Chapter 38: Final Destination

Roy’s system displayed a brief set of messages.

[Level #2 — Cleared!]

[Rewards: +1.0 Stat Points, +20 Error Points.]

[Level #3 — Cleared!]

[Rewards: +1.0 Stat Points, +20 Error Points.]

Master Abraham had told him to invest his stat points in Physical, but Roy had other ideas. Instead, he invested them in his Willpower stat.

This was because it was well known that the mind-soul stat governed one’s energy reserve capacity. And Roy wanted to get to a point where he could use [2x Multiplier] in succession without emptying his reserve.

“Master, I have a better plan,” Roy said and retrieved the second and last Cursed Ragdoll from his system storage.

“Get your binary clone to hurt the Mutated Undead considerably, and then get me some of its hair so I can curse it. Meanwhile, you will stay back and protect Donny and me.”

Master Abraham studied him for a moment, then nodded slowly.

“Acceptable.”

Donald merely let out a heavy, frustrated, and frightened sigh. He wondered which was the better idea: get back to the APC and use its guns, or stay close to the C-Class Executioner.

Of course, the best and safest option was the latter, so he ran back to the master and student duo.

The undead horde was upon them.

Master Abraham threw Roy an E-grade energy crystal and absorbed three himself.

And then, his Binary Clone manifested again, and this time, he armed himself with the chainsword and high-tech rifle. The original Abraham gripped his scythe and said:

“Your plan is good, but I want to see that undead up close.”

He grabbed a kunai from his Array and placed it in his mouth, while he left his right hand free, most likely to help wield the scythe more effectively.

“I’ll be back.”

Roy nodded and sheathed the netherstone dagger, opting for the high-tech pistol with explosive rounds. He had already put the cursed doll in one of his pouches.

The original charged first, meeting the initial wave of living dead head-on, his scythe cleanly cutting the head of the first White Ghoul.

From then on, he manifested his plane circles, creating a mid-air path that led deeper into the horde. His movements were graceful and calculated, occasionally reaping the heads of the undead below him.

“Stay behind me,” the clone said, and in a black flash, cleaned off the heads of the closest undead.

Donald raised the shotgun he brought and blasted at the undead, too; same for Roy with the pistol.

The battle had begun.

Roy didn’t believe hell was any different than this.

The sheer number of undead was overwhelming. For every one they killed, two more seemed to take their place. The Homunculi were everywhere, their horrible chant creating a maddening cacophony:

“Stay behind me! Stay behind me! Stay behind me! Stay behind me!”

Roy shot at the critical place, just as Master Abraham had shown him—neck shots on all undead, big or small.

Roy kept moving, never staying in one place for more than a few seconds. However, he always remained close to Master Abraham’s Binary Clone, as that was who helped him reload when he was out.

A Reanimated Weredeer lunged at him from the side, but Master Abe suddenly appeared, slashed its upper body, and disappeared just as he came. Roy covered the distance, and as the undead stumbled, he drew the netherstone dagger and drove it into the base of the creature’s neck, and then tore through the back, striking the energy crystal that kept it alive.

[You have slain the weak undead, Reanimated Weredeer.]

[+60 EXP.]

No time to celebrate. A Fleshwalker was already reaching for him with a dozen grasping arms. Roy backstepped, firing into its mass of eyes. The creature shrieked and recoiled.

Master Abraham was a whirlwind of precise violence. His scythe moved like lightning, each strike perfectly calculated. He would cut, pivot, sweep, and reap in a seamless flow. And on the opposite side of the battlefield, his clone dominated the undead with the chainsword and rifle, strange and weak alike.

The man was like a force of nature.

However, even with both of them fighting at full capacity, they were being pushed back.

The original had still not engaged the Gate Boss in battle, as the blasted creature had its undead minions throw themselves in to prevent Master Abraham’s advancement.

The three Nightwraiths hadn’t engaged directly yet. They floated at the edges of the battle and suddenly let out the loudest shriek ever in unison.

Master Abraham’s clone had calculated this outcome and had erected multiple layers of spheres, covering him, Donald, and Roy, muffling the effects of the shriek. If Donny had heard it, he wouldn’t have survived it.

BOOM!

Surprisingly, one of Master Abraham’s planted explosives detonated, taking out a cluster of Homunculi. Even now, the C-Class Executioner continued setting up the battlefield to his own liking, Roy realized. Every position, every movement, had been calculated to lead the undead into kill zones.

But there were too many this time.

“Circle of Order.”

The black halo expanded from the original Master Abraham, encompassing a large section of the battlefield. Everything slowed except for him, and he zoomed towards the Mutated Undead.

The Reanimated Elder Weredeer’s hollow eyes gleamed, and a purple ball appeared in the middle of its massive antlers and shot!

The beam was as fast as Master Abraham, if not faster. He twisted his body and dodged it, and the beam struck several undead, charring them completely.

However, the C-Class Executioner didn’t stop. He forged on!

Roy only saw the purple beam far into the horde and scanned around.

“Oh God…” he muttered. His heart sank.

The three Nightwraiths that were directing their waves of the undead had coordinated themselves to the point where Roy, Donald, and Master Abraham’s clone were now in the eye of the storm.

All around them, there were undead!

They were being herded.

“Master!” Roy shouted. “They’re boxing us in!”

“I know,” Master Abe’s clone said, his eyes darting from place to place, and his mind clearly racing, calculating.

Roy didn’t understand, but the thing about MATH was… one could never control all the variables; some had to run free. But in the end, it would all work out for the Host’s own good. It was never about controlling the chaos, but riding its storm to one’s desired final destination.

In this case, it was to slay the Boss of the False Rank 1 Gate.

At that moment, Master Abraham dodged another purple beam of the Reanimated Elder Weredeer and cut through an undead Spearhead Wyvern that tried to block him.

And then in a black flash, he cut the root of the massive left antler of the Mutated Undead, rendering it incapable of shooting out those purple beams!

“GROOUGHH!!!”

It let out another blood-curdling wail that resounded across the battlefield, while Master Abraham landed with a glide behind the creature and grinned.

In the next second, he had already disappeared.

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