World Of Karik: A Game Of Villains 11 The Real Power

Current level: 8

Stats points received: 6

Skill points received: 1

Baldy, still level five, clearly relaxed.

"Did not expect him to do that," he was the first to break the silence. "You are lucky that he died while falling. With such wounds he probably received additional bleeding damage. He didn't have a chance. And you got the experience. Well, you did damage his legs, after all. Good thing you did, too. It's too early for me to level."

The sound of gunshots overpowered his voice. Bondarenko's cry must've summoned the second watchman who decided not to waste any time on a showdown. Baldy took a couple of shots to his chest, making only a couple of steps back. The next couple of shots whizzed over his head. He ducked down at the very last moment, managed to keep his balance and rushed forward. I thought it was over, but only one cut-off arm flew into the air.

"Kill him!" Baldy's furious cry pierced my ears and, seemingly, my mind as well. I suddenly realized that our enemy would now bleed out and Igor would level-up if I didn't hurry.

On stiff legs I walked up to them and put the boy out of his misery with a few swings of the scythe. Two levels, four stat and one skill point, but I was more interested in the Suppression icon that appeared in my peripheral vision, and the fact that I regained the control over my body at that moment. This was definitely Baldy's doing. But why was he acting like nothing had happened? Did he think I wouldn't notice?

"Another machine gun, armor, a rabbit paw that gives +1 magic defense... Everything else useless," Igor finished the search in a couple of seconds. Had he not cut off the guy's hand, we wouldn't have gotten his weapon. I would keep that move in mind. Wait, I was thinking about wrong things.

The gun in Baldy's hands caught my eye. I looked at its properties.

AK-47

Damage: 40

Feature: quiet shot

When shooting a new target, the first shot is silent. Requires shooting skill (level 2).

What's that?

"Igor, is this gun special?"

"Hmm? No, it's common," he looked at the weapon in his hands and then at me.

I doubted that he was lying. So I really could see things that others couldn't. This ''skill'' seemed to work not only with people's age or weapons' special features, but also with effects like Suppression which Baldy had cast on me. I was sure that he wouldn't be happy to learn that I was aware of it so it was better to remain silent.

"The gun isn't that cool, it only deals 40 damage." G.o.d, it was hard to control myself.

"Yes," Igor agreed, "that's why I survived. It's practically useless if it doesn't break through your armor, given that your stats don't combine with its attack power. Had I had less than 40 armor like Petrovich... Being hit from a distance with so many bullets at once, I would have had no chance. But try to remember from now on: firearms are for the weak. If you want to be worth something, develop your skills with real weapons."

Well, now he was teaching me how to live my life in this odd world. But in extreme case, he would just order me to put my life on the line. The awareness of this fact was horrifying. Was there any salvation from this? In theory, my magic defense would have protected me, so I put all of my points into intelligence. Fangs, knives, bullets were not as scary as opportunity to lose yourself, becoming a p.a.w.n in someone's game. "You okay?" Baldy was staring at me.

"Yeah, just a little nervous. Didn't have much experience killing people before." Igor laughed, looking satisfied. Thirty points added to my deception bar confirmed that he bought my lie. "Fine, time to get back. Guests will be arriving soon."

Another hike through the woods. Despite him looking calm, Igor took an even bigger detour than the last time to make sure that no one could find our base. When we finally stopped cruising around and decided to start following the stream, I moved closer to Baldy and decided to ask some, risk free, questions.

"Igor, why did we leave? I don't think that their base is nearby. He was probably lying. Besides, killing us near their base and risking leading us right to it was dumb. They wouldn't have done it even if they were complete idiots. Moreover, if it was close, they would have returned there, but they were camping in the woods. I don't believe that they went to the exit point, either. Even with my knowledge, which I have very little, trust me, I know that going there at level twenty is an absolute failure. They must have some old-timers in the squad that would tell them..." I was running out of breath so I had to stop my monologue.

"You didn't notice," Baldy said acidly, "that there were at least two groups. When I asked how many of them there were, he looked not only at where we had come from and at where help might come from, but also in another direction. Generally, you got everything right, you only lack knowledge about the world. There probably aren't any old-timers in their group. It could be that a follower of one of the Reapers found a settlement, got them to their side, killed all of the old-timers, leveled-up the young, and is now leading them to their deaths. Why do you think the guy was so sure he'd warn his own people right after he dies?"

"They carry their tombstones with them," I murmured. Of course… If they didn't, they would sp.a.w.n back at the base which could be miles away from their current camp. They wouldn't get back in time to inform their teammates.

The thought struck me like lightning. I have slowly come to realize what was probably going to happen to this squad.

"Right. And when the follower of the Reaper-to-be decides that their subordinates have reached their maximum, they'll kill them. At least two groups of ten people, they'll get experience for each of them up to their third death. And then they can destroy their tombstones. It also adds experience. Becoming a Reaper is the fastest way to level-up. Or so I've heard," Igor paused, and I tried to imagine a person capable of doing that. What was going on in their mind? By the way, why did Igor appear in our squad?

"Who are the Reapers?" I've never heard of them before.

"They," Baldy paused once again, "are those who were able to injure or kill their G.o.d before coming here. They are not attached to any squad and they all have unique powers. I've heard of seven and I know two by their names."

"Who are they?" I s.h.i.+vered, imagining what kind of people these seven must be if they dared to do such a thing during their first test. And succeeded. Who were they really? Angels, who decided to destroy the evil joker, or devils, who sentenced absolutely everyone to death?

"Howard Hungers, who can absorb any attacks, and Polina Lyutova, who can control anyone's mind. I don't know whose follower we've just met, but they will get their experience and go deeper into the forest, where all of the serious players have gathered, and we can continue leveling-up safely. In a couple of days, our biggest enemy will be a Boa on the road. We just have to wait." I had a feeling that he was trying to calm himself down.

Baldy was clearly distracted, and it showed. We fell into an underground cavern with walls made of ice, a giant waterfall and a huge figure rising in the corner.

Skeleton, Type 2

Elite

Level 20

Feature: Harder bones.

Thanks to my ability I could see the additional part of the description, but it was of little use. Baldy grabbed his two-handed sword and got into a fight with the monster. I still had no idea what to do. Even his psychotic attacks couldn't break the skeleton's armor. Despite it receiving a dozen blows, its health bar remained full. What good would my useless scythe be? I could simulate a weakening blow, but how would I explain my health suddenly dropping? Should I expose myself to a blow? I might not survive it. Luckily, Baldy was yet to ask me to help. What did he hope to achieve?

Igor's sword shone. The first shot didn't cause any damage, and neither did the second, but after the third one the skeleton's health dropped by five percent. With the fourth, Baldy cut off both of its legs. So that's how a combo looked like. Petrovich said that the more dexterity you had, the longer the sequence was.

"Let's finish him," I proposed greedily, wondering if I could get through its defense.

"No," Igor's answer surprised me. "I don't need experience, and you can't handle its endurance. Let's search the cave."

After digging through a pile of garbage, from which the skeleton, that was now awkwardly floundering on its back and trying to get to us on its hands, rose, Baldy grunted with satisfaction and threw a stick at my feet.

"You're lucky, there's a scythe with your name on it." The burnished, sharp blade was almost invisible in the darkness of the cave. Yeah, it looked a lot more dangerous than what I currently had.

Enlile

War Scythe

Damage: 25

Feature: Focus point; spells are released at the point of impact.

So if there was a weapon with this feature did that mean that one could learn AoE spells and use them against individual targets? I decided to wait upgrade the deception and to see what Cure Light Wounds and Weakness would gain at level three. The choice was obvious, however.

I observed Baldy with the corner of my eye. He put a small, coin like talisman into his pocket which gave him +2 magical protection. Thanks to that and the hare's paw, he had already at least three points, which meant that he could do small raids in the swamp. I better hurry if I want to explore it myself. An interesting discovery was that I could see the properties of the talisman while Igor was holding it in his hands, but they disappeared once he put it on. It was a pity they disappeared once they were equipped. It would be interesting to see what kind of things my companions were wearing.

Getting out of the cave was pretty hard, so a hike in the woods seemed like a walk in the park in comparison. Once we got to the base I resisted the urge to immediately collapse from exhaustion and gathered the willpower to go and eat something. At least I tried to do so. Andrei got to Baldy and me and bombarded us with questions. What did we find out? Was there any danger? Andrei seemed to relax once he heard the culprit was probably a follower of a Reaper. Both Andrei and the Reaper seemed to think that we weren't worth anyone's time. Lucky us.

"Igor, Vasily, I thank you on behalf of the entire squad," our leader said rather formally. "Now, no one will leave the camp for the next two days. We'll wait this out. Vasily, once again, well done, I'm glad that you've reached level ten. When the follower leaves the area, we will go deep into the forest. If we become stronger then, perhaps, next time we will have enough strength to not only hide, but even protect our home."

I nodded politely.

Once again, Baldy was right. We were going to have a couple of days of peace, during which I could try and get more information from the old-timers. Or I could take the advantage of being left alone and arrange a solo raid in the swamp before I get dragged into community service. I had to think everything through.

"Vasily, dear, will you tell us what happened at this campaign? How did you level up so fast?" came a smarmy voice. Fox! The rest of the newbies were right behind her. Should I tell them the truth or increase my deception? If anything, I could always say that I wanted to protect them.