20 Chapter 19: First Blood (2/2)
It was then that Luca knew he had been mistaken. This was no pig. The closest thing he could think of was an orc or something like it. The monster stood up on two legs, upright like a man. ”What do we do now?” Luca whispered to Mother, recoiling in disgust at what he was seeing. It was not as terrifying as the hell hound or the shadow had been, but it was still quite alien to him and more revolting than anything.
Steel walked over and put a hand over Luca's mouth, putting a finger over her mouth telling him to be quiet. Whispering faintly, ”Obviously, we're going to kill it stupid.,” as Tatiana stepped forward in a low crouch. Brandishing a short sword with its edges blackened to prevent any sort of reflection off the blade. Stalking like a predator coming after prey, she crept forward, keeping her profile low as she approached the monster for a stealthy execution.
Steel nudged him to get his attention, holding her nose and pointing at the orc. Whispering again. ”It knows she's there, but she's trying to not draw the attention of anything else that might be nearby.” Luca's eyes narrowed at the admission, worried as he cast his eyes towards the canopy over head for signs of monsters besides what he had been hearing. Luca couldn't tell, but both Steel, Mother, and 2Face all were grinning at each other, having a little joke at the expense of Luca's newness and naivety.
Sensing the woman behind it, the orc roared up on its legs to lunge forward and attack her, but she was far too agile as one of the most powerful humans in the World Dungeon. She easily sidestepped the monster, sinking her sword deep into its side, cutting through the leathery skin covering the abdominal wall.
She did not want the orc to cry out or roar in its death throes. Tatiana pulled a separate dagger from the belt around her hips and slid it across the throat of the monster. Cutting straight through to its vocal cords, rendering it mute as it rapidly began to bleed to death. Luca was surprised when she reached around, embracing the dying orc, holding the neck wound to stem the bleeding.
”Get over here Luca, now, run. You need to finish it off before it dies from blood loss. Don't be loud though, there should be a whole tribe of these nearby for us to farm.” From behind him, 2Face pushed Luca forward, the force causing him to trip over himself, but Luca was able to recovery easy enough and avoid the fall, even as he glanced backward at 2Face and made a promise. When we face off in this guild arena. If I'm not allowed to kill you outright, I'm going to go as far as I can to hurt you and make sure you never recover. Revenge was a new concept for him, and in this new world where Luca had the power to settle scores, he planned on it.
As soon as Luca came close, Tatiana let the orc fall forward towards him. Luca could see it was close to death, mere seconds left on its life. Luca knew what to do. He'd practiced it once already. Luca lifted the maul in his hands and swung it in a two-handed forward arc, crushing the orc's skull and killing it instantly as brain matter and gore went flying in all directions. The gore landing on both Luca and Tatiana.
A feeling of ease and comfort came over Luca as his body was given experience for the kill. Tatiana seeing the way that Luca was starting to relax, put a congratulatory gore covered hand on his shoulder, saying, ”No time is quite as good as the first time, but it does stay a pretty consistent high.” The moment was interrupted as Luca realized to his horror that he had just killed something and was covered in its brains.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.
Luca looked down at his gore covered body in self-disgust as the entire team came up to congratulate him, all except for Steel who kept overwatch for danger. 2Face noticed it, and rather than chew him out or make him feel guilty about it said, ”We've all been there. Killing doesn't come naturally for most of us, but you need to get used to it, and get used to it quickly or you won't make it here. Killing, violence, all of it, I was an accountant for god's sake and the first time I killed a monster, I threw up all over myself. Both from the sight of all the blood and from the stink of my own fear, but it goes away after a while. You get used to it. You have to.”
Luca looked at his hands again, wiping them off on the dirt below. He wasn't sure he would ever be as cavalier about it, but he did appreciate the pep talk. It was Mother who gave him gave him the browbeating. ”The dungeon is full of monsters, some look like men, but most don't. Never forget that if you give them a chance, they will kill you. Never underestimate the capacity for violence you're going to see here. And most of all” Mother paused in recollection of a harsh memory. ”Never forget that not all monsters are monsters. People can be monsters, elves too. Never forget this isn't a fairy tale, and none of us are heroes.”
Above them, a dark shadow began to fall. ”Get back!” Steel screamed as a giant shadow descended on them from above. Quickly she activated an ability that made her skin harden like iron, pairing it with another ability to forcefully throw the rest of the group in all directions, pushing them away from the rapidly descending monster.
Knew it. Thought Luca as he flew through the air.