Bab 27: Hallel the Golden Reaper

Blood oozed like a fountain after the head got dismembered from its body.

"Uarghhhhhhhh!"

"Kugh!"

"Roaaaahh!"

One deathly scream after another. Dead bodies were scattered all over. Amidst the sea of corpses, one person strolled over in a relaxed manner. On closer look, it was actually a female. A female human in the middle of orc settlement, killing everything on sight.

"Heh, weak mob character."

She was without doubt a godkin. A HeavensTale player. A top ranker at that. Any HeavensTale player would surely recognized her gear. Every single armor piece and weapon she wore were legend tiered gear. She was of course one of those bewitching beauty thanks to spending time in this world for five year. A tall yet curvy, athletic body type of beauty.

She was one of the eight people who unlocked a hidden class, the Golden Luminary. She was none other than the famed Golden Reaper, Hallel.

Due to circumstances, she left human continent during the war five years ago. She had been living alone here in this demon continent, traveling all over, killing everything which were hostile to her. This settlement of orc was also one of those unlucky group which accidentally ended up as her victim.

She sat on one of the decapitated head of an orc as she reminisced her past.

"I wonder how Red Wargod had been doing these days. My life would be much better if he also came here."

She let out a heavy sigh while she was at it. This world immediately turned dull to her after the Great War five years ago. There were nothing worth doing anymore for her. Every day were filled with pointless journey and mindless killing all the way.

Back in HeavensTale, Hallel was without a doubt the best PvP player. If she proclaimed herself as number two, nobody would ever be thick headed enough to claim the first rank. Mays might though.

After the level cap hit one hundred back then, the PvP ranking for the best monthly player started. She held the first rank for two months before she was defeated by Mays on the third month. For every following month after that, she had never been able to defeat Mays.

They ended up with a draw every single time. Since Mays was the previous month first ranker, his ranking maintained being first even after the duel resulted with a draw. Because of that, Mays kept getting the first ranked reward while she could only settled with the second prize despite the result for their duel being a draw for the following ten month.

Two win, one loss and eleven draw. That was their personal duel results. At the moment, the current Hallel felt lonely because her opponent was not there. Mays was the only opponent she acknowledged in HeavensTale. Too bad she couldn't fight him anymore these days. If only she stayed at the human continent, she would be delighted for sure after knowing that Mays came to this world months ago.

After a few second, Hallel took out a sheet of paper, a map from her space belt and marked a huge 'x' on a location of that map.

"This one is a dupe too."

Her tone was quite disappointed as she stood again after looking at the map in her hand. She gripped it tightly before she put it back inside her space belt.

"Next stop was somewhere inside the HornedCat Duchy. I can expect to meet strong cat people there I guess."

Without looking back at the scene of carnage she made, Hallel walked away from the area.

Somewhere over the blue sky far away in the distance, several winged figure shook their head as they observed Hallel.

"Another settlement was destroyed."

"Yep, another one."

"Another one indeed."

These three winged people were an elite group of the Sky Overseer. Their job was to eliminate possible threat in the demon continent, especially stranded godkins like the woman they were observing right now. The main reason as of why they decided to just observe instead of engaging the woman was because the previous two team were already decimated by that human woman.

Trying not to commit the same mistake as their colleagues, they observed this human woman wreaking havoc and destroying everything on her path as she traveled all over the continent. They were even shocked several times upon witnessing how this frail female human managed to kill top tier combatant, the infamous intermediate bosses, alone.

"Now the woman walked toward the east."

"Yep, the east."

"The east indeed."

As if it was in their nature to sound redundant, they kept repeating the same thing in different tone. Maybe it was actually their way of talking but who knows. Now that Hallel already walked away, these fellow Sky Overseer also moved slowly toward the east, matching their pace with Hallel.

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"Master! Sorry for the disrespect. The situation earlier was bad."

"Nah, it's okay. I understand."

Mays urged the kneeling Golia to get up. Even now, he was still not used to spirits kneeling in front of him. Once Golia stood, his tall yet decently built figure towering over two meters made Mays looked kind of short. Golia who wore a rag tag set of equipment really looked like a beggar on a glance. They were all at most epic tiered gear without even a single one of them at the legend rank.

''MAYSSSSSS!!''

Before he could look to the side, Miur already leapt forward and hugged him tightly. Ria's eyes shone for a moment before Mays raised his hand, signalling her to stay put for now. Ria gripped her fist as she gave in after looking at Mays's desperate look. Even someone thick-headed like her could still read the mood.

"Just this once."

Mia muttered to herself before she looked elsewhere around the area.

"Len… Nova… Aria… hu… hu… everyone is dead… they… they… were killed… hu… hu…"

"Calm down Miur, you are safe now."

Miur who couldn't hold down her tear cried loudly in Mays's embrace. With Mays constantly whispering comforting words over and over, Miur finally calmed down. Behind them, Merle stood expressionless upon witnessing the battle scene filled with corpses of humans and vampires all over.

"What... what just happened?"

Merle who was clueless asked dumbly. He passed out after he was defeated by Horiga.

"Nothing much. We just clear up everything."

Mays replied nonchalantly. Currently he was still hugged by Miur. At the very least, Miur ain't as shocked nor hysterical as previously. Mays noticed that Len was also inside the barrier area but apparently he couldn't make it.

As for both Merle and Miur, they were fine now after being healed by Golia. Despite his shady outfit, Golia was still a Sage, one of the branches of healer class in HeavensTale. He could use healing skills just fine.

"So, it was true that we couldn't revive the dead even with skills from HeavensTale."

Mays sighed. He was told previously that despite healing skill was mostly the same as HeavensTale, revival skill were all out of question. Those skill could still be casted but there would be no effect from it. Just a total waste of magical power.

Out of the four he left at Merry City, only Miur survived this ordeal. If not because of the golden locket he gave her as a protection, even Miur might had perished without him knowing. He was glad that he gave that pendant to her on a whim.

"Syaitona, Damia and Aloha, gather all the corpses at one place. Mira, burn all those corpses. As for you Golia, go to your sister and explain the circumstances of the incident where you killed your whole village. She deserved to know the truth."

"Yes master!"

All the spirits replied in unison. They scattered right away, doing their own task diligently. Even the playful Mira consented to her job without a fuss.

"Miur, Merle. Tell me everything that happened before I arrived."

"Ooo… okay."

Merle was the first to answer while Miur just nodded.

"It started with the attack from a group of eight people, the triad. Ci Clan inside Jora city was connected to them."

"Erm."

Merle told every details of the story to Mays who was listening attentively.

"When did these vampires pop out?"

Mays curiously asked. He wanted to know about the origin of these vampires the most.

"They were already there when we clashed with those triad member. They revealed themselves after the group of eight people had been defeated by us. Apparently they were looking for some kind of clue."

"Clue?"

Mays asked again. That word was truly intriguing.

"Ahh… Those people actually asked about Rimau Kong. We don't know who that was."

Miur who stood by Mays's side suddenly added. She was there when the leader of this vampire group asked that. She didn't know who that was though.

"Rimau Kong? Who is that?"

Even Merle who lived in Jora city didn't know who that person was.

Only Mays knew since he slew that person himself. But again, the only thing Mays knew about that person was his look and the fact that he was the guardian of Ci Clan. For some vampire who came out of nowhere inquiring about that person which not even fellow townspeople knew about, there really was something fishy about it.

As for the other group of humans who fought off the vampires, they were the remaining member of the triad force who came to this city to subdue Miur and the rest of the party. They came to the conclusion of fighting those vampires after they saw the dead bodies of their comrades all over the area which was actually killed by Merle.

"So… After the leader of those vampire left, Golia came out and fight off those two to a stalemate. They then summoned a bunch of lesser vampire to corner him which led him to use his defensive spell. Those humans also came from the city around the same time and the battle turned chaotic. That summed up everything that happened, yeah?"

Mays who finished listening to the whole story asked for confirmation. Both Merle and Miur nodded, approving the fact stated by Mays.

"By the way, how do you know that those people were on Ci Clan side?"

Merle asked with a face full of expectation. He thought that if it was someone like Mays, he probably had some distinct method to differentiate people.

"I don't."

"Pardon?"

As if he had heard it wrongly, Merle asked again just for confirmation.

"I really don't know. I'm also a human."

"Whaat? Then shouldn't you at least side with other human considering how bizarre that situation was?"

Merle snapped as he rebuked Mays right away. From inside the barrier, he could watch the battle outside clearly. He saw how Mays and the rest killed everything without discrimination. Nobody in their right mind would decide on killing people of their own race in that situation. It was common sense to back up the human party whom they shared the same race with. Racial camaraderie or something of that sort.

"I dont know them, why would i care?"

Not planning to answer anything else, Mays walked away from them and sat on the floor nearby. He had been thinking about something since quite some time. Both Merle and Miur didn't say anything to him anymore either. They walked around looking at the scene with a difficult feeling.

Mays was still clueless about what lies beyond everything that happened. He tried connecting the dots but there were too much unseen variable hindering his deduction. He needed more information or he wouldn't get anywhere trying to figure this out.

"Perhaps…"

It was just a conjecture but Mays came to a conclusion from these bits of information he had with him. After combining them with the information he got from Jace and Sanortep, the conclusion he came to was that the demon continent was behind all this attack.

They might be planning something big, on par with the Great War five years ago.

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Even after making a huge ruckus outside the city, there were not even one people from the city who came out to check the situation. It was out of the norm considering how noisy it had been after Mays and the rest of his party joined the fray.

There was only one reason for this. A magic barrier. Apparently, one of those people from the triad was a gold ranked fighter who specialized in space magic. Before he joined the battle against the vampires, he already set up a magic barrier enshrouding the whole city, concealing the noise from the battle outside.

"Overthinking things was always my shortcoming. I should just stop."

Mays stopped himself from thinking about the situation at hand. It would just end up as a waste of time. Mays who was finally back to his sense observed his surroundings. He was lost in his thought for minutes after all.

On one side, he saw Mira and the rest of his spirits working diligently on disposing all the corpses nearby. On the other side, Golia and Silvia were still talking to each other. They needed to clear the misunderstanding after all.

Since they were not too far away from him, he could overheard what they were talking about when he focused on listening.

"Sorry, I dragged you into this mess. Brune Village's fate was already decided by the council."

Golia apologized several times while explaining his circumstances.

"It's okay. I understand everything now. Thank you for explaining it all to me. It must be hard for you, brother."

Silvia was calm. There were no more hesitation nor doubt in her eyes. She already acknowledged the story told by her brother as the truth. Spirits couldn't dispute the order of their master after all. Now that he had been ordered to explain the whole story, there was no way for him to fabricate it.

According to Ria, to prevent further debuff status from suddenly reappeared, just clearing the misunderstanding between involved party would do. But there were still cases where it still happened nonetheless. That kind of case was really rare though.

"At least the main problem is solved for now."

Mays let out a relieved sigh as he watched the two siblings talking to each other normally. There shouldn't be any more complication between them. Their case was the normal kind after all. If he by any chance had written a description about a blood debt which were impossible to talk about, he could only gave up on his spirits by then.

Further ahead of this siblings were Ria. Mays smiled as he averted his gaze toward Ria. Even from far away, her casual look was overwhelming. A beauty one wouldn't regret looking at every day. The cute innocent type face equipped with hourglass shaped body. Apparently, Ria was talking to Miur. Since he couldn't hear what they were saying from his current spot, he walked toward them slowly.

"Before Mays left last time… I confessed to him."

Mays halted his step as Miur just dropped a nuclear bomb that very moment. Mays could even felt killing intent emanating from Ria. Out of all the topic she could talk about, why would she choose that taboo topic? He couldn't even imagine how Ria looked like this very moment.

"But he rejected me."

Miur continued her story with a dejected tone. At the same time, the killing intent immediately dispersed from the area. Miur probably didn't notice because it was all in an instant but a martial artist like Mays could sense it.

"Oh?"

Ria pretended to be shocked. She kind of guessed that outcome already.

"He said that he already have someone dear to him, someone worth more than his own life. It was you, lady Ria. He said that without hesitation. I… I… was totally jealous of you."

"Mays… Mays really said that?"

There were clear trace of cheerfulness in her tone. Ria couldn't hide her happiness upon hearing that. Mays never said something that bold in front of her after all.

"Yeah he did. And after meeting you earlier, I give up. You win over me in every aspect. You are perfect. Beautiful, kind and strong. Please take good care of him."

"Obviously I will. I wouldn't think twice before putting my life on the line for him either."

Mays who eavesdropped on them walked away silently after listening to their cheesy conversation. He couldn't join the conversation at all considering the main topic was about him. At the very least, the atmosphere between the two of them were good.

Miur tried hard to hide her sadness but it still showed on her face. The death of Aria, Nova and Len had huge impact on her for sure. She still tried her best to cope with it.

"Maaaays. Come here, come here."

Just before Mays walked away from them, Ria called out to him. Helplessly, Mays walked toward them with a forced smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. What's up?"

"Nothing hehe. We just finished talking about you."

Ria talked with her usual cutesy tone. She only used this tone when she talked to Mays.

"Eeeh? What about me?"

Pretending to heard nothing previously, Mays probed them for a head up.

"N… nothing important."

Miur was the first to deny it.

"Hehe what else. Your awesomeness that is."

And just like that, Mays joined the two girl on their talk. He didn't say anything while attentively listening to their stories. With him being there, these two stopped talking about him afterward.

"That golden locket. I didn't believe it when you say something will come out when I pressed the dragon sculpture. If only I pressed it earlier, Len and the others might be…"

"Nah, I don't think so."

Mays butted in before Miur finished her line.

"From the story, I could deduce that the master of those two vampire earlier was at least a gold ranked intermediate boss. Even Golia would perish if he needed to fight those vampires alone."

At most, a max level elite spirit equipped with legendary gear would be an equal for a gold ranked intermediate boss.

There were four tier of spirits in HeavensTale.

The strongest spirit ever was the Fallen Angel Spirit, just one single copy of it in the whole HeavensTale, Syaitona alone. Second tier spirits were the elite elementals. There were only four kind of them which were the spirit of Fire, Earth, Wind and Water. There were only four copies of these elites elementals throughout HeavensTale.

Third tier were also considered elites. There were eight type of them and they were all secondary elemental spirits. At the very least, the third tier elites were not limited. One could get countless copies of their tablet by completing hard dungeons diligently.

The fourth tier which were also the weakest tier spirits among all were the class spirits. There were a total of thirty six type of class spirits corresponding to total class in HeavensTale excluding the hidden class. Unlike those elite spirits of third tier and above, they had a fixed class, fixed races and lower spec compared to them. Golia was actually one of these fourth tier spirits, an elven sage spirits.

"Even though he might look strong, he was actually the weakest spirit of mine."

"Yeah. He was just a fourth tier spirits after all."

Not just Mays, even Ria stated the outcome as if it was a fact. In Miur's eyes, Golia was nothing short of the other spirits, something way too strong for her to comprehend. But for Mays and Ria who was used to the mechanic of HeavensTale, basic calculation and comparison about bosses, players, spirits and gears was something they were sure of.

Looking at both of them with eyes of worship, Miur smiled. Despite everything she had been through, she only felt gratitude toward Mays. She walked several step away from them before she gazed at the two of them again.

"Thank you for everything."

Miur thanked the two earnestly. She expected a bright smile from them in return but they looked at her with a shocked face instead.

"What?"

"BEHIND YOUUU!!!"

Mays shouted as he jumped toward Miur hastily. Even Ria was rushing toward her. Miur was clueless until she felt a slight pain at her nape. Soon enough, her vision faded without her knowing what just happened.