Chương 22: Glory Kill

<<Karl POV>>

After wallowing in self-pity for an indefinite amount of time, I pulled myself together with a few slaps on my cheeks.

"Get it together!!" I shouted as I began sprinting towards the Ackerman household as fast as I could. Blocking out every single worst case scenario my mind could conjure up, I kept running until I reached that familiar shack.

Arriving before the smashed door, I looked in disbelief at the grotesque sight, as my mind went blank for a second. Clenching my fists I entered the house as my heart continued to throb against my chest.

The doors to the inner rooms were broken down as blood decorated the wooden walls. A corpse was lying on the floor, with his head bashed in and a knife in his stomach as he held a broken arrow in his hands.

'How can I be so damn useless…!!' Looking at this scene, my tears threatened to fall as I cursed my own incompetence. With slow steps, I walked towards the corpse, to whom I owed so much…

A lump formed in my throat at the sight of the man who secretly gave me some candy, who taught me how to properly hunt and who showed me his collection of fish scales…

The same man who taught me archery and took me to explore the forests… I slowly reached out to him and held his lifeless and bruised hand.

"F*ck…" I cursed, for it was already too late. His body had already cold, long becoming a lifeless corpse…

Closing my eyes, I mourned in silence for a minute, for this man was the closest thing than I had to a real Uncle. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes with a determined gaze as I summoned a knife and cut open his hand.

Dropping a Blood Pill in the wound, I stood up calmly, before turning to look at what once used to be the head of Valir Ackerman.

"Uncle Valir, I'm sorry I couldn't save you… But, I promise to save the rest of your family, no matter the cost." I said with a sincere bow.

"I swear that I will never let your sacrifice go to waste." With that, I turned away, just as a familiar ding echoed in my head.

<+>

[Quest ;]

[Justice]

[Type: Main-Sub]

[Summary: Avenge the death of Valir Ackerman and save his family.]

[Reward: 1000 Gene Points. Trust of the Ackermans.]

[Penalty: -500 Gene Points. Death of the Ackermans.]

[Progress: Ackermans saved (0/3), Kidnappers Killed (0/4)]

[Progress: 0%]

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After checking the quest details, I observed the room in hopes of finding anything useful.

'Maybe he awakened his Ackerman gene…' I thought noticing the signs of struggle and splinters everywhere. The rooms were completely ransacked as a trail of blood lead out of the house.

'If only I had searched harder or convinced them to move away from here, this wouldn't have happened...' I thought, yet I already knew. Those were nothing but pipe dreams…

I found my bow and a set of arrows stashed away at the usual spot. Storing them in my inventory, I left the house without turning back.

Running towards the location in my memories, I calmly tried to figure out the reason for my failure…

'That Boss f*cker had explicitly stated that they'd do it tomorrow… Then why did it happen today? There's still an hour left until midnight, meaning there's only one explanation…'

'There's no way they knew someone was eavesdropping on them, meaning they lied to that Ethel bastard… But, why?' I thought until a simple realization hit me.

'He must've been just a grunt, who was used and thrown away...' I guess disposing him will only do the Boss f*cker a favor, but I couldn't care less...

"I'm gonna wipe the entire gang off the face of this f*king planet!" I roared, letting out the frustrations that I had pent up.

Suddenly, my body felt weak as my vision began blurring. Checking my status, it showed my stamina at the single digit levels.

'I didn't take a single break all this while, huh…?' I thought with a small sigh. Pulling out a Stamina Potion, I gulped it down, waiting for my exhaustion to fade away.

<+>

[Stamina Potion-Minor]

[Restore 100 points of Stamina.]

[Cost: 50 Gene points.]

<+>

'I only have one more left…' I needed to be careful about these. I barely had a hundred Gene Points left, so I couldn't afford to be wasteful right now.

And, almost as if I had jinxed it, my enhanced senses picked up a scream. It was incoherent, but it was the voice that made my face go pale.

"Mikasa?!!" I shuddered as I mumbled out loud, immediately picking up my pace. In a few minutes, I arrived with the shack in eyeshot, as my eyes blazed with anger.

At this distance, I could make out a man trying to choke Arran through the open window. Without another thought, I summoned the bow and knocked the arrow, pulling the string until it was taut.

Releasing the arrow, I returned my bow to my inventory, not doubting for a single second that I would miss, even though I was spiriting all along.

A few seconds later, a beep echoed in my head as I arrived right before the window, jumping straight in.

<+>

[Achievement Unlocked: First Blood]

<+>

Looking around, I was greeted by the sight of Nero with an arrow piercing through the sides of his neck and the fat Boss bastard crushing… This motherf*cker!

I looked at him, straight in the eye as I clenched my fists hard enough for them to bleed. At that, he backed away, realizing that I had just promised him an utterly gruesome death with a simple yet murderous glare.

"Rest. I'll take care of this." I said to the wounded Mikasa, who promptly fainted. Observing her battered figure, with a bleeding nose and feet coupled with bruised shoulders, I immediately administered a Health Potion.

Carrying her towards her family, who had fainted at one corner of the room, I huddled them up, before kicking away a stupid bastard's corpse.

'I wish I could have tortured you more…' I thought looking at the corpse regretfully.

'It's a pity that that my first kill wasn't anything special, but I had more material here, right?' I cheered myself up, turning to the sweaty fat f*ck who was standing still.

"Are you like her?" He asked, pointing Mikasa. He spoke calmly, in contrast to his sweaty face and trembling hands. Well, I did kill his subordinate with a single arrow, so I guess he's wary.

"Kuhahahaha!!!"

"F*cker, if she's the monster, then I'm the devil himself!!" I laughed, uncaring of his perplexed expression. Playing as an overconfident brat would be better, no?

'Now, how should I take care of you. I even have some knives this time!' I thought, as I observed his greasy body. Since it was a head on fight, I'd be at quite a disadvantage.

An average adult has a minimum of 40 points in each stat, which was 15 more than what I had. Still, I'd probably be the strongest in my stat-group, solely because of my skills.

'I guess I need to be smart about this…' I thought, finalizing my plan.

With that, I closed the distance between us, landing a few weak punches on his sides and belly. Of course, feeling the strength behind my punches, he smirked as he began his offensive as well.

Exchanging a few blows, I made sure to barely dodge his bat at the last moment, giving him the illusion of his superior prowess.

This series of punching and dodging continued for a while, until my instincts rang all of a sudden. In response, I paid close attention as he swung his bat in a wide arc and noticed the slight twitching in muscles.

Coupled with my enhanced reflexes and years of experience of watching cliché anime battle scenes, I cringed at his feint, opting acting as if I had fallen for it. Ducking under the bat, I could see his sneer as he suddenly switched the direction of his swing.

Only problem was that I jumped in the air, laying waste to his carefully devised attack move. He showed a bit of surprise at my actions, until he saw a light glinting in my hands.

His face paled in realization as I thrust the knife deep into his shoulder blades until only the hilt could be seen. Obviously, he fell on his ass, singing my most favorite song!

"Gaahhhh!!!" He screamed as I used his face as a foothold to perform a graceful somersault. Admiring my skill as an acrobat for a bit, I turned to see the fat bastard writhing around as blood gushed down his limp right hand.

"You'll bleed to death if you pull it out, you know?" I advised him as he clutched the hilt, earning a murderous glare in return. Sigh… Boomers these days just refuse to take some constructive advice!

Nevertheless, he stood up again, with one hand limp and the bat in his free hand.

"How'd you… do that…?!!" He asked with deep breaths as his face contorted with pain.

"The knife? Guess~?" I said with a playful smile.

'Well, this guy isn't that much of a threat now… Should I try that on him?' I mused as the fatass got onto his feet with an oddly determined gaze.

'Let's try it!' I thought, dodging his hasty and desperate swings. Seriously, why do villains always do this when they're losing?

"Oi! Fat f*ker! I'm kinda feeling sorry for you, so I'll give you a nice handicap!" I said, closing the distance between us. Arriving before him, I shut my eyes, giving myself completely to my senses.

"Dumbass!!" He screamed as I began my 'Intensive Anime Protagonist Training Course'. Feeling the wind brushing past my body, followed the touch of the cold metal as the sound of the wind cutting reached my ears, I barely dodged the blow, still bruising myself.

And so, training under a murderous master, I continued honing my skills under his barrage of swings, getting better at dodging with each swing.

Soon enough I was able to dodge each swing with the most minimal movement as I felt my senses strengthening even further. Of course, it wasn't because he was getting tired, but my own power growing!

Finally, as the bastard collapsed, I opened my eyes to see him clutching his wounds as he gasped for air.

"Is that the best you can do?!" I asked spreading my arms, fairly reminiscent of a certain MCU character during the Ultron fight sequence.

"Boss, the carrai- What the fuck?!!" And, as if I had jinxed myself, the door burst open as another lanky man entered the room. He was stunned at the sight of a dead comrade and his Boss bleeding out on the floor.

"How cliché…" I sighed as the new guy turned to me with palpable bloodlust. If glares could maim, I'd probably fit in a lunch box by now…

"Joshua!! Kill the kid!!!" The Boss shouted, as Joshua lunged at me with mad rage. Once again, sighing at his cliché villain tactics, I called out to Isa, offering her the deal of a lifetime.

'Isa! I bet 500 Gene Points that this guy goes for my jugular!' I thought waiting for my trusty system to respond, which it did, after he was close enough to choke my neck.

[Unable to process Host's request.]

Clicking my tongue, I stepped back just in time as Joshua clasped onto air. Holding up a knife, I waited as the Physical Laws of Momentum delivered unto me his blasted soul.

"Aaahhhh!!!" He screamed, as he landed on the floor, with the knife penetrating even deeper into his chest. Squirming like a bug, he died a few seconds later, in the most anti-climactic way possible...

"Dumbass. Why'd you run at me?" I spoke to his corpse as the fat bitch stared at this scene in utter horror and disbelief.

Turning to the boss with a gentle smile, I summoned my last knife, walking slowly towards him. He staggered back, trying to push his fat ass upwards. Sigh… Boomers…

"You should've never touched the Ackermans..." I said, as the cold steel brushed past his neck, forming a thin line of blood. Nothing too deep, but just enough to scare the shit out of him. Thankfully, not literally.

"Kill me…" He said, finally resigning to his fate. But, there was only one problem…

"Hmm… I will, but not until I've had my fun!" I smirked, punching him squarely in the jaw. Dusting my fingers, I walked down to his feet as he fell flat on the floor, coughing up blood.

"I've never seen a fish filet being made, so forgive me for my tardiness!" I said thrusting my kitchen knife in the middle of his foot, cutting through his flesh until his middle toe was severed in half.

Doing the same to his other foot, I moved to my next target. I was a little worried that his cutting open his legs would cause excessive bleeding, so I just moved to the wrists, severing them across the same axis.

He started crying and wailing, begging for mercy. But unfortunately, I couldn't hear it, over the sound of me thrusting a spare arrow through his face holes.

Of course, I let him revel in the pain at regular intervals, enjoying myself to the max as well! Gifting him a snake tongue, I moved on to the last part, his manhood.

And no, I wasn't going to see of touch that damn disgusting thing, so I just poked at it with my knife until I found it.

"Adios." I said, shoving my knife into what little manhood he had as I watched him spasm and tremble with a guttural roar.

A few second later, he stopped moving completely, as a familiar beep rang through my head.

With split open feet and wrists and multiple cuts along his pudgy fat belly, arrows though his ears and nose and one final blow to his pp, I had finally completed one of my greatest achievements!

<+>

[Achievement Unlocked: Glory Kill]

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All in all, I felt proud after a fine day's work. With a beep informing me that the quest was complete, I sat down on the floor, closing my eyes with a small sigh.

'It's finally over…' I thought, feeling that I had avenged Uncle Valir quite well. Now, to save the Ackermans and tie up one last loose end!

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A/N: I'm thinking of updating around this time everyday, possibly a little earlier. Another 2.5K BTW...