed their weapons in its weak spots. Disoriented from being blinded the monster went down without much a fuss.
Unfortunately, at that moment the illumination showed us something else. We saw a hundred other brutes all in combat with reapers in white uniforms at a distance. Unlike how we pitifully almost died to one, the white reapers were fighting them on equal footing even while outnumbered.
However, the a few moments after the lights turned on, almost all of them ignored their current opponents and ran towards our position. Just one of these fuckers took everything we had. And now we needed to fight an entire army of them?
Naturally the girls were all frozen stiff. This would not even be a fight. Yet the moment I saw the running brute horde running I remembered how I already managed to kill one.
"What's a hundred more? {Rewind}."
Unable to stop myself, gun in hand I then charged alone towards the incoming undead army.