"Don't… don't kill me!"
The trembling soldier dropped his weapon and fell to his knees, begging the god of death before him for mercy.
"Where is the person who led you here?"
Cyan stared down at the soldier with cold, icy eyes.
"I-In the east…" the soldier stammered after a moment of hesitation.
"Then who is the one leading you?"
"It's Lord Skorn, the War Knight…"
The soldier spilled everything like beans pouring out of a bag. Whatever Cyan asked, he answered.
"Go tell him that I'm going to slaughter every last one of you. Tell him to wash his neck and wait for death."
"Y-Yes…!"
The soldier grabbed his short sword, stood up, and ran toward Skorn's location. As he ran, he kept glancing back, terrified that the god of death might suddenly chase after him.
Once the soldier had run far enough, Cyan gave chase. Nishi was responsible for rescuing the villagers in the village. Cyan's task was to kill every single enemy here. As for the other survivors, she would deal with them when she encountered them.
Lakota Village, East Side
(First-stage boss. Later becomes an elite monster…)
Skorn, the War Knight, wore a set of ornate, heavy silver-white plate armor. He had removed his full-face helmet and placed it beside him. When worn, the helmet protected even the neck. Next to him lay a silver-white long-handled axe, its edge gleaming coldly under the firelight.
Anyone else wearing such armor would have been extremely uncomfortable, but for Skorn, who stood over two and a half meters tall, the armor fit like a second skin and didn't hinder his movements in the slightest.
Skorn drank heavily from a wineskin. Beside him, a pale-faced girl with freckles wearing a coarse linen dress trembled as she held a sandwich filled with sausage and vegetables up to his mouth.
On the other side, some of the captured villagers squatted or sat on the ground under the watch of soldiers. Not far away lay several corpses — clearly villagers who had tried to resist and were killed.
"Lord Skorn! Bad news!"
The soldier Cyan had spared earlier ran up to the towering Skorn in a panic and dropped to his knees.
Skorn looked at the flustered soldier and asked, "What happened?"
"My lord! There's someone resisting us in the village! That person said they were going to…" The soldier hesitated, not daring to finish.
Skorn frowned at the soldier's stammering. "What did they say?"
"They said… they said they were going to kill us all…"
"So you came running back with your tail between your legs? Just because you were spared for delivering a message?"
After hearing the soldier's report, Skorn picked up the long-handled axe beside him. A bloody, murderous aura radiated from his body. His towering figure brought immense pressure down on the soldier.
"Lord Skorn, spare me!"
The soldier dropped to his knees and kowtowed desperately. A foul smell of urine spread as his pants grew wet.
"Coward!"
"Ahhh!"
The soldier watched the axe coming down and let out a miserable scream as Skorn chopped off his head.
Seeing such a bloody scene, the girl's hand shook. The sandwich fell to the ground. In a panic, she dropped to her knees and tried to pick it up.
Skorn pointed at the soldier's corpse and raised his long-handled axe high, shouting loudly, "This is the fate of cowards! The Duke has no need for cowards! And neither do I! Follow me! Kill all the resisters!"
Influenced by the firelight, a figure appeared in the reddened sky, limbs spread out in a large star shape. The figure flew through the air, retracted the flight cloak on their back, crossed their arms, and the half-fingered leather glove on their right hand lit up with a glow.
Raijin Cannon!
Lightning flashed brilliantly, like divine punishment descending from an enraged god!
A lightning sphere the size of a millstone fell from the sky, aimed directly at Skorn.
Though the sphere looked imposing, its actual power wasn't that great. However, against someone like Skorn who was covered head to toe in metal armor, it dealt massive damage. The paralysis effect, which originally had only a 20% chance of triggering, activated at 100%.
Skorn, his entire body crackling with electricity, stood frozen in place, unable to move. His hair stood on end.
The girl kneeling on the ground saw this and scrambled away on all fours, barely avoiding the stray electricity radiating from Skorn's body.
Ripple Dash!
Infinite Style · Gale Slash!
Seeing that Raijin Cannon had triggered paralysis, Cyan didn't hesitate. She fully activated her Ripple energy. Golden light enveloped her entire body as green sword aura, like flames, gathered on her demon blade. Like a falling meteor, she descended from the sky to pass judgment on Skorn — the lackey of the evil Archduke Garibaldi and a War Knight!
Clang!
Skorn barely managed to raise his long-handled axe to block Cyan's full-powered strike. He dropped to one knee as a chunk of his HP bar disappeared.
Not finished yet!
Cyan stepped on the handle of the axe and kicked Skorn in the head.
Skorn let out a miserable scream as Cyan's kick sent three of his teeth flying, bits of flesh still clinging to them.
"Guh!"
Skorn roared in rage. With a mouth that could no longer properly hold in air, he shouted and swung his long-handled axe, pushing Cyan away before bringing it down on her with full force.
Skill or normal attack?
Cyan had wanted to use Infinite Style · Immovable to block, but since she couldn't tell whether Skorn's attack was a skill or a normal attack, she could only dodge.
Infinite Style · Heaven Collapse Slash!
Cyan drove her elbow into Skorn's abdomen (accounting for the height difference), followed by an upward slash.
Not over yet!
Infinite Style · One Blade Slash!
Cyan raised her leg and drove her knee into Skorn's crotch, then flicked her demon blade upward.
Skorn's massive body was actually lifted into the air.
Shhh——!
Cyan brought her blade down in a slashing motion, leaving a vertical wound across Skorn's face. A deep gash was carved into his heavy armor, and blood seeped out from within.
This survivor is strong!
Hidden in the shadows, the blue-clothed ninja watched everything with a hint of shock in his eyes as Cyan unilaterally slaughtered Skorn.
Skorn's HP bar had dropped below one-fifth!
Data-like light flashed in the blue-clothed ninja's eyes as he stared intently at Cyan. Blood vessels appeared in his eyes.
Cyan, still unaware that someone was watching her from the shadows, had no choice but to drink a cup of wine to recover some Spirit.
Her current Spirit was below 100 points. If she hadn't created a clone with the Super Crown, she wouldn't have consumed this much.
"Attack! Kill her!"
Skorn looked at the surrounding soldiers and greatsword knights and shouted. His blood-stained face looked ferocious and terrifying, the wound on it turning outward to reveal white flesh.
"Don't get in my way."
Cyan glanced at the soldiers and greatsword knights charging toward her.
Ripple Dash!
Golden lightning wrapped around her legs as Cyan flashed past the soldiers and greatsword knights at incredible speed. They maintained their forward charging posture as they collapsed to the ground, blood flowing from their bodies.
"Your death is already decided."
Sword aura gathered on her demon blade as Cyan faced the charging Skorn and met him head-on.
Their figures crossed. The blood on Cyan's demon blade was absorbed. The faintly trembling blade was not satisfied with just this much blood — it needed more.
Shhh——!
Skorn dropped to his knees as if repenting for his actions. Blood gushed from his body like a fountain. From shoulder to waist, his body was diagonally cut in half by Cyan.
A silver card with a hint of gold appeared above Skorn's corpse.
It was over.
Cyan picked up the card and stored it in her inventory. She casually stabbed her demon blade into Skorn's corpse, intending to let Nishi open it. With Nishi's notoriously bad luck, it was better not to waste the card.
Suddenly!
Cyan sensed intense malice. She instinctively drew her demon blade to block.
Clang!
The blue-clothed ninja stood before her, gripping a ninja blade engraved with a dragon pattern. His eyes were cold and greedy as he stared at Cyan.
"Hand over the Super Crown and die! Otherwise, I'll kill you!"
Infinite Style · Gale Slash!
Instead of answering with words, Cyan responded with sword aura that burned like flames on her demon blade!
Suddenly, three balls of flame appeared around the blue-clothed ninja's body, spinning rapidly around him. When the sword aura touched him, it strangely disappeared.
"So that's your answer? Then I'll just have to kill you!"
The blue-clothed ninja charged straight at Cyan without dodging or evading. He intended to finish her while the skill was still active!
Protective Flame — an invincibility skill from the FC game Ninja Gaiden. During the skill's duration, both physical and energy attacks were nullified.
Infinite Style · Immovable!
Cyan grabbed the blue-clothed ninja's clothes with her right hand and used her left to deflect the incoming ninja blade. She then pushed him away with her right hand and counterattacked, but the blade was blocked by the flames surrounding him.
She even took damage from the flames because she got too close.
[Survivor #11766 has taken 15 damage from Survivor #8187's skill Protective Flame. Bowsette's Mercury Earrings special effect activated, granting immunity to this instance of fire damage.]
[Survivor #11766 has been attacked by Survivor #8187. You have 30 minutes to counterattack.]
[Survivor #8187's current kill count is 13. Killing this survivor grants +2 Bloody Card draw attempts.]
[Survivor #11766 has taken 15 damage from Survivor #8187's skill Protective Flame. Bowsette's Mercury Earrings special effect reduced fire damage by 30%! HP -11.]
Protective Flame…
A skill that grants short-term immunity to physical damage?
Cyan glanced at her remaining Spirit and made a decision. She used her strongest energy damage skill available.
Flame Roar!
A glow appeared in Cyan's slightly open mouth as scorching flames sprayed toward the blue-clothed ninja. The flames formed a burning area on the ground.
A ninja blade thrust out from within the flames. The blue-clothed ninja was completely unharmed. His ninja blade pierced into Cyan's chest. When he pulled it out, a bloody flower bloomed.
So it really is a short-term invincibility skill…
Cyan took a step back while looking at the unharmed blue-clothed ninja and ate the dessert cake from her inventory.
Faced with the blue-clothed ninja charging at her like a mad dog, Cyan could only fight while retreating, blocking his attacks and waiting for his invincibility skill to end and enter cooldown.
"You want to stall for time? I won't give you the chance!"
The blue-clothed ninja's figure flickered. Beside him appeared an identical red clone, like a shadow, also protected by Protective Flame.
Clone — a skill from the FC game Ninja Gaiden.
Facing the pincer attack from both the blue-clothed ninja and his clone, Cyan gained wounds on her arms and back. Left with no choice, she activated the special effect of the Super Crown. She crouched down, covered her head with both hands, and colorful light glowed around her body.
Crouch Guard!
The ninja blades swung down by the blue-clothed ninja and his clone were repelled.
The two seconds of invincibility ended. The blue-clothed ninja's Protective Flame duration also ended.
"I'll let you off this time. There won't be a next time!"
The blue-clothed ninja hadn't expected Cyan to be this strong. He failed to kill her even while Protective Flame was active. A trace of retreat appeared in his heart. He left behind a harsh threat, turned, and ran, controlling his clone to block Cyan.
Cyan thrust her blade through the clone's abdomen and cut it in half, then furiously stomped on the gradually dissipating clone.
The fight with the blue-clothed ninja left her feeling extremely frustrated.
I won't let you go!
Cyan looked in the direction the blue-clothed ninja had fled. As long as he wanted to complete Survival Mission One, they would meet again. When that time came, it would be his death.
"Die!"
A muscular man wearing steel arm guards that reached up to his arms grabbed a soldier with both hands and squeezed hard. The sound of bones cracking rang out as the soldier screamed, blood and chunks of internal organs spraying from his mouth. He died with his mouth wide open in agony.
The villagers standing behind the muscular man didn't feel afraid at the sight. Instead, they clapped and cheered.
Their village had been ravaged by these bastards. They wished nothing more than for these lackeys of the evil Archduke Garibaldi to die an even more miserable death.
"Orlov! Orlov!"
The villagers shouted the muscular man's name loudly.
"Let's go! We're finding my companions!"
Orlov called for the villagers to leave with him. Although he was confident he could complete Survival Mission One alone, doing so would obviously anger the other survivors. Therefore, it was better to meet the other survivors first, discuss how to complete the mission together, and clean up the remaining enemies in the village while he was at it. He wasn't confident he could protect the villagers and fight at the same time.
He had played Round Table Knights before. The final boss in the game was the evil Archduke Garibaldi.
The place they were currently in was, without a doubt, the first stage of the game.
The evil Archduke Garibaldi had many subordinates. To complete Survival Mission One, besides relying on this world's protagonists, there were also the other survivors — provided he could convince them to work together.
In the survival space, killing and looting were common occurrences. Even with the existence of kill counts, survivors slaughtering each other was nothing unusual.
As the saying goes: humans have no ill intent toward tigers, but tigers have ill intent toward humans.
In the survival space, having too high a kill count had a very direct consequence — the difficulty of survival games would increase. Generally speaking, survival games would send survivors to worlds matching their strength, giving them a chance to complete their missions.
However, survivors with excessively high kill counts would be sent to survival games far beyond what their strength could handle. If they managed to complete the survival mission, they would have a chance to reduce their kill count.
The survival space wouldn't directly erase survivors just because their kill count was too high. Instead, it used another method to make their lives worse than death.
[Rescue Mission: For every Lakota Village villager rescued and protected until the lackeys of the evil Archduke Garibaldi invading the village are eliminated, gain 100 Survival Points.]
[Mission Completed.]
[Mission Reward: 1300 Survival Points.]
"Huh? What??"
Orlov received the mission completion notification and stood there completely dumbfounded, his mind blank.
A breeze blew past. This fierce muscular man was left in complete disarray by the wind.