Chapter 26: The Monster Within- Part 2
Movement could be seen in the bushes, directly in front of Lucius' body. A tall man with a slender body exited the coverage.
He was carefully surveying his surroundings and was careful in his movements. The man carried a pair of glaives, one in each hand. Droplets of red blood slowly dripped from the edges of the weapon.
It was evident that this man, had just killed another participant.
Lucius watched this man head in his direction but did not move. He carefully lying in wait, waiting for his prey to enter the right position. As the man continued to walk towards him, Lucius slightly turned and faced another direction. Observing his line of sight one would notice that there was nothing there. Yet, Lucius crimson eyes were seemingly tracking an object.
Waiting for a few more seconds, the man with the glaives just passed the bush which Lucius was hiding under. Immediately upon his passing Lucius leapt directly into the sky. He infused his hands with soul power and swiped it towards the empty air.
Swissh! Clang!
The sound of air being cut followed a metallic sound was heard. It was a very faint and unless one stood very close to the source of the one, the would not be able to hear it
In the empty air, a small disk like object suddenly appeared. It was bright silver, with a liner and smooth body. There were miniature holes lining all around its body. Receiving Lucius' attack it was knocked off its invisible state and was thrown off balance.
Seeing that it wasn't destroyed yet, Lucius used his other arm to grab onto it and fell in the direction of the other side of the tree. Upon landing, he used soul power to coat both of his hands, before ripping it apart.
From the time of Lucius movement till now, less than 2 seconds had passed. The fluid movement of Lucius' body and the tracking of the invisible object showed just how frightening his instincts were. Lucius body relaxed a bit upon identifying that the gaze on him was gone forever.
Although, Lucius movement was smooth with no excess, the slight ruffling of the leaves still managed to alert the man holding the glaives. He immediately went onto a defensive stance and carefully surveyed the surroundings.
Being able the pit and remain alive after an encounter with another participant, no to mention successfully killing them with visibly no damage, spoke volumes of his skill.
He checked the bushes and the trees but found nothing. This further reminded him that his opponent was a very skilled hunter.
Lucius who was cause of the disturbance could no longer sit still. Small amounts of drool was leaking from the edges of his mouth. Seeing the man turn in the opposite direction, he immediately moved.
Jumping down from the tree , he pounced in the direction of the armed man. his hands immediately reached for his throat. Lucius did not spare any pretenses and immediately went for the kill. The man who noticed this attack, immediately tried to turn around, alas it was too late.
The difference between a human who used soul power and one who did not was vastly different.
Landing his hands upon the man's throat. Lucius immediately tore his head off his neck. The man did not have any time to react before he died.
'Is that even human?', was the last thought that passed through his mind.
Lucius immediately put his fingers into the man's skull and a repeat of the previous events followed. A white haze came out of the body and was swiftly absorbed by Lucius. It then proceeded to heal the injury on his leg, which had worsened a lot due to his exertions.
The crimson in his eyes reduced by a little amount, but clarity did not return to his eyes. The soul pointer, promptly began pointing in another direction before moving.
Lucius quickly followed behind it.
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In another area, the scene was entirely different. It was not filled with trees and other green foliage, but with broken buildings and concrete structure.
If the previous setting was called 'Jungle' , then this would be named as 'City Battle'.
The Pit consisted of a vast area with multiple settings present in the same round. Participants would be released in different areas to increase coverage and spread.
Small silver disk like objects, invisible to the eyes flew around in the skies and broadcasted the battles to the viewers who sat in a distant location.
Currently in this city 5 men were travelling together. While the rules did not forbid teaming up, people generally did not tend to do so. As stated, only 1 person would be allowed to live at the end of each round, therefore backstabbing and betrayals were common occurrences.
Seeing such a sight was a very rare thing.
"Say how many do you think died?", asked one of the them.
"Beats me.", another shrugged his shoulders.
The third person who was walking in the front, replied to the man's question. "Seeing that 20 minutes have passed, almost 40 must have died."
"Ah looks like Boss Roland really understands this game well.", one of them praised.
"I used to work here after all. If not for that bastard framing me, I would be on the other side, watching this round.", Roland shouted in indignance.
This man Roland, was one of the supervisors who worked in The Pit. He had been an orphan since birth and had never received proper education. From a young age, Roland's survival sense was very strong. He knew who to join with, who to work under, etc. He had joined the criminal gang which hosted the Pit and used to lure people into joining it.
Roland was not a good person. He was far from it. He just did what it took to survive and did it without hesitation. Such a person, if he was from an influential family would surely be outstanding. Alas, he was here as a participant of the Pit.
Upon entering the Pit he once again used his intelligence to group together a bunch of other participants and formed a team. He tempted them with his knowledge of the rounds and promised a way to clear this place alive. The others not being learned accepted his offer without much hesitation.
In Roland's these men were nothing more than meat shields. Cannon Fodder, one could say.
"Yeah, You never told us what he framed you for boss. " one of his 'shields' asked him.
Roland let out an exaggerated sigh and slowly spoke," Well it's obviously because of my superior intellect. That guy above me felt threatened and moved to deal with me. If only I was a little cautious, I would not have ended up in here." His face was the picture of grievance.
"Don't tell it like that boss, if not for you we would have surely died to those traps. We are grateful to you." the other 'shield' spoke up.
Roland nodded and continued walking forward in silence. The buildings around them were closely packed and the chances of ambush was quite high. Therefore, he had everyone remain alert and observe everything.
A sense of unease filled Roland's heart. He felt his surrounding were too calm and quiet.
'It's too quiet which is supposed to be good. But why am I feeling uneasy.' he thought to himself.
Suddenly from the front, he heard a voice call him, "Boss I found something."
Roland made his way towards the duy and saw what he was pointing at. It was a silver disk like object which was ripped into two halves.
"This! Isn't this the camera used to broadcast the battles.", the unease he was feeling in his heart heightened and the doubts he was feeling in his mind came together to provide an answer.
'That's right! It is too quiet because I can't hear that whizzing sound from these machines. Not good! Somebody is destroying the cameras.' thinking up to here Roland moved to alert the other.
"Everyone, quickly take co.." before he could finish his words, Roland saw a human being jump onto their group.
No rather than call it human, monster suited it better. It crawled in 4 limbs and had shining red eyes. It's clothes were torn into rags and dirt and dried blood clung to it's body.
It's hands were not holding onto any weapon, yet overflowed with blood.
Upon landing it directly tore the heads of two of his 'shields' and pounced onto another. Before Roland could process what was happening, that monster was on top of him.
In the blink of an eye. 5 more people died to this monster.
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