Chương 28: My Dinner With Bloodsucker

Ch. 28: My Dinner With Bloodsucker The giant sand crab's pincer snatched my shoulder as I thrust the knife deeper. I pulled the Bloodsucker Blade out and the beast dropped dead. Congrats! You've killed A Giant Sand Crab! 600 exp!

"No fucking evolve point, though. Right?" I grumbled as I retracted the knife. There was still no temple in sight. I had no clue what Kayla and Billy's status was. I hoped Franz was dead, but could not confirm. I continued to trudge on toward the goal, using my strength and speed to make giant bounds across the sand. Good blood.

"You and I need to have a talk." About blood?

"No, not about blood. I wanted to apologize to you for my actions. I said things that I knew would hurt you because I was frustrated. That's not the man I want to be. So, I'm sorry." Apologize? I am a knife. I do not need apologies. I need blood.

"Now, Bloodsucker. I know that's not true. You're sentient. You have a will of your own. You feel more than just hunger. Like when I said those things about you, what did you feel?" Bloodlust.

"No. No, not just that. You already felt bloodlust. What else did you feel?" After some reflection, the blade said: Vindictiveness.

"Yes! Vindictiveness! That's a tertiary emotion. It came from anger, which is a secondary emotion. But anger is just a response to feeling hurt. Is that how you felt when I said those things? Would you say you were hurt?" My constitution was unaffected. But the things you said were correct. I take from my wielder. And that… caused… psychic damage.

"Right. In that, you and I are alike. When people don't give me what I want… I sting them. It's shitty. And I'm good at it. But it's not the baseline for a good partnership. You want to be my partner, right? You want me to help get you blood?" Yes.

"Then don't drive the guy who's helping you get it insane. That doesn't feel like a sound plan, right? Like… you'll get the blood, but if I died from someone killing me… then you wouldn't be able to get more blood." Until the next wielder.

"Yeah, but how long have you been around, and you've only just now gotten to level 2? Sounds like we could go a lot farther together. Don't you agree?" I'm a cursed item, Drake.

"I'm a cursed owner. Let's, you and I, work on that. Sound good?" Sounds… suitable. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"I'll take it!" I said, and suddenly we approached a dune that looked familiar. I could see, poking out of the top of the dune, a temple's rooftop. I slid on the sand as I landed, then moved to my belly and crawled up the rest of the way. I still had the binoculars from earlier. Like I had done at the beginning of the expedition, I took in the environment. The giant snake was the most notable thing. Kayla, Franz, and the snake were in a dead heat.

When one struck the other, the third used that opportunity to attack the first striker. Fucking Franz, I thought, at least you're where I can deal with you. The next thing that caught my attention was the balcony. Anubis was charging up a void ball. Black bolts of energy were converging into a growing mass in her palms, roughly the size of a dodgeball. If a baseball took out a dune, what could something that big do? I realized she was angling it behind me. I ducked behind the dune so she didn't notice me.

Was she trying to wipe me out? Would she take out the whole desert if it meant hitting me? I was flattered, but I had gotten here faster than she realized. I could sneak onto the battlefield and help Kayla turn the tide on that snake. And the core monster. I checked my stats. I was freshly level 22. I had 11 more free points I could place into different stats. It didn't make sense at this time to increase other stats. My natural physical scores were absurdly high. 11 points would be best for my mana.

Also since I breached another 10th level, I was given a chance at a new ability, or an ability upgrade. Blazing Blade: Set Weapon in your possession on fire (10% more damage) Healing 1: Heal someone you touch 20% of their total health Firefist: You can figure this out, right? You're a smart boy"I am a smart boy," I said, "These are all interesting. I do like the idea of setting you on fire. What do you think, Bloodsucker? That could be good.

"Hmmmm," I thought, "Truthfully, healing would be great. But I'm never near my teammates. Let's face it, Bloodsucker, I'm a blunt object. I need versatility. I need more ways to fight. I need… more ways to cast fire. And between the two, while the options are locked, the skill tree is longer behind firefists." I clicked on Firefist. Little embers spread through my hands and I wriggled my fingers as a demo took effect. My stats told me this added a +5% to unarmed combat by way of fire damage.

Not as much as the blade, but I had a good feeling I'd made the right choice. Now to deal with Franz. The snake bobbed its head and snapped at Kayla. Its mouth open could have swallowed the little Filipina whole. She fell on her back, pulling her knees and doing a reverse tumble. But when she did, Franz was waiting. He slammed his axe down on her and in just enough time she parried. The axehead stabbed into her, blood splurted from her sternum, but she'd prevented a lethal blow.

"Why are you doing this!?" Kayla begged.

"Sorry, Kay. Sutra's tricky like that." Kayla sputtered in shock, "Your new patron is the Basilisk God!?" Let me explain. You always gave a Sutra champ a funny look. They were secretive about their missions. Oftentimes, the champions would be former convicts, cops, active gang members. You know, bastards. Bastards like Franz. No one understood why. But I was on the other side of it now, and it gave me a different perspective. Sutra wanted to play this game dirty.

The core did not wait for the conversation to continue, it quickly swept to the left and made a bite attack on both of them. Kayla and Franz stuck up their weapons to defend themselves from being eaten. Franz used his axe and sliced at the snake's skin. The weapon bounced off harmlessly.

"You can't do anything!" Kayla said, "Its skin is invulnerable to piercing damage! You and I have to work together."

"No. I'll just take your hammer once you're dead." Franz leapt onto the snake's back and ran along its body. He jumped off and attacked Kayla. Were it just Franz, Kayla might have been able to take him on. But she was pinned with Franz attacking her from above, and the snake coming at her. Time slowed for her. She used her hammer on the snake, resigning to tank the potentially lethal strike from Franz. My fists interrupted his flight path. I socked him in the face, sending him flipping and landing on the ground.

He landed away from Kayla as she defended from the bite. When he looked up, he saw me, the guy he tried to kill. Twice.

"Hey, Franz. Let's talk."