6 Gamer's Combat Style

"Stone Face?"

Eto shuddered at the sound of his name being called.

He wanted to slip back silently into the woods, but it seemed his plan couldn't be put into action. Eto could only stand frozen as the rebel soldier approached him.

He didn't know the soldier's name, but it seemed the soldier recognized Eto. Perhaps they were comrades from the same unit or maybe from their training camp.

"Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be with Lieutenant Guardi's troops ambushing the royal forces?" the soldier asked, tilting his head.

Eto quickly thought of a way out of this situation before the rebel soldier could reveal his presence to others.

If that happened, he would surely be captured and forced back into the rebel forces. Eto didn't want that; he had a dream to fulfill no matter what.

"Oh, I forgot you can't speak. Hmm... where's the handsome boy who usually follows you? What's his name... Tara... No... Taka! Right, Taka! Where is he? I don't see him."

The rebel soldier started scanning the area around Eto but couldn't find the person he was looking for. He seemed to realize something and narrowed his eyes at Eto.

Eto started sweating cold sweat, ready to flee into the woods.

At least in the forest, he could hide and evade capture.

If he could reach his cave, he would be safe, and the rebel forces wouldn't be able to chase him.

After that, Eto just needed to wait for the situation to calm down a bit and then head to the dock. He was confident that once he reached the sea, the rebel forces wouldn't be able to bother him, even if they managed to win over the Ilisia Kingdom.

But what came out of the rebel soldier's mouth was not what Eto feared, but something worse. After hearing it, he couldn't control his emotions anymore.

"Stone Face, do you have any strange relationship with Taka, huh? Well, if you do, it doesn't matter... hehehe... I don't care if he's a man, but Taka has a beautiful face and a lovely body. Hehehe... I heard Captain Kunta is looking for Taka... he wants to examine his body, he says... he's not sure if Taka is really a man, he wants to check, even if it's become a corpse, hehehe…"

In an instant, Eto's hand moved on its own, punching the rebel soldier's neck very hard.

There was the sound of bones cracking and stifled breath, but before the rebel soldier could respond, Eto had grabbed his sword from its sheath on rebel soldier's waist and stabbed it into the soldier's chest.

*Stab!

"Don't mention my friend's name with that foul mouth of yours!" said Eto with horrifying eyes.

Eto quickly withdrew his sword from the rebel soldier's chest, who was no longer breathing. He caught the soldier's body before it fell to the ground, but Eto knew his efforts were in vain.

Caesar's Rebel camp's surveillance system always deployed two guards simultaneously. The distance between each guard was so close that if one was killed, the other could alert the camp of an attack.

Hurriedly, Eto ran back towards the forest. However, his legs weren't fast enough, and before he could enter the woods, the rebel camp alarm sounded.

"Jorda's been killed!!! The perpetrator fled towards the woods!!" a rebel soldier's voice shouted, delivering the news.

[+35 EXP]

Simultaneously, Eto suddenly heard a bell ringing in his ears, indicating that the soldier he had stabbed had just died.

But Eto didn't have time to focus on his in-game character. He had to reach his cave before the rebel soldiers surrounded him.

He exerted all his energy to push his legs to run. However, suddenly, there was a loud bang, and Eto saw rebel soldiers starting to shoot their rifles at him.

*BANG! *BANG! *BANG! *BANG! *BANG!

Not only that, but some of the soldiers also began to chase Eto with raised swords.

Eto heard one of the rebel soldiers who recognized his face say, "That's Stone Face. He was supposed to be with Lieutenant Guardi's troops ambushing the royal forces!!!"

A rebel soldier, possibly a captain, hissed, "Shit! We haven't heard from Lieutenant Guardi's troops. What happened during the ambush? Capture that kid no matter what!"

Hearing that, Eto sped up his pace even more.

The sound of rifles being fired and the whizzing of bullets passing through his body made Eto break out in a cold sweat. He kept running and saw the forest path he recognized. Seeing it, Eto felt relieved because he was about to reach his cave.

*BANG!

"Ugh!!"

One of the bullets hit Eto's thigh, causing him to grimace in pain.

[-8% HP]

From the pain he felt, Eto knew the bullet had hit an artery in his thigh. Strangely, he didn't see any blood coming from the shot leg.

Eto was puzzled for a moment before seeing a system notification in front of him.

"Oh right, I'm a human character in the game!"

Panicked, Eto suddenly remembered that he had consumed the Gamer Gamer Fruit.

Gunshot wounds wouldn't cause him to bleed. Only bullets made from sea stone could make Eto bleed.

This made him consider another idea, especially since he received 35 EXP for killing the soldier earlier.

Eto's steps, originally heading towards the cave, changed direction. He wanted to try something, and the rebels could be his test subjects.

Eto ran quickly, then reached for a tree branch and pulled himself up.

He began leaping from one branch to another, climbing higher until he reached the treetop. From here, Eto could see dozens of rebels chasing after him.

Of course, Eto couldn't easily escape the rebels' sight.

They were trained soldiers who practiced in the same place as Eto. The combat tactics Eto knew would also be known by these rebels.

However, Eto never expected to hide from the pursuing rebels by climbing this tree. If he wanted to hide, he would do so inside the cave.

The reason Eto climbed the tree was to make it difficult for the rebels shooting at him to aim.

Currently, he only had one sword in his hand, so long-range combat was a bad idea. If Eto wanted to resist the rebels, he had to get closer. Tree branches and leaves could be good distractions for the shooters.

*BANG! *BANG! *BANG! *BANG! *BANG!

The rebels began shooting again, but none of their bullets hit Eto.

Shooting at a higher target was much harder than shooting at a target at the same height.

Tilting the head upwards could cause blood to the head to get stuck in the neck, making it difficult to focus. This was what Eto aimed for.

Quickly, he leaped from one tree to another like a monkey, getting closer to the rebels.

When he was above them, Eto jumped down without hesitation. The rebels laughed at how foolish Eto was. He had positioned himself in the air where he couldn't avoid attacks from below.

They drew their swords and began stabbing Eto's falling body.

[-15% HP] [-23% HP] [-9% HP]

Three iron swords stabbed Eto's chest and back, but he only gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. With the sword in his hand, Eto decapitated the rebel in front of him.

[+35 EXP]

Eto landed on the ground without a scratch, but he knew his HP was now less than half.

His earlier move was reckless and too risky; if one rebel sword had pierced his head, he would surely be dead now.

But he won that gamble with a great reward; he managed to get 35 new EXP points and only needed one kill to level up.

Taking advantage of the rebels' shock and confusion, Eto viciously targeted his third victim.

However, the rebels were accustomed to life-and-death situations, so even though they were surprised, their reflexes remained sharp.

The next wave of attacks from the rebels was far deadlier than before.

One rebel's sword aimed for Eto's head, forcing him to dodge, but as a result, two other swords pierced his back and waist.

[-23% HP] [-20% HP]

"Fuck!" Cold sweat began to dampen Eto's back as he saw his HP drop to 2%. But he managed to find an opening he could use. Quickly, Eto stabbed one of the rebels in the neck until it went through.

However, he needed to get away from that spot quickly, as the next wave of attacks from the rebels would surely kill him.

Swiftly, Eto rolled on the ground, trying to evade the slashing swords aimed at him. Just as he successfully dodged, he heard the system notification ringing in his ears.

[+35 EXP]

[Level Up]

[You got 7 Attribute Points]

Although gaining 7 AP sounded delightful, the true joy was felt when Eto's HP was reset upon leveling up. From almost dying, he now became as healthy as before, as if his body had never been stabbed and shot.

At that moment, Eto understood what combat style he needed to develop to fully utilize the power of the Gamer Gamer Fruit.

Eto smiled with satisfaction, no longer feeling fear as he faced the twelve rebels closing in on him. He now saw them merely as a source of EXP.

As Eto opened his mouth, for the first time, Caesar's rebels heard the voice of the one they called Stone Face.

"Happy Gaming!"