Nightmare System 9 Claude

"Customers, as I said." h.e.l.l replied. "Is this not a shop?"

Samuel was quiet but vigilant, he remembered what Identify had said about him. His identify was more thorough than others.

*…Man of Cursed Spirit has broken his own heart and mind into pieces to fend off the incessant attacks of djinns and demons. He has no concern for the lives of others except the few he holds dear. His twisted heart has managed to subdue the djinns and demons that specialize in attacking one's heart and mind. Emotional as he is, he began finding joy in the sorrow and sadness he feels to survive. Thus the reason he was chosen by the Impossible Nightmare System…*

This was an unpredictable, unstable man. Hesitance was present even in the hearts of warriors, mercy ran amok in the hearts of most brutal of tyrants at times, but this man enjoyed those negative emotions. He thrived in guilt and sadness even, which was much worse than a person without emotions. Samuel just wanted him to go away so he could do his business. Just some more money and he would sell the shop to some beginner to stock up on potions, weapons and everything else along with some he had in his shops if they weren't sold. He knew there was actually no time limit to being here, it had already been a year for himself. Some people who had nothing for them outside was here.

"How can I help you?" Samuel asked.

Leon answered, taking a step forward. "My newly acquired friend here insists there is a glaive that may suit me well. May we see it?"

"Sure." Samuel answered and brought out the glaive, listing its abilities. It was the same as h.e.l.l mentioned.

"How much is it?" Leon asked.

Samuel gritted his teeth and answered: "80 coins will suffice."

"80?!" Leon exclaimed. "Who has that kind of money here?"

h.e.l.l was grinning. This shop owner sure was convenient. He figured Samuel was giving him quite the discount now.

"I'll call the Justice Unit!" Samuel said when he saw h.e.l.l stepping forward, a bell in his hand. It was probably not a regular bell if he thought if he could summon those guys with it. It was possible that's how they communicated between shops and maintained order.

"Hey, no, I was just gonna say maybe if you could reserve it for us until tonight." We may want to buy it even against the exorbitant price you are putting out there!" h.e.l.l said with a smirk.

Samuel was enraged, but at least Ada was no longer with him. She was such a sweet girl, he had warned her to stay away from this evil ent.i.ty that called himself h.e.l.l. Then, suddenly, a chord struck within him.

"What did you do to Ada?!" Samuel yelled. "She was such a sweet girl, what did you do?!"

Leila made a faint comment that said: "Did you kill her, too?"

Samuel's eyes were suddenly bloodshot. He began ringing the bell. Ada reminded him of his sister. He wouldn't have it. "Murderers!" Samuel yelled.

Leon suddenly turned to h.e.l.l. "That's it! You are out! We are leaving you! How many people have you-"

"Let's just leave, eh?" h.e.l.l quickly replied.

There were already some people running toward the shop not so far away. h.e.l.l didn't know where these people had come from, suddenly converging on the way from all sides.

"In the name of Justice Unit, stop!" One of them yelled. They all wore decent armour and had proper weapons.

"We didn't do anything you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!" h.e.l.l yelled.

"Murderer." Leila commented again in a callous tone.

"Once we lose them, we are no longer a team, we can't handle someone like you." Leon yelled, infuriated. "I should just hold you down for them to kill you!"

h.e.l.l was getting angrier by the second. He was fine being blamed for what he did do, but he didn't do anything at all to that girl. He had just left her. "Listen here, dumba.s.s. I did nothing to her, we just parted ways after visiting that shop! I swear! Also, I'd like to see you f.u.c.king try."

Leon looked disgruntled, but stayed quiet.

"You are the dumba.s.s." Leila said.

"Look, there seem to be around 8-10 of them at best, just take Vaun with you as he won't be able to keep up any longer it seems. I'll handle them. Meet me at the fountain people get water from."

"Which fountain?!" Leon yelled.

"The one we saw while trying to find the shop. Not so far from where we killed those baddies."

"Well, how long should we wai-" Leon couldn't finish his sentence as h.e.l.l suddenly turned back.

"I'm sorry, boss!" Vaun yelled behind h.e.l.l, causing a grin to bloom on his face.

h.e.l.l was in front of the Justice Unit in seconds, they seemed tougher than the bandits he fought before. He didn't actually know if he could handle these guys.

"h.e.l.lo, people. Look, it's just a misunderstanding, I didn't kill anyone."

"We will decide that after your trial." The same man who yelled previously spoke up.

"A trial? You guys are joking, right?"

"Apprehend him." The man gave the order.

"Alright, alright. No need for any aggressive measures against an upstanding citizen such as myself. Here, take my weapon away, I don't care." h.e.l.l said and threw it at one of the upcoming players with all his might as It went through his brain, killing him instantly as he used Warping and resummoning Imp Needle to dispatch the second guy right after. Imp Needle went through one of his lungs, causing him to choke in his blood as he also puked some of it out. He fell limp on the floor, ignored by other players around him, thought to be dead.

*A player has been defeated*

*+10 mana has been acquired*

*A player has been defeated*

*+10 mana has been acquired*

"These guys were total small fries, what the h.e.l.l?"

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Capture him, dead or alive!" The same man yelled. "I, Claude Victorias swear that I will strike down all evil like you!" As a light of pure white began rippling out of him.

"Hey, you suddenly seem more delicious than I originally thought. h.e.l.l said as he backed off in speed with the remaining 6 players chasing him. He could gain another level here if he played his cards right, he was thinking. If only he had Leila's skill she used to blend in with the shadows, it would be so much easier coupled with his speed. Perhaps getting the skills of that duo would be a good idea. But he decided against it, he would be stuck here unless he cleared the condition of having a party, he a.s.sumed.

"Shoot him!" He heard Claude yell as around 10 arrows followed his way, one of them going through one of his legs and barely missing any bones or any important tendons, he presumed as he could still stand on it to an extent.

*HP: 180/250*

"d.a.m.n it. And I was being nice here, too."

He found the shrine of the system he was mentioned to before, where he would need to get the permit by giving it coins while running around. It seemed like a rather large shrine compared to what he had in mind. To be honest, h.e.l.l was imagining a slot he could drop money into and get the permit from. Although there was such a place in the middle, he still wondered why the place was so big. It seemed to be a large mansion. It was good enough. He would have a better chance if they couldn't gang up on him. He was having so much fun in these circ.u.mstances. His leg hurt a lot, the pain was fine but it lowered his speed to half of what he had. He couldn't put much distance between himself and the others. He drank one of the potions and recovered his leg in moments, which was then he heard the shout from the righteous Claude.

"Find him. He killed two of our brothers. They will be in our hearts forever, fighting with us even from the heavens, but we must bring justice to their deaths!"

Other players around him were rallied with his speech. h.e.l.l figured this was probably at least Vice President of this Justice Unit group, he had the quality of a leader.

He tapped the wall he was hiding behind slowly, trying to attract their attention and finish them off one by one. It was a success, a player was slowly walking toward him. Rain also started pouring down at this point, centred in the proximity of the large shrine. "I think he is there, behind that-" player was yelling as h.e.l.l jumped out of hiding spot to take the man's life. His Imp Needle barely went into his chest, meaning, he must have focused on his defence. He had failed to kill him and met with a counter attack as well. h.e.l.l's chest would be completely sliced open if it wasn't for the fact that this particular player had no extra points in strength. h.e.l.l laughed and used Rapid move to slash his throat open. The speed of this skill along with the point h.e.l.l attacked, it was obvious what would follow. The player started holding his throat to keep the blood from spilling and quickly took out a potion from his pouch as he tried to put some distance between himself and h.e.l.l.

"Oops, I'll take that, thank you." h.e.l.l used Rapid Move to get the potion from the man, and although he was shot with an arrow in the chest in this instance, he took out 2 of the arrows and drank it. It stopped his bleeding and healing him quite a bit still, but it turns out potions weren't as effective when drank one after another. He used Short Distance Warping right after to hide behind one of the columns while seemingly running toward a wall in the opposite direction. He hoped that would throw them off for a few moments.

*A player has been defeated*

*+80 mana has been acquired*

"Behind that wall." Claude yelled. "Stay close to one another, protect each other's rear! We'll get close to him as a team!"

"d.a.m.n it, this guy isn't playing fair." h.e.l.l held his chest. It hurt, but it was nothing important as long as he didn't have any shortness of breath as that'd affect his attacks. He knew he would have to leave this level right after this fight with whomever he could find, it was no fun if he couldn't fight and was just slaughtered like a pig. At least he had bought himself a minute or two he could spend hiding.

"Get out!" Claude yelled after checking behind the wall and finding nothing. They began searching behind each wall and column around systematically, making sure they didn't leave anything out. h.e.l.l threw his Imp Needle to one of them as they got close and teleported behind another column, and then another they had just checked. There were 5 of them left including Claude. h.e.l.l thought he would take on Claude after finis.h.i.+ng off everyone he had with him. He wondered how funny it would be if he lost all his minions and gave in to despair. h.e.l.l loved watching people's minds collapse. He would attack and take out the archer they had with them as soon as they began marching to where he threw Imp Needle.

"Be careful." Yelled Claude, mentioning that he was moving fast. "This is an enemy we must not waver against, he must be vanquished as such evil cannot be allowed to walk on-" h.e.l.l thought this would be the best time to attack with his Short Distance Warping and take out their archer. The fool had garnered the attention of all these players with this speech. What kind of person would he be if he didn't gratuitously accept this gift he was presented with?

h.e.l.l plunged ahead and one of the guys seemed to be expecting something as such as he swung at him. Shame he was one of the guys with low agility. It didn't matter if he knew h.e.l.l was coming, the archer was still impaled and his lifeless corpse became another object on the floor. h.e.l.l laughed uproariously. "You are all stupid, do you dare think you can hit me with such speed?!"

*A player has been defeated*

*150 mana has been acquired*

*Skill: Multiplier has been acquired*

The light from Claude once again spread from him, blinding h.e.l.l and everyone else momentarily. Knowing better, he retreated with all his speed. He didn't know what that light did.

"Evil creature! Fight me yourself if you dare!" Claude yelled when he saw how his men were dropping one by one. His heart hurt at their demise, but there was little he could do against such an enemy. He would take it upon himself in that case. It was alright, as long as he could save what little men he had left in this scenario. He had great faith in himself.

This was a scenario h.e.l.l could want, but against such an armoured enemy, it was unknown whether he would be the one to die. He wanted to take the risk, nonetheless. The idea excited him beyond belief. This one seemed to be a strong warrior he'd enjoy killing.

"Alright, tell your men to wait at the entrance then." h.e.l.l yelled. "I could never trust you otherwise who attacks an innocent man you want to kill as you preach justice!"

"Fine." Claude said. "Men, you will wait at the entrance and won't interfere in my fight with him. This evil must be extinguished at all costs!"

"Sir, we can't-"

"This is an order!" Claude yelled as the men moved to the entrance. h.e.l.l, while he was yelling his men, had teleported twice near the entrance, he was waiting for an opportunity to present itself. "Calling me evil and teaming up to destroy me and then calling it justice seems like something you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds would do. Well, we are already enemies, so why would I spare your men?" h.e.l.l faintly mumbled to himself.

"My men are at the entrance, show yourself!" Claude yelled, getting no response, only met by a barely audible yell from one of his men, and turning his head to see an unfathomable scene. As soon as 3 of them lined up, he had used Short Distance Warping and Rapid Move even though there were barely a meter between himself and the other players. He managed to impale all three of them at once, and followed by another Warp and punctured the heart of the other men as he yelled with sudden fright.

*A player has been defeated*

*+50 mana acquired*

*Skill: Protection of G.o.ds acquired*

*A player has been defeated*

*Skill: Sundering Attack has been acquired*

*A player has been defeated*

*+70 mana acquired*

*A player has been defeated*

*+50 mana acquired*

"No!" Claude yelled. "You said you would fight me! They weren't going to be involved! You who is an evil creature should be removed from the face of earth at any cost! Come now, die by my blade!"

"Nope." h.e.l.l yelled back. "I'm good, thanks." As he ran out of the entrance, only to hide again. It would be amazing if he could also take this guy down with a sneak attack. Not only would he be rid of him tailing himself afterwards, he was sure this guy would help him level up again. Of course, he also wanted his s.h.i.+ny skill.

Claude yelled his heart out in agony. He dropped to his knees as h.e.l.l was not coming out or no longer making any noise. It seemed he had left. "Why?" He yelled. "Why G.o.d? I wanted to rid this world of evil for you, yet you allow my fellow men to be killed!" His heart-wrenching cries were only annoying to h.e.l.l. "Sorry, mate. I'm doing this for the good of the world!" h.e.l.l murmured. He was imagining himself to be a righteous man in his mind and grinning. It would be quite funny, himself, being someone as such.

Claude, after 15 minutes or so got up as the rain disappeared. "I see now." He talked to himself. "You were weeping for the evil that was taking the lives of your devout followers. I swear to bring him to justice, oh Lord who is in the skies!"

As soon as he walked to the entrance, h.e.l.l attacked yet again. Managing to graze Claude's arm only.

"Vile, sneaky creature!" Claude yelled.

"That's me!" h.e.l.l replied as he used Rapid Move right after his attack. He managed to hit the opening in Claude's shoulder. Although Imp Needle went in and hurt Claude, he in return squeezed his muscles and along with the armour, held his weapon there. h.e.l.l immediately let go of the weapon and went back, avoiding Claude's s.h.i.+eld bash.

"You are quite tough, mate. No wonder you were the leader of those fools."

"Do not utter anything about those n.o.ble men who died to your schemes and evil. They will find peace in the afterlife as long as I avenge those martyrs, unlike you who will burn forever!"

"That is, if you can send me to the afterlife, isn't it?" h.e.l.l smirked again.

"Die!" Claude lunged ahead. h.e.l.l maintained the distance between them as he saw Claude was no longer bleeding. "I must have it if it's some sort of a regeneration skill." h.e.l.l thought.

*Mana:227/1075*

"Well, this is gonna be tough if this behemoth doesn't go down after I use Rapid Move again. I will have to time it perfectly."