Just when he was about to get the upper hand, Somnu was once again completely blindsided by the System.
It had taken so long to process his Hollow Core rank up, and yet, the second he tried to use one of the new skills that came along with the new Aspiration class, the errors came back.
Now he was left with his one class and unreliable skills to fight an enemy far worse than a Dreadbeast.
To top it all off, he was paralyzed on the ground in front of his enemy, the same maniac swinging down a long blood scythe aiming for his neck.
Was this all his grudge and rage amounted to?
It can’t…!
Was he going to blame it all on something else again and accept his death?
It’s no one’s fault but mine…!
Was he really about to run away from his responsibility again?
I won’t…!
Was he finally going to get up and take action?
Of course… Of course I will!
So-
“Caaw!!”
“Caaw!!”
THUD! THUD! THUD!
“What the-?!
“!”
Straining his neck to look up, Somnu saw the crow clones raining down stones at the enemy and hitting him dead center on the head.
“Damn crows!” Almon’s tongue clicked, the three bullets of blood that followed immediately killing all three clones.
Then, John Doe turned back down to continue the execution, only to be forced to jump away.
[Straw Storm!]
Waves of straws exploded from under the scarecrow, enveloping him and attacking anything that threatened him. It wasn’t too unlike the move the scarecrow monster had used after evolving to a sentient being.
“Hngh…”
Somnu slowly got back up, defying gravity somehow.
“!” The killer’s glowing crimson protrusions seemed to get wider after seeing that. “How are you…?”
“Don’t you get it? You can’t see it?” The scarecrow muttered with clear jeer, the amalgamation of straws enveloping him almost completely. “If my body won’t listen to me… I’ll control it another way.”
The layers covering his skin got thinner and thinner, as if replacing Grudgekeeper and becoming a new set of clothes for him, even creating a new left arm of straws for Somnu to use.
Somnu forced his body to move using the manipulation of straws. As heavy as his body felt, it seemed easier to move it by controlling the fabric covering every inch of his body rather than using his will over his muscles.
Consume enough Terror Cores for a level up, you can do this much at least right? He commanded.
[Affirmative.]
[You have consumed 100 Terror Cores.]
[You have leveled up!]
[Hollow Core Level: Lvl 2.] {With 100 more Cores to the next level up.}
With that, Somnu could feel his body get lighter again. He could rely on those level ups to get him out of a tough situation. However, now that he needed 100 Terror Cores for every level, things were going to become more difficult.
Especially when…
[Available Terror Cores: 226.]
[Would you like to consume available Terror Cores?]
Not yet…
He only had two more level ups to help him, and since his enemy would likely not drop any kind of rewards, Somnu needed to make sure he had something at the end of the fight in case he was gravely injured.
Otherwise he would really die.
Mathros and Lulu were too far away to help him now.
“Answer me! What did you just do?!” John Doe bellowed, reshaping the hardened blood to flop over him again. “Did you seriously come to fight me without fully leveling up everything you had?!”
It was true. Somnu had decided to save his rewards to use while fighting. The Terror Cores always came in handy to save him, and he wasn’t too sure where to use the Ego Particles. He had only used 100 of the latter to cover 10 levels and rank up his sickles quickly before facing the killer.
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Somnu had no time, nor was he willing to explain any of that to the maniac in front of him. He simply resummoned both sickles and rushed forward once more, not allowing his enemy any more time to process what was happening.
“Fine! If that’s how you want to do this!”
In response, John Doe lowered his hands to his hips and, like a gunslinger, started blasting blood bullets at his opponent without stopping.
“!”
CLACK!
The scarecrow quickly brought the handles of his two sickles together. When he tried taking them apart again, a long staff stretched to connect them with each sickle on one end.
Then, without stopping his charge, Somnu turned the weapon in circles in front of him. His current speed, strength and control over straws allowed that old childish practice to block all the bullets from reaching him.
He needed to hurry, his blood was quickly getting heavier again. He couldn’t guarantee constant quick movements by relying on the straws alone.
“Oh?! Not bad!! You’re finally trying!!” Giving up on the ranged attack, John Doe reshaped the blood cloud over him to take the shape of the scythe once more. Then, he rushed to meet his enemy head on. “Let’s enjoy this!! We’ve both been waiting for so long for this one-on-one!”
“What do you know about waiting?!”
Perhaps they had both waited alone for this day, but there was a big difference between waiting in anticipation and excitement, versus waiting in anger and frustration, counting each moment.
Especially with the inability to sleep and forget, even for a night.
The scarecrow’s grudge had been brewing quite literally 24/7.
Somnu ignored his thoughts and activated both [Feral Instincts] and [Hollow Gaze], his recent jump blocking the moon behind him.
He could see the glow of [Maximum Effort] envelop Almon’s body too.
And then…
CLAAASSSHHH!
The two weapons collided at full force, sending shockwaves around their wielders. The chill air around them suddenly vanished, only to be immediately replaced by a colder breeze.
The green moonlight shone down as the bodies of Somnu and Almon zipped across the clearing, clashing repeatedly without any one of them letting up.
It wasn’t just their weapons clashing, however.
When Almon’s shoulders exploded, only for blood tentacles to immediately harden into what looked like massive, pointy spider legs, Somnu barely blocked them with stacked up layers of straws.
And when Somnu shot spinning spears of straws, John Doe blocked them with blood shields.
The back and forth was quickly shattering the shaking ground beneath them.
And yet, they kept going at it, each one of them trying to get the upper hand on the other.
However, only one of them was on a timer.
Crow-Shit! Somnu thought, barely moving in time to block another set of spider legs aiming for his neck. I have to use one more level up or I’m screwed here…
His slowing joints quickly shattered any hesitation he still had.
Consume 100 more Terror Cores!
[You have consumed 100 Terror Cores.]
[You have leveled up!]
[Hollow Core Level: Lvl 3.] {With 100 more Cores to the next level up.}
“!”
Immediately, the vigor returned to his light body, making Almon’s glowing eyes widen in shock.
“You can’t have that much more of that! Keep relying on them, I can do this all night!” John Doe cheered, seemingly getting faster and stronger with every second.
There would be no better time for Somnu. He had one more level up in store with 126 Terror Cores left in his inventory, and that one was needed to survive what was coming next.
Things were only going to get worse from here, whether he liked it or not.
It was now or never to finally rely on his plan, on his last ditch effort.
And so, he put everything into the rest of his charge. Blocking and striking as he had, just with more velocity than he knew he still had in him.
“What is this?! Getting desperate, are we?! Don’t tell me you’re already running on empty?!” Once again, with every question John Doe asked, his voice got louder.
And just when Somnu’s blood reached its gravity defying point once more, he fell behind.
“Blerghh!”
The result was being stabbed through the stomach with the blood scythe. John Doe held his weapon up, letting the moon shine its light on his newest victim.
“Look at you, puking out blood on all your straws! Hahaha! What was this getup anyway? This, on top of your weird outfit from earlier too! I feel like I have seen it somewhere before!”
“!”
“Ah! I remember now! It looks different, but it was that stupid outfit she was hanging when I found her! Hahaha!”
With every word, Somnu’s pain increased. And to make matters worse…
SLASHH!
“Show it to me again!”
All the straws were slashed away, covering Somnu’s entire skin in countless sharp, small cuts.
“Hnghhh!” He held it in, tried his best to not let any pain show on his face.
Instead, he reactivated [Hollow Gaze!]
“Stop trying to intimidate me…” John Doe sneered. “Instead… Equip that outfit! I thought you had it on below that armor of straws! Show it to me!”
“Heh.”
“What…?” Almon’s head tilted slightly. “What are you laughing at?!”
“Haha! Hahaha!” Somnu couldn’t contain his laughter. Even when every breath hurt him, he kept laughing, all while still keeping his intimidation skill active.
“Stop it! Tell me what’s funny! I want in on this too!” John Doe pulled in the scythe, bringing his recent victim closer. “If you’re not going to tell me…!”
“BLURRGH!”
Now the spider legs made of blood stabbed through Somnu’s body repeatedly, interrupting his revelry.
“How about now?! Care to share?!” The killer cried out while moving the scythe left and right, widening the wound on Somnu's stomach with every movement.
“Heh. it’s… over. I can’t… believe how… how satisfying… it feels…” Somnu let out, the blood leaking down his chin.
“Huh?! Hahaha! You completely lost it! You’re crazier than I am! Ahaha!” John Doe joined in. “What is it? Tell me! Let me hear what you think you did!”
“I…” Somnu forced a wide grin through, revealing his bloodied teeth.
“!”
“I cheated.”
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