Chapter 44 - Sudden Betrayal

"What do you plan on doing?" Oliver said in a surprisingly calm voice but the tone was threatening all the same.

The situation had turned dire. Without him knowing it, Shyft suddenly betrayed them as it appears with the tip of his shortsword was directly next to Skye's neck. Ready to slice in case something bad ever happens.

Well, something bad was already going down from Oliver's perspective.

In response to Oliver's worrisome question, Shyft simply smiled. The grin showed his menacing intent to simply kill Skye and leave but Oliver wouldn't let it happen.

'An opening,' Oliver thought, 'just an opening would be enough to take him out.'

He clutched his daggers to the point where his hands hurt and patiently waited, every second gruesome to bear.

"Nothing personal, kid," Shyft spoke with a smile that Oliver would remember for as long as he lived. "You and I both know that we won't survive long when we keep on helping out weaklings like this chick, right here. They're holding us back. Taking things that would've been able to make us stronger."

Oliver clicked his tongue and thought, 'that's his game, huh?'

He had forgotten that, despite his feats of strength and achievements so far in the New World, it was still the apocalypse. It doesn't take a genius-level intellect to know that people show their worst qualities when the world goes to hell.

****, looting, and just plain genocide was something that Oliver should have looked out for but he had let his guard down. And now look at how things turned out.

"You really wanna do this?" Oliver asked the older man, "I am still a lot stronger than you are and could kill you so easily."

Shyft's eyes widened to feign his surprise, but he had expected this. He straightened his face before mockingly said, "you really think that Rynold would want you to kill me? Boy, you're a few hundred years too early to threaten me."

Oliver clicked his tongue once more and Shyft didn't let this go unnoticed. He knew he had gotten under the young boy's skin.

"Not so tough now, are we?" Shyft intimidated Oliver once more, "Now, you're going to let me leave this place and I'll maybe spare your little lady right here. But, one wrong move and — whoops."

Shyft stabbed the tip of the shortsword into Skye's neck and a small strain of blood leaked from the wound, causing Oliver to grow wild. His killing intent was fully unleashed but he didn't act on it. He wouldn't risk Skye getting hurt anymore than she already was.

"Oho. Scary," Shyft said sarcastically, "Now, be a good kid and stay there, and don't you dare move a muscle or she gets it."

Has Shyft really thought this through? His goals were abstract and vague as it stands but he knew that he wanted everything for himself. Otherwise, why else would he do this? There was no turning back now.

Oliver's eyes stayed looking at the escaping Shyft who was dragging the unconscious Skye on her feet.

Even though there was really no incentive for Shyft to do something like this at this particular moment, but he saw an opportunity and took it. He had just a taste of what strength felt like in the New World and he couldn't get enough of it as it stands. In other words, he had lost it.

Shyft's mind was filled with thoughts of riches and women while killing those who stood in his way. If every single piece of loot dropped, it would all go to him. He thought that if he had occupied the loot, he would be unstoppable.

Or that's what he thought.

The time of day was enough for the buildings around them to cast shadows which meant one great thing for Oliver.

One with Darkness!

Shyft was keeping his eye on Oliver while he continuously dragged Skye to the nearest town exit. The exit wasn't far from where he was. He thought he wouldn't have a problem with leaving but, boy, was he wrong.

A split second was the main difference that as soon as Shyft blinked, Oliver disappeared from his sight. Was it a trick of the eye, Shyft wondered but it was far from it.

Oliver was in his element.

He stepped behind the nearest obstacle that made him hidden from Shyft's sight. Oliver then flickered in and out of sight, not that Shyft would have known, and made full use of the [One with Darkness] passive skill.

It didn't take long for Oliver to a position where he was behind Shyft. As soon as his foot was on the ground, he propelled himself towards Shyft, dagger first.

But he was too late.

Blood blossomed from where the shortsword originally was as Shyft slashed Skye's neck with a quick but precise horizontal motion.

Skye fell to the ground. Oliver saw what happened as if it was slow motion and ran towards Skye instead of the initial target. He raised her from the ground and tried to wake her up. Continuously calling out her name as Oliver tried to wake his girlfriend up from her unconscious state.

But there was no response.

Oliver's heart fell deep into the darkness that moment and was consumed by his grief and sadness. He couldn't believe what happened. He couldn't protect the one person that he had sworn to save.

In a few moments, Oliver slowly placed his now-deceased girlfriend on the ground and slowly stood up. Tears on his face, Oliver drew the two daggers that now seemed like they thirsted for blood.

"I will kill you where you stand," he said as he released his full killing intent.

Meanwhile, back at the Behemoth Ghoul battlefield...

Rynold was still struggling to kill the creature that he managed to critically injure before. Even though not much happened after he drilled the ghoul's brain, he couldn't do anything else to further damage the ghoul.

Therefore, he sat on the ground. Not in defeat but in frustration. He seriously had no idea how to kill the Behemoth Ghoul that was drooling behind him. He was sitting behind some debris and made sure that he wasn't spotted by the Behemoth Ghoul before promptly sitting down.

Rynold was racking his brain on how to beat the thing. The drill would probably kill the ghoul if he managed to puncture deep enough at the creature's chestal area or maybe slash it big enough to cut the thing in half. He just didn't know.

'Hmm... You know what I haven't tried,' Rynold thought as he circulated Mana.

It was a technique that he saw once in a movie. A mage was capable of dealing direct damage using Mana and converting elements. Battlemages, on the other hand, were able to form elemental Mana to different types of equipment. They could also infuse elements into their weapons.

It was the same principle as the Mana Infusion skill but instead of just pure Mana, they could be elements instead. The main problem was that Rynold didn't have any sort of Elemental Affinity aside from Mech Affinity.

'So, that's out of the window,' Rynold sighed as he continued to play with the Mana in his body.

It was weird. Getting into the New World, he couldn't even feel the Mana inside him let alone the Mana Core that was in his chest area until recently, that is.

Rynold remembered the conversation with the god at his dream space. He tried to connect what he was trying to imply and the things he said about Mana Bonds that may be applied to Rynold's advantage. That was when he remembered the sigil that was in his hand.

'Maybe if I...,' Rynold poured Mana into his right hand and willed it to activate the sigil. Then, a window popped up.

[Mech God's Candidate Sigil]

A sigil made of a god's Mana that indicates a candidate for one of the god's Chosen. Whoever has this sigil would boost the user's ability to sense Mana.

He soon realized that this sigil in his hand would only benefit him in the slightest way. It literally was just a glorified magic stamp. Rynold could sense the Mana around him within a very small radius and the Mana in his body. So much so that he could also sense how dense the Mana was.

But how could he put these things to his advantage? Rynold wondered further while being aware of the Behemoth Ghoul's movements. The ghoul, meanwhile, was randomly attacking some buildings that surrounded it. Destruction of property, no big deal.

Pondering further, Rynold realized that there were only two options for him. Either he strengthens the mana that he was producing now or will his mana into a blade. Both options were hard, admittedly, but he had no other choice.

Rynold was now at a crossroad. Will he improve the intensity of his mana, increasing his ability as an Augmenter? Or will he start shaping his mana into a blade, opening the path as an Equipper?