Chapter 16: Second Crime Scene
Before Eren’s face was unmasked, some part of him still thought about escaping from this party when they weren’t paying attention to him, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
But now Eren wouldn’t let anyone live to tell the tale of his presence in the woods.
The party took this time to decide on their next set of actions. They a.s.sumed that Eren must be a wanted criminal of Osan city. The various parties and the city lord’s forces that had entered from the northern part of the woods will regroup at the Simar lake. Isaac’s party would hand Eren over to the city lord’s forces to get him processed.
They were planning all this while the wart-less brat was standing right beside them. Eren was already rankless. They had still taken a precaution against him by tying his hands. They didn’t need to be vigilant against this brat anymore.
Eren was exactly waiting for this chance. He had willingly surrendered to the party for this reason. After securing him on a leash, Eren knew the party members would forget about him.
Eren asked Reen to dissolve the ropes that were used in tying his hands. Then Reen coated his entire body in an almost transparent protective layer. Eren looked liked only he was dipped in a pool of water and that water had wrapped itself around it.
The light’s reflection and refraction index had been changed by the protective layer. And that had distorted Eren’s usual visage. It was making him look like a devil that didn’t belong to this world.
This change in Eren’s appearance had happened in moments. Isaac’s party members didn’t have a chance to observe the change as they were busy planning things.
By the time smarta.s.s decided to check up on Eren by looking in his direction, Eren had disappeared from his initial place.
Reen’s protective layer had enhanced Eren’s body stats by many folds than his real values. It had practically made him an F cla.s.s hunter that was on the verge of being promoted to E rank. Reen could even go beyond that, but Eren’s rankless body wouldn’t be able to take the strain.
With his enhanced body stats, Eren appeared behind the healer of the group which was another girl. It had finally dawned on Eren when he was caught in a pinch that he could let Reen turn his fingers into the sharp claws of a beast. He used those claws to pierce the girl’s back on the left, just below the ribcage. He felt the girl’s heart beating and quickly squashed it.
Eren didn’t stop to look at the result of his handiwork. Next, he targeted another girl who was a mage. She had already gotten aware that Eren wasn’t some rankless n.o.body they thought him to be. He was a devil in human’s clothing. Maybe the way this wart-less devil was looking right now was what he looked like.
But it was a moment too late for her. Eren pierced the mage girl Selena’s throat and yanked her larynx out. Eren had removed her larynx to stop her from chanting.
Selena had raised her hands to cast a spell on him. Eren handed Selena’s yanked larynx in her raised hands. And then moved towards the smarta.s.s.
Selena’s neck had started spurting blood in gallons. But her attention was on the thing that was in her hands. Her face displayed her shock and dismay.
Selena would have never thought in her wildest dreams that she would die like this. Holding her larynx in her hands. Dying by loss of blood and a fatal injury to her neck. Even when she had the best healer of their age in her party.
Selena looked at her healer and saw her die immediately after Eren had appeared behind her. The healer died immediately. She didn’t have a chance to heal herself. So healing Selena was out of the question.
Then as her gus.h.i.+ng blood created a pool around herself, Selena watched Eren engaging with the remaining three party members simultaneously.
Selena, with her fading consciousness, saw one of her party members getting his stomach ripped open by Eren’s bare hands. Then she saw Isaac dying next. His face had turned 180 degrees. She could see him look at her as the last embers of his life were extinguished from his eyes.
Selena finally fell in her pool of blood that was slowly getting absorbed by the ground below her. Her hands had unwittingly gone to her neck while still holding the larynx that was once located inside it. Maybe her subconscious was trying to fix her broken neck with the broken parts without realizing it was all in vain.
Then Selena saw the smarta.s.s begging for his life in front of Eren. He was the only one left alive. He wanted to have some talk with his potential killer it seemed. Too bad, that killer wasn’t interested in buying whatever the smarta.s.s was trying to sell to him.
Eren gripped the smarta.s.s’ head in his vice-like grip. His fingers dubbed as claws sunk deeper into the victim’s scalp. Then Eren exerted some more force and the smarta.s.s’ brain matter in grey came out from wherever they could.
The smarta.s.s had died because of his brain spilling out. Literally and metaphorically.
Even Selena thought with her last dying breath that it was all the smarta.s.s’ fault. He just had to open his mouth and force this devil to kill them all.
Only now Selena realized that she should have trusted her guts. But it was too late for regrets. She had to swallow the bitter pill.
But could Selena even swallow that pill now that her neck was in this condition?
‘Hehehehe’! Selena laughed at that thought.
Selena’s last dying thoughts consisted of some lame pun. That pun had brought a smile to her face. And that face seemed frozen in time as she died with that smile plastered over it. It was a hauntingly weird combination. So weird that somebody would get spooked after seeing the crime scene.
The creator of that crime scene was now huffing long breaths. Reen’s protective layer had granted him enhanced stats but his body wasn’t ready to sustain the burden that would get placed because of it.
Eren’s breath was uneven and he was sweating. His joints were creaking a little. But he was fine overall. At least in much better condition than his latest five victims who were lying dead all around him.
His victim’s blood had never even touched Eren’s skin once. Whatever blood that was sprayed over him had gotten absorbed by Reen’s protective layer. Her extreme metabolism never let her waste food.
Reen was asking if she could eat the bodies that were served in front of her like an all-you-can-eat buffet. But Eren controlled her. This wasn’t the time. They needed to get away from his second crime scene. Otherwise, he would be forced to create crime scenes after crime scenes until someone did the same to him.
Eren quickly grabbed the five members’ ID stones. He’ll at least make use of these five party members’ possessions. Otherwise, it would be just worthless bloodshed without any actual benefits to him.
Eren now had ID stones of seven members from Dom’s Raiders and five stones from this newbie party. He’ll take his time gauging the spoils of war once he gets home.