Chapter 88 (1/2)

Devan and Alana had enough able bodied people to protect the convoy, even though they were extremely numerous, at least until they left the Newbie Zone around Franksburg, so Randidly turned back towards the horde of monsters that was gathering for another monster horde in Franksburg.

His hands itched, his eyes were red. Ever since he had lost his control with Tessa, he had felt… different.

More volatile, less calm. Suddenly it was abundantly clear how much he was wasting his time. Why had he even come here? Sure, finding Ace and Sydney would be nice, but what would it really accomplish. It was pointless. All of it was pointless.

They were likely dead, and he was chasing ghosts.

How well could they really have survived if half of their building was ripped off in the middle of the night? If they were teleported hundreds of miles away? How could they not have-

A notification popped up, distracting him from his train of thought.

Congratulations! Your Thorn Lvl 5 is ready to level up. After slurping many similar enemies, Thorn wonders if it should be one of many, or the One.

Frowning, Randidly selected the One. There was only one path to a good life in this world now, and it was through power. With it, you could take the things you crave. Without it…

Thorn is now Lvl 6. Survivability has increased by 5. Physicality has increased by 2. Particularity has increased by 3. Thorn has learned the skill Piercing Thorns.

Randidly didn’t know what he was expecting, but it was oddly disappointing. Everything felt that way right now, all of it. He wished-

Randidly’s sprear flicked out, smashing apart a skeleton that had wandered too close to where he was fuming. And like a keg of gunpowder, that spark set Randidly off.

Roaring, he charged among the skeletons, his huge bone spear sweeping back and forth, reaping them cleanly. In addition, he activated Agony, the grating, vicious pain oddly soothing. It narrowed his focus, drove away the incessant, negative thoughts that had sprung up for the first time today. The guilt, the helplessness, the confusion, the lack of direction…. They were wiped clean, leaving only a growing rage, and a constant pain.

Maybe it was because he had for so long struggled to survive, and then he came back on earth, much more powerful the the local monsters. Lost, and unsure of what he should be doing, he had latched onto the survivors, slowly teaching them to become strong, in the same way that he had learned to become strong; by throwing them into the fire.

At the very least, Randidly informing them that they were about to be cast into the fire helped them, and increased their survival chances far above what they would have been.

For a while he had gone with that, slowly establishing a base, teaching them what he had known, defeating any enemies too strong for them to handle….

And then what? And now what?

What was he fucking doing?!?!

Randidly’s eyes glowed pale green in the darkness, his spear smashing agonized monsters to pieces. Although he couldn’t use mana for 24 hours, due to the use of Inspiration, that didn’t make him any less a death sentence for monsters of this level, regardless of their number. Unless he was deliberately trying to do so, he would not run out of stamina. He was just a constant blur of death.

Even as a notification popped up, indicating that his health had reached 20%, Randidly’s smile didn’t waver. He downed two health potions and continued, barely slowly his vicious assault, refusing to shut off Agony.

Although it slowly wore his own health down, it did worse things to those enemies around him.

Especially now, where a growing corner of his heart trembled with fear, guilt, anger, confusion, and frustration. And that part of him wanted to hurt something.

Heeding his will, Agony rolled out in malicious waves, larger and more powerful than it had ever been before. Green eyes glowing, Randidly continued, ripping the enemies around him to pieces.

The system was responding to his desire, not just with levels, but with effectiveness. Agony even seemed stronger. But Randidly supposed that it wasn’t really the system that had changed, but himself. Where before he wore Agony like a blanket, dragging it around behind him, now he actively reached out with it, smothering those enemies unfortunate enough to surround him.

But even the pain was only doing so much; he couldn’t cover up the question that drove him insane. What was he supposed to be doing…?

Grinding his teeth, Randidly threw himself into the violence, drowning out his helpless doubts.

The sky darkened, and a low drizzle began to fall. Randidly ignored it, as it made no difference to him; where he once fought in puddles of blood, now it was slightly watered down blood. What did it matter?

Tirelessly his spear swept back and forth, bodies falling to pieces around him.But as he did so, Randidly noticed something extremely strange. Rather than having a goal, he was now just killing for the sake of killing. He was protecting the town, he supposed, but that had fallen away, lost in the revelry of blood.

He simply cut and slashed, feeling through the huge spear of bone the small tremors of a body breaking. With an undivided attention, Randidly experimented with where and how he could strike, how he could cut, how he could slaughter.

Slowly, all of his disparate spear moves began to flow, moving cleanly from one to the other. Previously, he used each when he needed them. Phantom Thrust for speed and accuracy, Sweep for a large group, Phantom Onslaught to overwhelm a single target.