Chapter 47: It's a Monster, Run!
Kaito Shirogane looked up, his eyes meeting those of the man in the night-ops gear. He saw the shock in them clearly.
With his left hand, Kaito continued to block the man's sword with his revolver. His peripheral vision caught the other attacker—the one with the greatsword—falling from the wall after the wounded woman, clearly intending to finish her off. Kaito paid him no mind and made no move to help. The greatsword user, [Hunter], hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to help his trapped companion, instead continuing his pursuit of the Professor.
A casual smile touched Kaito's lips. He even raised his bandaged right arm, as if to remind the attacker that he was a wounded man.
The man, [Ghost], who was trapped in a sword-lock with a revolver, was both furious and astonished. He immediately attacked again, kicking at Kaito's legs.
But Kaito's expression didn't change. He simply lifted his right foot.
BAM!
Their shins collided. Ghost felt a colossal force slam into his leg, instantly shattering his balance. Not good! he thought, trying to disengage and retreat. For an Agility-specialized Reincarnator like him, the ideal combat plan was always to strike and fade, never to get locked in a brawl.
He had already realized that this man in the disgusting pink robe was trouble. His new plan was to let [Hunter] kill the Professor. If they brought her head back, it would be enough to get a decent completion rating on their new faction quest. Then, even if they couldn't convince Muzan Kibutsuji to turn them personally, one of the Upper Ranks might.
[Ghost] was a rare "Specialized" Reincarnator. Before reaching the [Strong]-tier, Reincarnators couldn't manually assign their attribute points, so most people ended up with a balanced spread. But a special few were recognized by the Nexus as having an innate "talent" in one area. The Nexus would then automatically dump all of their stat points into that single attribute. This created individuals with an extremely high, specialized stat, giving them a huge combat advantage in the early game.
[Ghost] was a natural Agility-Specialized Reincarnator. After several missions, his Agility had already reached 15. The trade-off was that his Strength and Constitution were barely above that of an ordinary person. Because of this weakness, he believed that acquiring the Demon lineage was his best choice.
In fact, among Reincarnators, the Demon Slayer derivative world was known by two names: the "Rookie Killer" and the "Rookie Treasury." The demons were aggressive and only came out at night, making it easy for newcomers to get killed. But at the same time, it was one of the easiest early-game worlds to acquire a powerful [Lineage]. Although the demon lineage from Muzan came with the massive defect of being enslaved to his will, that wasn't a problem in the grand scheme of the Nexus. Not only could Muzan not influence them outside of this world, but even if another Reincarnator captured Muzan or stole his abilities, a player could simply pay a Singularity to the [Goddess] to remove the lineage's defect.
For most Reincarnators, the rewards for joining Muzan's faction were far, far greater than joining the Demon Slayer Corps. A lineage that grants you a form of immortality in any environment without sunlight was unbelievably cost-effective.
As all this flashed through his mind, Ghost had already decided to abandon the hunt. This guy was a hard target. His initial guess had been right: the demons had attacked him first because he was the strongest member of the Reincarnator team. Just reporting that information would probably be worth a decent amount of faction points.
Squelch!
Blood sprayed into the air. Ghost's eyes widened in shock. He was leaping backward, but his body was being dragged forward by an intense force, preventing his escape. He looked down and saw that the man in the silver revolver was gone. His opponent had grabbed the blade of his tachi with his bare hand.
Blood poured from the man's palm. At the same time, a terrifying strength traveled up the sword, completely neutralizing Ghost's backward leap.
"Leaving so soon?" Kaito's voice was a low, pleasant murmur. "Our slaughter was just getting started, wasn't it?"
Ghost frantically tried to rip his sword free, but his 8 points of Strength vanished into his opponent's grip like a stone into the ocean. He couldn't budge it an inch. His eyes flashed. He let go of the sword, and in a flash of light, another tachi appeared in his other hand, which he thrust directly at Kaito's neck.
Kaito's neck bent at a bizarre angle, snapping to the right like a snake's.
Ghost's heart seized. He spun around, intending to flee for good. But in the next instant, a colossal force slammed into his lower back.
BAM!
Ghost's limbs flew out uncontrollably. The terrifying force on his waist sent his entire body flying off the three-meter-high wall.
CRASH!
The stone pavement of the courtyard shattered as he landed. He spat out a mouthful of blood, a searing pain radiating from his pelvis. He figured it was fractured, but the pain didn't matter. I have to run!
He immediately tried to stand, channeling power to his feet to activate his Lv4 Footwork. With one step, the world around him should have blurred as he escaped through the gate that Yanagi had cut open.
As he looked back, intending to call for [Hunter] to retreat, a dark thought stopped him. He turned and just ran.
Thud!
Ghost felt like he had run full-speed into a brick wall. His body was forcibly stopped. He looked up in a daze. A blood-soaked hand had appeared in front of him and was now clamped firmly around his head.
"Agh!"
The immense pressure on his temples made his skull creak. The pain was so agonizing he couldn't even focus.
Kaito impassively lifted the slender Reincarnator off the ground.
"Your speed… it's not that fast after all."
The familiar voice sent a wave of absolute terror through Ghost. How is this possible? he screamed in his mind. I thought he was a Strength-Specialist! How can he be this fast too?!
The next second, Kaito lifted his head and smashed it, full-force, into the ground.
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
CRACK!
The fragile Agility-Specialized Reincarnator, whose bones and muscles were no tougher than an average person's, burst like a watermelon on the stone pavement. A mess of red and white spattered across the ground.
Ghost's body twitched and struggled for a moment, then went still.
[You have killed Reincarnator KL16254477 (Ghost) in a cooperative mission world. This kill will not produce any rewards.]
A crimson light suddenly glowed on Kaito's right hand. The complex pattern reappeared, and like a crimson snake, it seemed to lunge at the dead Reincarnator's right hand and "bite" it.
[Karma Point +1. Current Total: 2]
[Private space of ID# KL16254477 (Ghost) has been merged with your private space. You may view it upon returning to the Nexus.]
[Karma Reincarnator Mark detected. Re-judicating kill reward generation…]
[Karma Points: 2. Crimson Drop Card extra drop rate has been slightly increased…]
[You have obtained 1 Crimson Drop Card.]
Kaito watched as the crimson light condensed into a card. He tapped it, and the card vanished into his inventory.
He then looked up and saw, in the shadows by the distant gate, the other Reincarnator in the night-ops gear, staring at him in frozen horror.
Kaito, his face still spattered with Ghost's blood, slowly raised a finger to his lips in a "shhh" gesture. A brutal smile spread across his face.
Thump-thump, thump-thump!
[Hunter] felt an icy chill shoot up from his feet, and the hair on his entire body stood on end. He didn't care about the Professor, whom he had just wounded with another slash. He threw himself backward, smashing through the wooden wall of the house and sprinting into the night with everything he had.
That guy… he got a Crimson Drop Card in a peaceful world!
That guy is a monster! Run!
It was the only thought left in his mind.