Jukes and Sacrifices

Magnus was currently looking up a large tree, deep in thought.

With the sparse buildings around him, as well as the trees that could be seen here and there, he was sitting at the edge between Quarteridge and a wilderness area of the Heaven-Touching Mountains.

A question kept popping up in his head,

"Is this the right idea?"

The suspicious salesman he met had mentioned Tyrm had a 3-Star rating of sorts while also being unexplored. Klaris had learned from television that such a rating meant that normal people like Magnus, who had a body without any augmentation at all, were surely going to get their ass kicked the moment they entered.

Even Klaris would be unable to protect himself inside such a danger-filled world of 3 stars. Much less Magnus.

"My supposed cheat ability is barely a cheat ability. Is this the difference between an Isekai novel and reality?" Magnus bit his lip, "I can't kill things with it, and that's what I need most right now..."

He wanted to go and ask his predecessor just what they did to gain strength. How did they use Master of the Hivemind?

All he knew was how to deceive people's eyes by changing faces and running. Nothing more.

"Hah," Magnus sighed. "I guess, if it's what I know how to do, then I'll do it as best as I can."

His expression grew resolute as one of the plans he had previously scrapped returned to his mind.

"Sacrifices must be made," He muttered the words he once read in a book.

It gave him a boost of confidence.

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.

.

Covered in sweat, with aching muscles but no wounds to be seen, Klaris made it through his hike. He had used the holographic map to navigate the thick rainforest that surrounded Quarteridge like a scarf of green.

He sat just before a clearing, where a wide tree stump lay at the very centre, emanating some kind of power that resonated with the scroll in his possession. There was a reason for his current inaction— the presence of hostiles.

"The goal for this mission is to make it through alone." Klaris repeated what he needed to do under his breath, "I can risk my limbs, but not my life..."

Klaris sighed. He had lost a finger last time he was given a mission, and now, he felt death looming over him once more.

But he trusted the voice inside his head that told him what to do.

He was valued by the Hivemind.

The Hivemind would not allow him to perish.

With conviction flashing in his eyes, he stepped forward. Eight shadowy figures appeared within his line of sight.

Just as expected.

"Hello there," one of the shadowy figures wanted to start things off with a chat. He still found the appearance of the man before him quite fearsome. If there were any risks, he wanted to clear things up as soon as possible.

However, Klaris didn't agree. He knew of his weakness. Everything threatening about him was an act.

And so, with all his might, he dashed forward, carrying the small knife he had only used as a tool ever since he first got it.

Today, it was a weapon.

"Tsk." One of the shadowy figures clicked their tongue. He seemed to have realised something, "Don't let him pass you. He's actually just a 1-star threat. He's weak."

Klaris heard those words, but he didn't pay it any heed. He just barrelled forward.

Even when a dozen throwing knives were flying towards him, he ran.

Even as he was grappled by the arm, he ran.

Even as a sword came swinging at him, he ran.

He lunged forward with every stride like a crazy man who didn't care for his life.

"This bastard is suicidal! Shit!"

"Keep him there! Just maim him! We cannot kill him yet! Damn it!"

"All my knives are stuck in his body but he doesn't care!"

Yells came from the eight figures. They had not expected the sudden rush, as well as the fearlessness in Klaris' movements. A suicidal maniac was always a problem on the battlefield, as usual strategies tended to fall apart.

Thus, in the end, Klaris made it past the enforcement, bloody and wounded.

Everything happened way too fast.

The knives stuck in between his ribs felt as if they were burning his skin, tearing through flesh, and mingling with his organs.

Some paralysis poison was making his head woozy.

His left arm had first been broken due to him ignoring a grapple. Shattered bone spread throughout his flesh. And then, just a moment later, it was sliced off when he used it to parry a sword.

On the bright side, his legs were still intact, and so was his other hand.

With a vicious movement, he took out his Entrance Scroll.

"STOP HIM!" A voice yelled out.

But it was too late.

Rrrrrip!

Klaris tore the Scroll apart with his teeth like a rabid dog gnawing on bone.

A light flashed, and then, he was gone.

"Fuck!"

A swear came from a shadowy figure who seemed to be the leader.

"This is the second time we lost him! Just what the fuck are you all doing? Huh?"

He held one of the men by the collar, "So what if you run out of knives? You still have your fists! Your entire body! We're two stars higher than that bastard and yet we couldn't beat him up enough for us to recruit him?"

The leader heaved a deep breath. His face was red and veins were bulging on his forehead.

"Unbelievable!"

.

.

.

"I am the master and maker of the Hivemind. The mind behind minds. The one who stands above humanity. And the one civilizations despise."

A weak invocation sounded out from within a cave.

It was the voice of a man inches before death. Weak, and feeble.

Whoooom!

A low hum.

Magnus appeared as Klaris vanished from reality with his wounds.

"Mission accomplished," Magnus sighed in relief. His crazy plans had worked, but now Klaris was on the verge of death.

Perhaps when he summoned the man again, he would fully step into the grave.

Worried for Klaris, Magnus looked around his new environment.

Shadows that caressed and danced across rocky walls filled his vision.

"This..." Magnus gulped.

"Are the shadows squirming?"

Whoosh!

Magnus suddenly had to duck. Something whizzed past his head, as fast as a baseball.

Crack!

The terrifying crack of a whip followed it. Magnus suddenly felt a strong breeze from behind him.

"Shit..."

Magnus instantly lunged for the cave entrance as several shadows began shooting at him.

Left, right and centre, tentacles of darkness threatened to break his bones. Wind blades shot out from every cracking sound made.

His only saving grace was the sunlight shining slightly into the cave. The moment he stepped into it, it was like walking into a new world.

The threat to his life disappeared instantly.

Magnus gulped in mad amounts of air. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, and he felt blood flowing from his back.

"I was still hit at some point..."

And then, he fainted.

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.

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Magnus woke up to the sun shining from the opposite side of the sky. No... He seemed to have woken up to a mega-bright moon.

The light was much less fierce, and that too of a different colour. Reds and purples shone down from the sky like spotlights born from the moon's clouds. Wherever there was a hole in the clouds, there was a spotlight of burning light.

"Damn," Magnus was stunned as he witnessed such a bizarre view.

Grrrrrrrr...

But he couldn't continue marvelling for long.

Magnus felt his heart freeze at the sound of that growl. Another threat popped up just as he woke up. What were the chances?

"At least I wasn't killed in my sleep," A bead of sweat dripped down his brow.

Hurrrrrr...

But then another sound rang out.

Wind was blasted as two blurs lunged out and met midair, just above Magnus' head.

Magnus could barely catch the colours of the two beings that fought around him. The only way he felt himself tracing the flow of battle was through a particular rhythm.

Slash, crash, whoom!

Like the beat of a drum, there was a pattern to the impacts.

There was the sound made by their sudden lunges, the sound as they tore through the air, and the sound of what might be claws colliding. The sound of wounds being made, as well as the sound of paws hitting the ground, were also a part of this battle rhythm.

Magnus was drawn to the sounds. He couldn't help but listen.

He couldn't help but feel, since he couldn't see.

It was then,

"A lull!" He exclaimed as he rushed into a sprint.

The two things in battle right now had tired themselves out, and thus after a powerful collision, there was a gap in their actions. They were unable to react to Magnus' sudden movement.

He had been motionless since they first made their presence known. They almost forgot his existence due to that.

Magnus had stood so perfectly still due to terror that he was practically invisible.

And so, grasping that opportunity, Magnus fled the scene as fast as his little human legs could carry him.

Grrrrrrwaaaa!

Hurrrrkaaah!

The roars of two beasts he did not know the origin of shook the dense forest around him, but that didn't stop Magnus from running. He kept honing his free-running ability, vaulting over fallen trees, somersaulting over small creeks, and sliding under dense branches.

He paid no heed to his new bruises and wounds.

At this point, his entire back was filled with skin and flesh wounds that he would rather not look at. His elbows and knees were bloody almost beyond recognition.

He just kept running and running, until he fainted beneath a fruit tree.

.

.

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"Squeak?"

Magnus woke up to the sound of something beside his ear. His eyes flashed open in a mad hurry as he leapt into the air in fright.

"What is it this time?!" His mind was instantly churning with possible escape routes that he almost didn't realise the juice dripping from the corner of his mouth. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he glanced around.

"Hm?"

The sight of a tiny furball looking up at him made him freeze.

"...Were you the one feeding me in my sleep?" Magnus blurted out his thoughts.

"Squeak!" A reply came instantly.

It made Magnus swallow back his following words.

"T-thank you," Magnus didn't know animal etiquette, so what he did was bow as low as he could.

The animal might have saved his life for all he knew. It was well-placed gratitude.

'I could have died in my sleep...' Magnus thought to himself as he realised that he was madly invigorated. 'Holy shit...'

His eyes shot to the fruits on the tree.

Gone.

All of the fruits he vividly remembered being there were gone.

But,

'My Spirit Energy reserves! They're at 100%!' He inwardly exclaimed.