Chương 53: Godly Pinky In Your Ear

Ch. 53: Godly Pinky In Your Ear Sampson blinked. I was standing where his brother was, my knife out, Paulie's decapitated body on the floor. Bloodsucker was covered in blood. My sister Dory had fallen out of his slackened grip and onto the floor, where she was still recovering. We were near the dugout, so she had landed on the hard dirt.

"Damn," I said, "I could have made that last a little longer. Get some more mana out of it." Delicious.

"Can you do dead blood? Maybe I can stick it in his corpse?" Must be alive.

"Yeah, I get it. Ikizukuri. That reminds me, I have to buy some tinned sardines after this," I looked at my mana. 25% mana"Not that much. Dor? You okay, Dor?" In her weakened state, she twisted on the ground to look at me. Before she could say anything, I saw out of the corner of my eye a storm of energy beams. I leapt backward, away from Dory. They all exploded in the spot I was just standing in. The many shots had created a dust field from hitting the ground. I turned and saw Sampson facing me.

"Y-you killed Paulie!" Sampson said that as he placed more coins in his sling. He turned to his uncle and screamed, "He killed Paulie!" Exley stepped away from Squonk and ran as fast as he could. Sampson launched more energy blasts at me. I dipped and jumped through them as they collided, kicking up more dust. I ran toward Dory. Before I could, Exley landed in between us and punched at me, I almost blocked. Almost. Then I remembered. Instead, I held my arm and twisted my torso so he hit my sweater.

I was flung out of the way, into the dust cloud that Sampson had started. I couldn't see more than three feet in front of me. I kept my head on a swivel as I walked hid in the cloud. I can't touch them. I can't let them touch me. I looked at Bloodsucker, If I can't get a kill shot, I risk brushing them with the knife. Sorry, Blood. I have to put you away for this instant. I placed Bloodsucker back in his holster. Before I could make my next move, I felt a deluge of bullets pelting my skin.

I turned to the right as the cloud was dissipating. I stuck my hands up to protect my face. Sampson's face ran a river of tears. He called, "Gloomy Gatling!" He blinked them at me, each one charged and stronger because of the sadness he felt for his brother's dumb decision to fuck with Dory. Exley called out to me, pointing at Squonk, "Is that your god there? How about I kill him? You'll lose all your powers."

"I killed 'Paulie' in one strike. Does it feel like he's my god, Exley?" I jumped out of the way. Paulie's eyes kept following me as I ran around the field to get away from the firing. I was trying to complete a circle to get to Dory. Exley didn't quite get it. But an alert went off in his system. A passive ability that Squonk's Capable Coward class had given him was activated. Exley stared at it. His mind trying to reckon with what it was telling him.

Surpassed Sprinter: You gain a % speed boost equivalent to how much higher level your opponent is. (cap at 100%) 100% temporary speed boost gained.

"You… you do.. You do have a secret god. Everything I thought was true. You have been hiding some secret source of power from all of us. Is it.. Is it who Ozid has talked about? Are you a follower of the new god?"

"Oh, you've heard about Anon?" Exley's shuddering face quickly turned into a cocky grin.

"Well, anyway…" He bolted in front of me when I was close to getting to Dory. I jumped in the air and flipped over him. As I was hanging in the air, Sampson nicked me with a sniper tear shot. He placed another quarter in the sling and started circling it over his head. I went down. I got back up. Exley approached me. As he did, Sampson cried, "Now!" Exley moved his head to the left. The energy beam went right past where his head was a second ago toward me. I lifted my hands up and cast a cloud shield.

The energy beam exploded on impact and dispersed my shield, even with the improved durability.

"I must confess. I've been holding back. You see, this band around my wrist? It's a powerful one-time weapon." The cloudshield had given me an idea for how to deal with these goons. I cast clouds on my hands. Two expanding orbs that covered my fists completely, acting as mitts.

"You're all so lucky that I have to go easy on you!" I said as I approached, taking one or two steps forward.

"It saps me of 1% of my strength every day I wear it. Only for it to release when I… snap it." As he said it, he snapped it off. A blast of aura released as he did. His muscles bulged. His mustache somehow got even bushier. He raised his fists up. He threw a jab at me, gauging me. I blocked with my fists and I let him think he had an opening. He threw a cross. Fast. I felt it whistle past my head as I dipped forward. I landed a jab on his abs with my mitts. He breathed out to tank the shot. It hurt him but…

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. These mitts are stifling my power. I looked over at Dory. She was not looking good. Once I convert her, I can go absolutely buck wild. Exley backed off, giving Sampson the room to shoot another attack at me. I leapt as the energy beams soared past me, hitting the score sign behind me and demolishing it.

"You're little cover has given me some intriguing powers. For one, I'm twice as fast now. But there's also this other one." I kicked off the air with cloudstep toward Exley. I landed a few punches on him but he absorbed them. He grabbed his hands in a tight coil and brought them down on me. I jumped backward and when his hands connected with the ground, it was like a stick of grenade had been launched at the ground. A chunk of earth the size of a dumpster exploded all around us.

"Struggling Survivor! I gain a 50% strength boost if I let an ally die by my inaction."

"You know what I just realized?" I asked him.

"What!?"

"You love to hear yourself talk." As he twisted upward to attack me again, I got my fist on him. Instead of hititng him with my cloud mitt in a dulled punch, I released all the mana I had into expanding the cloud. It acted like those boxing gloves on a spring you saw in cartoons. It sent him flying. Sampson had all the space in the world to begin shooting me with tears again, but I booked it in a circle around dodger's field. It was like I had hit a homerun.

I was suddenly stealing all the bases, escaping the shots Sampon was hailing at me and reaching Dory.

"His sister! He's trying to escape with his sister!" Sampson switched from the Gloomy Gatling to the Sniveling Sniper. Making his shots harder and more focused. He landed one on me. I winced and to avoid the next shot, slid into home. I landed next to her. I stood up and wetted my pinky inside my mouth.

"Get ready for the best wet willy of your life, sis!" I stuck my godly pinky in her ear.

"Ew! Disgusting!" She cried. I booked it away from her. Sampson continued to follow my journey as her mind flooded with my system messaging. Hey, Dor-knob. It's me. Your bro. Yep. I bet you're wondering what's going on? Truth is, I'm a god. Always have been.

"Finally. I can go all out." I burst toward them.

"Funny," Exley said as he reached behind him and pulled out a spear he'd been hiding. He clicked it and it expanded to be taller than him, "I was thinking the same thing." He ran toward me. Sampson stopped shooting as we ran toward each other. Dory continued hearing my programming. Yeah, I know. I'm a god. It's a big friggin' deal! Truth is I, I only got these powers when I defeated Spiros. One of the Four Heavenly Winds? Yep. Killed him dead. All by myself. As an NPC. I was heavily weakened.

Tell her I was heavily weakened. Hey, man. I'm trying to record something. Could you not? Dory! This is Spiros. If you can hear me, I was severely weakened. Who are you gonna believe? Me!? Or some donkey? I am not a donkey!

"What is this?" Dory asked. She turned to see me confronting Exley. My back facing her. His increased speed meant he got a shot on me. I almost dodged but his spear sliced my cheek. It burned. But not just that… my body was affected.

"Feel that?" Exley asked, "You should. I bet you're wondering what effect my spear has?"

"No," I said, "I read a post about it on reddit while researching you. The leading theory is that its a debuff. You stab the spear and it takes something from the user."

"Ahh, the geniuses down at reddit cracked the code that bad things happen when you're stabbed by my spear!" Now that I have gotten it. I knew exactly what it was.

"Strength," I said, "It saps your strength when you're stabbed by it." Exley's mouth coiled into a smile.

"Exactly." As I was in the presence of comrades, the cut quickly closed and I healed it back. Dory was presented with a singular choice. Choose your class: Pick this one, dummy. She clicked that one and suddenly my voice said, "Good choice! This is going to be a class dedicated to managing your symptoms. You only get one power for now, but as you gain more levels, hopefully this class will help you with your self healing." His movements were precise and abrupt. He struck at me. Missing some but landing others.

Even when I would dodge, Sampson would be there as backup. Winging me with his tear shots, while his uncle worked me in close range. I had my knife out. Using those minute opportunities to slit Exley's arms to try to recover mana. 2% mana 5% mana 10% mana I couldn't use my void powers. I could use them for clouds but that wouldn't provide the offensive power needed. I needed my fire. Even a fire fist could do it. At one point, there was a double team. Exley moved out of the way and Sampson launched his energy ball.

"Fuck it." I could tell that Exley was going to make a move on me when I dodged, so I hit an 'X' with my arms across my chest and let myself get hit by the energy blast. As it exploded, I kicked Exley in the chest, launching him back all the way to Sampson. Exley landed next to his nephew.

"He tanked my shot," Sampson said, "I could do it again but…"

"Give him hell, boy. The next move will be our last. Let's hit him with the Scorpion's Tail."

"Understood." Sampson filled his sling with the rest of the change in his pocket and flung it all at me. It was a flurry of energy beams whizzing toward me. Before I could just dodge, Exley called out, "Wouldn't want to hit your sister now, would we?" I turned back, Dory was still dealing with the overwhelm of the system initialization. She was stuck behind me. I had to tank every one of the shots. They all hit me.

Their strength had been divided into the amount of energy balls there were but over and over again, I just got pummeled by them. Then… I felt it. The spear that Exley had. From his position behind Sampson, he'd launched it up into the air. It dove threw the sky and landed. It pierced through my shoulder, out my back and into the ground. Pinning me.

"Feel it!?" Exley said as he ran toward me, "Feel the strength draining!?" He was on me in seconds. You should be at 75% just now. So long as I keep this spear in you, by the time I end this sentence it should be down another 5%." I placed my hand on the spear and gripped it with both hands. I felt the wood grain along my fingertips.

"Oh do go on. Try your hardest. You're likely at 50%. Meanwhile, my stats show me as something like 500% strength. Yes. It was a formidable effort. But it's over."

"You should…"

"What? What did you say?"

"You should have sapped my mana. Because Because strength…" I squeezed, snapping the spear in two and releasing its effect on me, "I've got that by the truckload. Exley' s eyes went wide. I pulled myself off the spear and picked up the broken half. My amber blood staining the weapon's handle.

"No. Say it ain't so."

"When's the last time you felt small, Exley?" I walked toward him. As he tried to jump back, I got a snap kick on him. Smashing the cartilage in his knee. He yelled as he fell to the ground. I stood over him.

"You're strong, Exley. I'll give you that. But the thing you gotta understand… is that the strongest champ couldn't take down even the…" my eyes glanced at Squonk. He waved at me, "Couldn't take down even the second weakest god." I took the spear and I tossed it behind Exley. Sampson's limp body went down, The spear had passed through him and hit the wall far behind him. I got my knife out and held it up in the air, "You still never felt small, Exley?"

And before he could answer that, I brought my knife down on him. Exley dropped to the ground. The job was done. The only thing left was the montabeest.

"Dory, how's that new system treating you?" I asked. Dory didn't respond. But I heard Spiros' voice cut through the cold air.

"Drake! Your sister! She got hit!"