"There! Get the—argh!"
SLASH!
THUD!
Thinking about what Chaos Revenant said about improving his skills first, Kane swapped into his Goblin Form and started exploiting his goblin Sneak skill. But he was disappointed as his opponents were just on level 40.
"Ughhh... what's with this XP received. It's too low for me to level up!"
GRRRRRR!
Kane suddenly ducked upon seeing the catapults being mobilized.
"Hmmm, these were cool AF. These were a whole new level of machinery compared to the ones we stole from the Orcs."
But Kane suddenly looked on his shirt.
"Oh, yeah? I'm one of them right now!"
Kane bravely stood up and confidently joined the raging invaders like he was one of them.
"There! There! There! Aim it at that mountain!"
But this idiot actually pinpointed Tormund's undiscovered location instead of Presley's already spotted location.
The invaders were doubtful about his energetic appearance, but suddenly, the hwachas were fired once again.
PEW! PEW! PEW!
Seeing that Kane pointed at the Tormund's accurate position, the invaders lowered their guard at the pretender.
TOK! TOK! TOK!
The Invaders started to charge the catapults, but Kane suddenly kicked the whole catapult away.
[Goblin Strength]
PAK!
WHOOSH!
The catapult's aim was shambled that the boulder went straight at one of their huts.
"Wait?! Isn't that Commander's Hut?"
"Holy Shit! Who moved the catapult?!"
They all stared at Kane. But Kane stared back at them like an ugly puppy that just got caught red-handed. It was a look that will make you punch him in the face. But with his stiff body, the invaders didn't believe he was the one who pushed the catapult.
They loaded the catapult once again.
WHOOSH!
BAM!
It went to another one of their huts!
"You!"
One of the invaders got mad that he jumped down just to grab Kane's collar.
"Was it you?! Why did you move the catap—"
"Who fired at my Tent?!"
The commotion was immediately stopped as the Darkin Commander along with the Sparrow Commander approached them.
Luckily, Kane was on the ground while the invaders were on top of the catapult, reloading the machinery. Kane immediately shouted.
"I was trying to stop them! I told them they're aiming in the wrong direction! But look at what they're doing to me!"
The Darkin Commander shifted his gaze toward Kane's neck. The other invader realized his predicament, that he immediately released his grasp on Kane's collar.
"No! He's the one who fired it!"
But Kane suddenly fell down to the ground and started coughing, acting like he was dying after being grabbed by the collar.
"This little shit! Stop acting!"
Knowing that he would lose the argument, the invader took out his sword and tried to stab Kane.
SLASH!
"Argh!"
But in just one swing, the whole line of catapults and bandits were sliced in half by the Darkin Commander.
"Oh, so he was saying the truth..."
The Darkin Commander was surprised that Kane survived his swing.
"I didn't know I have a talented soldier. Because you were never one of us, to begin with."
A large health bar appeared on Kane's screen.
COMMANDER MUNYAN OF THE DARKINIAN ARMY LVL 150
'Shit. Level 150.'
With no other choice, Kane took out his club from his inventory.
SHING!
"Oh, a Paragon."
Munyan leaned backward and stare at the Sparrowman.
"This guy is one of yours. Are you really sure your squad got wiped out?!"
KKKKZZZTTTT!!
WHOOSH!
While in the middle of their conversation, a lightning was slashed onto them, horizontally. The Sparrowman defended Munyan's back while Kane took the chance to attack the invader head-on.
CLANG!
But Munyan completely blocked Kane's club with his massive greatsword.
The lightning called all of the invaders in the area except for Munyan and the Sparrow Commander. The culprit of that attack appeared and walked toward them.
"Commander, what are you doing here?!"
It was the raging Pazkal with a fuming look on his face.
"You betrayed the Empire. I get that Paragons were immortals anyway. People like me will just respawn. But what about those Arcadians that joined your ranks?!"
"Hmph. Munyan, I'll take care of this kid. You take care of that brat."
Munyan's blade suddenly glowed.
SHING!
He swung it sideways toward Kane.
"Ugh!"
Kane tried to block it off, but the greatsword suddenly became a giant sword made of yellow energy. It was too big for Kane to block that he was blown away toward a certain building.
BAM! BAM! BOG!
Kane passed through a lot of walls before finally stopping.
"Ughhhh... fuck..."
[Status: Fractured]
With Kane no longer in the equation, Munyan turned around and stood beside Pazkal.
"Take care of that brat? It doesn't suit me. Let's stop wasting time and finish this mess."
"Be careful. That guy is also a Paragon."
"Ugh. How troublesome. Now we can't hide what happened here. We can't stop this guy from spouting on the Paragon world."
"This was just bad luck. No one would've recognized me under my golden armor. Except for this guy who knew me personally. We can't do anything on their world, but we can at least silence him in this world."
***
After swimming through a pile of rocks, Kane finally managed to get out of the rubble.
"Oof!"
[Status: Fractured]
"I knew it would happen. Good thing I used my Alchemy Points."
As someone who already died in one shot on multiple occasions, Kane could somehow sense his impending death.
Before he was blasted away, Kane used his [Another Sacrifice Skill] to survive.
[Another Sacrifice]
Use your alchemy points to regain health or mana or to temporarily increase damage.
"Ugh... I better change before someone unexpected would appear again."
[Advanced Metamorphosis – Change to Fallen Monkey Form]
With that, two of his forms were now unavailable.
"Now, let's see if there's any enemi—waahhh!!"
In just a few steps away from the rubble, a human suddenly appeared and nearly gnawed Kane.
"What the fuck?! You shit! You startle—Huh?"
But it wasn't just a human. It was a human that was crystallized in green glowing crystals with machines connected to them.
"W-What's going on here... they're... they're all players."
The entire room was filled with crystallized bodies with different IDs above their heads. Their expression on their faces clearly showed that they fought so hard. But it was futile as they were still frozen in these crystals.
"Ah, damn it. This is creepy as heck! I better run!"
BOG! BOG! BOG!
"Help!"
Kane turned around as he heard a scream. Kane's eyes dilated upon seeing the hundred of caged prisoners. All of them were Paragons.
"W-What's going on?"
On one of the cages, a man suddenly jumped to the cell's barred windows to plead at Kane.
"Dut boys! Kuyn! Ur u Kuyn?!"
Despite the muffled voice, Kane knew what he was saying.
Kuyn.
Kane.
Kane was flabbergasted upon hearing someone recognized him. He slowly walked forward through the dark alley and saw that it was a man who was blindfolded and had his mouth gagged.
'Hmmm... blindfolded? Does this guy recognized me in my real life voice?'
Kane walked nearer to take a closer look.
'Who the fuck is this guy?!?!'
"Kuyn! Dat wus u, reyt?!"
Despite seeing his ID, Kane couldn't remember who he was.
[ID: Dreyer]
Kane slowly analyzed his appearance—a young Asian man with long hair.
'The heck? I don't know who this guy was. But I feel like I saw him before.'
"Eit me! Kurtus!"
Kane tried to ungag him.
KZZZTTT!!
"BURUBURUBURUBURUBURUBURU!!!"
But electricity suddenly surged inside Kane's body upon touching the metal bars.
"Argh! Damn it!"
Despite falling down, he was not giving up. He was Kane, the hero that would save everyone. He would never give up. Kane walked forward to try to free him once again.
"I'm Kurtus! KUR-TUS!"
But Kane finally realized who he was talking to. Dreyer, the same companion that he went with when he cleared the Fruit Eye Cave the first time.
He was Dreyer. A character that was played by Kurtus.
Kurtus. Or audibly... Mr. Cortez.
Kane's former landlord that kicked him out of his apartment, Dreyfus Cortez.
The hero's expression suddenly became grim. He slowly took a step back and made his voice deeper.
"Kuyn? I nuvur hurd uf dut."
"Kane! That's you, right?! Help us!"
But on the prison cell beside Dreyer's holding area, another set of prisoners called out at Kane.
[ID: Malloy]
[ID: Rafter]
With Kane, Malloy, Rafter, and Dreyer in this area, Kane's first team that he ever joined finally reunited with each other except for Birthos.
Because Malloy and Rafter's screams, Dreyer became more erratic than his shouts became louder than ever.
"Kuyn! Kuyn!"
To stop them from talking, Kane immediately equipped his Sorrowful Mask that Brahmian repaired. But it was too late as Malloy and Rafter already recognized him.
"Help! Come on, Kane! Remember us?! You betrayed us at the Fruit Eye Cave! This is your chance to redeem yourself!"
"Huh?! I never did any of that?!"
***
Outside the camp, the heavily bloodied Pazkal tried his best to stand up, but his knees were totally busted that it forced him to use a physical blade as a cane to stand up.
While Pazkal's condition looked terrible, both of his opponents were completely fine.
But the Sparrow Commander shifted his head toward the prison area as he felt something.
"What?"
It was like someone was whispering through his ear.
He recognized it. It was the voices of his vengeful companions that were emanating from Kane's mask. The Sparrowman quickly turned around and started walking toward the building.
"Where are you going?" Munyan asked.
"The kid that you hurled earlier, he's still alive. I'll take care of it."
While Munyan was looking back, Pazkal took the opportunity to jump at him.
SLASH!
But he was slashed in the chest.
"Pitiful. A Captain of the Imperial Army, hitting someone in the back."
PAK!
Munyan unleashed a jarring kick at Pazkal's face that knocked him cold.
"One down."
The bandit leader tried to take him away with his bare hands, but fortunately, Presley and the others just arrived in time.
***
PAK! PAK!
SHING!
PAK!
SHING!
"Argh! It's not working!"
After a few minutes of arguing, Kane tried to unlock the gates, but he couldn't since he didn't have any pick locking skill.
"Don't you have any picklocks?" Malloy asked.
"Why would I have one? I'm not a thief or assassin class."
Of course, he does. Picklocks were cheap consumable materials. Higher-graded picklocks were a bit costly, but they were still bearable.
But...
He never used it before. So he would just embarrass himself as he doesn't know how to use it. And also, he wouldn't want to waste his precious money on some people that won't have anything to offer to him. Truly a hero.
"I just wanna say, I'm just really a newbie way back at the Fruit Eye Cave. I'm even the one who stupidly charged toward the Monkey alone."
Luckily, Malloy and Rafter were also oblivious of the Fallen Monkey's attack patterns that they didn't know that attacking it first was actually more beneficial.
"Yeah. We understand. Just release us!"
After a few seconds of conflicting beliefs inside Kane's head, Kane finally took out his picklocks. Malloy immediately took it upon seeing it.
"I have a pick locking perk. But it's still hard for me to unlock this since I'm on the other side of the gate! Give me all your other pick locks. I need more attempts."
"That's my only picklock."
"Oh, come on! No one buys a single picklock! You buy this in bulk!"
Kane regretfully took out his picklocks and handed them toward Malloy.
"Thanks!"
"YOU THERE."
A voice suddenly echoed throughout the room. Kane turned around and saw the Sparrow Commander.
'Who's this guy again? Ah, a henchman of that bandit dude.'
Kane removed his mask before giving a bright smile toward the Sparrowman.
"Sir! I'm just checking the prisoners!"
"Wow, did you think I'm stupid? Did you think I already forgot you were blasted away by Munyan a few minutes ago?"
'Hmmm, so this guy wasn't just an easy henchman.'
The Sparrowman continued walking forward.
"Tell me. Why do I feel like my companions are inside of that mask of yours?"
"C-Companions... you're a Sparrowknight?"
"So, it is my fellow soldiers trapped inside that mask of yours. WHO ARE YOU? AND WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?"
A Sparrowman. It wasn't the first time that Kane faced them.
His most recent encounter with these soldiers was way back on the Centennial. He already killed tens of them along with Heraldian Horrors with the use of fire barrels.
He wasn't even LVL 100 before, but now the LVL 108 Fallen Monkey Form was in his possession. Kane courageously stepped away from the cells and faced the Sparrowman.
'Hmph! Sparrowmen! You were just LVL 100! I'm now much, much stronger than you!!'
A large health bar suddenly appeared.
SPARROW COMMANDER FINN WELMANN LVL 130
HP: [?/?]
Andddddd it was far more than was he expected.
Plus, he defeated all those Sparrowmen way back on the Centennial because of careful preparation. But now, he was totally unprepared.
The only thing he was equipped with right now was his wits and wills. How could someone like him defeat one of the strongest soldiers of the Synderium Empire?
But unlike before, Kane was actually smiling.
It was the same feeling that he had when he faced the Fallen Monkey for the second time.
'How much stronger did I become?'
[Monkey Dive]
Kane didn't back down and bravely leaped toward the Sparrowman.
Author's Note: I will be taking a break. Things were a bit busy during these times. Happy Holidays, everyone! And take care of your health!