The Extra's Odyssey

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The man walked with an unhurried gait.

As a high-ranking sentry, he should have been in a hurry to eliminate me and go outside to help.

But he knew.

I couldn't fight anymore.

Even if I could fight, he just has to defeat me again.

Hadn't he already defeated me without even breaking a sweat?

No, was that even a fight?

I snickered and shook my head. The pain was allowing me to think clearly a bit too much.

"..are you laughing?"

I raised my head.

"Y'k..now"

Vrroomm-

The air thrashed wildly.

Ether exploded outwards in a never seen amount.

My lungs were on fire, and my vision blurred. It was like a great force was crushing me to the ground.

Nevertheless, I burned every last drop of ether to stand.

"Oho, you can move in that condition?"

"I thought of something about you after h..hearing you speak."

My chest stung whenever I breathed, and my throat felt constricted. Speaking never was so arduous.

But I continued speaking.

"D..din't you say you earned your mental str..ength from the frontlines? But I t..think you were lying."

His feet came to a halt.

"You ran away from the frontline didn't y..you? That must be why you h..ave to work as a mere sentry at a s..mall tournament."

"You…"

I gritted as I tried to stand.

There was no need for me to stand. I could keep laying if I wanted to speak.

But I stood up.

"The t..thing about your strength being reduced to 50% was also a lie."

He glared at me in silence.

Did he think he could lie me into believeing that an Enma rank could break reinforced walls with only 50% of his strength?

His glare only made my grin bigger.

"Also, you were already here when I was fighting earlier with the sentries. You were gauging my strength to see if you could defeat me before fighting me."

"What are you trying to say?"

I stood up and pointed at him.

"I'm guessing why you are trying to kill me."

"Humor me."

"You ditched the frontlines after going through the Elves' and Barbarians' ambush. You ran away because you were scared."

"What happened after that?"

He answered back with a composed tone.

However, I saw his nails dug into his arms so tightly that he bled.

"After you returned to Earth, the memories of that ambush became a trauma for you. Overcoming that trauma is the reason behind your high mental strength."

"How is that connected to me killing you?"

He smiled calmly. But I knew it wasn't a sincere one. His was a calm before the storm.

"To prove yourself. The shame of running away and the envy toward the Irregulars who saved the Earth from a greater disaster at the same time."

I smiled back.

"You want to prove yourself by defeating an Irregular. To prove that you weren't wrong. And defeating me, a weak Irregular, will do that. A twisted sense of reasoning, if I may add."

Clap- Clap-

"Bloody fucking correct!"

The man applauded.

He dropped his act and revealed his true self.

"Everything you spoke was on point. There was just one mistake. The reason I didn't bring anyone with me wasn't that I wanted to prove myself but because I will get more rewards this way."

Cough- Cough-

Suppressing my coughs, I opened my thumb.

"But you only attacked me because I was weak, isn't that?"

He looked at my hand, specifically, at my finger gun, as he nodded.

"Correct. As a prize, I will make your death as painful as possible."

He grabbed my head and raised me into the air.

True to his words he slowly increased the strength behind his grip, trying to kill me by squashing my head.

However, I didn't cry in pain or beg for my life.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You see, there are no weak Irregulars. Bang."

Producing a sound, I made a motion of firing a gun with my finger.

He immediately twisted his neck to get away from the path of my finger.

However, nothing happened.

No bullet flew out of my finger.

"You and your tricks to the en-"

Pop-!

The man was shouting when he realized I was playing mind games with him, however, his head suddenly exploded.

His grip lost strength, and I fell back to the ground.

Some white liquid splashed onto me. I could see the pieces of his cerebral vortex all over the place as his body fell.

Yet I didn't avert my eyes.

I watched everything without looking away.

This was the consequence of my choices.

It was my job to see this to the end.

Thud-!

The headless body fell to its knees, marking the end of his life.

-Gruu!

The baby golem jumped down from his back and rushed at me.

-Grruuu!

It leaped into my chest, nearly knocking the air out of me, and cried heavily.

I stroked its small body.

"Don't cry, I'm fine."

However, the baby golem wasn't having it.

-Gruu

It kept crying, and I plopped to the ground with my back against the wall.

At the same time, Eth began shouting.

(Use the elixir!)

'No, I can still fight in this condition. I only need to rest for a few minutes.'

(You have broken ribs and other simple fractures in your forearms! You might even have ruptured an organ! Use the elixir!)

'Eth, calm down. You are overreacting.'

(…I'm overreacting?)

'I'm already having difficulty fighting in close quarters due to my left arm. It will be better if I fight from long range with my art. In that case, a few broken bones wouldn't hinder me.'

Eth stopped speaking. Was he convinced?

Pain can make it difficult to use techniques or arts as it disrupts your concentration.

But strictly speaking, the pain wasn't to the point it was hindering me.

Besides, as I won't be fighting in close quarters, I can focus more on my art, which in turn will increase the constructing speed.

-Grrruuu

Stroking the crying baby golem, I decided to rest for a few minutes before moving.

Since that Enma-rank man didn't bring more reinforcements, it was safe to say that this was the final battle for today.

With my back against the wall and one arm stroking the baby golem, I used my free arm to put pressure on the wound I got from the Lvl.15 warrior.

I gritted my teeth and tore my robe.

Using that piece of cloth, I roughly patched the wound to stop the bleeding.

Even if I could grit my teeth through the pain, I was no longer in the memory world.

My injuries won't heal by themselves and I could die from blood loss.

To distract myself, I thought back to the earlier fight.

Back when I used the smoke grenade, rubbles weren't the only thing I threw.

I also threw the baby golem.

Rather than using rubble to hide the smoke grenade, my aim was to use the smoke grenade to hide the baby golem.

At first glance, the baby golem's body appeared to be made of stones. This made it easier for it to be disguised as rubble.

From there, I only acted to stall the man. To allow the baby golem to sneak up on him.

"Haaa…"

Puchi-! Puchi-! Puchi-!

Covering the baby golem, I killed the three mages who were convulsing due to [Domination Decree].

Standing up, I brought the baby golem to my eye level and dragged my feet toward the prize room.

"Why did you kill him? I think you agreed that if I call for your help, you will only hit someone hard enough to, at most, knock them out."

-Gruu…

"Even if he was strong, as long as you distracted him for a few seconds, I could have killed him myself."

-….

The baby golem looked down.

I unconsciously bit my lips.

"Please… you don't need to taint your hands just for me."

I don't care what I have to do myself. It's my selfishness that I kill without remorse.

I knew it was hypocritical, but…

"You are only a child."

I didn't want to taint the small hands that looked at me as its parent.

As I hugged the baby golem, I felt relief wash over me. That I had someone who cared for me.

That I wasn't yet abandoned.