BXBX NOVEL Chapter 385: I never fight fair. [2/2]
"..."
I had a hundred things I wanted to say to this motherfucker. But since he was still a Revenant, I should hold off in public. Amused by my lack of reaction. The Revenant slapped my back with his massive hand.
The impact was like being hit by a fucking car. What frightened me was the fact that I had {Limitless} activated. For me to feel his slap meant that it had to exceed the limits of both {Withstand} and {Endure}.
\'FUCKING SHIT! That asshole just hit me in the back with the force of a tank round!\'
Knowing exactly what he was doing, David made a mischievous face as he added.
"Where\'s my daughter?"
"They\'re running an errand for me," I bluffed.
"Ho? An errand? AN ERRAND! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
Like a madman, David Thomas started laughing like he had the lungs of a fucking whale. Awkwardly, Phillip and I stared at each other, not knowing what to do.
After a few moments, he finally stopped and wiped tears of joy from his eyes.
"Son-in-law, your jokes are always so amusing. But for some reason, Savior has not yet arrived. It is five minutes to game time. Zone 1121-1 is ready for your war. It is customary to meet before a fight to the death. Would you like to wait?"
"No, I will go to the war zone and prepare a welcome for them."
"Ho? I would have assumed you would choose to wait like a gentleman," David teased.
"I am not a gentleman, David. Nor am I a hero. I will go into the Zone now and kill them all as they enter. War has no morals. Only survival matters."
"Then what about fighting fair?"
"I never fight fair. If you fight fair, it means your tactics suck ass. They outnumber me 200 to one. The fight was never fair to begin with. This is not an honorable duel, this is just a brawl," I replied sternly.
"Then I will allow you to go to the area immediately. As you said, this is a war. The only rule is that there are no rules. Good luck, son-in-law. I expect great things from you."
Hearing his words, my anger began to rise. This condescending fucker was the reason why my Seeker War became much more complicated than it should have been. In a fit of rage, I forgot everything else and expressed my true feelings.
" Go fuck yourself David. I expect you to adequately compensate me for making a clown out of me."
Without another word I turned and walked towards the teleporters. Of course, people started talking, probably about my apparent lack of respect for the king.
But that was beside the point, because instead of getting angry, David waved me off happily as I left.
Respect for me was not given, it was earned. David and I were not boss and subordinate. Despite the disparity in our power, he recognized me as his equal. Likewise, I saw him as my peer.
Such views naturally influenced the way we interacted. David didn\'t expect me to grovel or kiss his ass. Of course, I didn\'t expect his help or support either.
As I walked, I ignored the whispers around me and used [Inventory] on the case I was holding. Of course, it was added to my subspace and my armory. Two new weapons were registered, giving me new equipment.
{Armory} was an interesting {Kismet}. It embodied what I wanted {Limitless} to be.
___
{Armory}
- Storage for weapons and equipment. Uses the E.X.A. system.
- Any registered weapon can be repaired for a soul cost.
- Reduces the {Reload} cost for each registered weapon by 10%.
___
The most important and perhaps broken feature of the {Armory} was the reduction of the {Reload} cost. Originally worth 50 souls, I currently had eight weapons registered.
The Browning BLR 81 lever action rifle.
The Benelli M1014 tactical combat shotgun.
Two Thales F90 MBRs.
Two Steyr SL40 grenade launchers.
The Ohio Ordinance HCAR.
Two USP Matches, which I named Ebony and Ivory.
A Taurus Raging Hunter.
And finally, a Denel FT5 rocket launcher.
Since {Armory} didn\'t count weapons by number, but by brand, my {Kismet} only counted eight, even though there were over ten individual weapons. This meant that my cost for {Reload} was only 10 souls instead of 50.
With the 80% cost reduction, it was literally impossible not to make enough souls just by shooting my guns. However, as happy as I was, I knew that if I got two more weapons, the soul cost would drop further to zero. {Reload} would essentially be free.
Since my storage was limited, I couldn\'t just randomly add weapons even though I needed the soul cost reduction. So I took my time to think about what I needed and what I could fit into my subspace.
Even since leveling up from a Phantom, the amount of stuff I could store had increased. If before it was the size of a single locker. Now it was the size of a large closet.
Originally, I wanted to add my car to my armory so that I could always have it repaired for a few souls. Unfortunately, I lacked the space. So I just looked for something else. The things I got from Vincent were what I finally chose.
They were the M16A2 Mine and the M18A1 Claymore Mine.
Although both were explosives, unlike the M26 grenades, these two were not used offensively and required more preparation. Even before I had them, I saw the need for defensive mines.
While grenades were useful to throw when you wanted to kill something, the fuse and timing limited their use. In Uncle Sam\'s great wisdom, mines were introduced to supplement them.
The M16A2 was a bounding anti-personnel mine. This basically meant that unlike a grenade, which explodes the moment you let go of the lever, these used tension and weight.
The M16A2 was based on the World War II German S mine. Affectionately known as the "Bouncing Betty" or "Frog Mine," the S-Mine was arguably the most traumatic explosive that soldiers faced during the war.
The S-Mine and its future variant, the M16A2, were buried underground and left a small footprint. A single steel rod with a three-pronged pressure fuse served as the arming mechanism.
Placed only 4 inches above the surface of the ground, the pressure fuse was barely visible from a distance. So stepping on this bastard would cause the mine to "jump" to waist height before exploding like a grenade.
With only four seconds from trigger to explosion, most, if not all, would be distracted by the sudden jump of the frog. This made survival nearly impossible. You knew it was effective when both sides of the war used it to this day.
Not to be outgunned by the M16A2, the M18A1 Claymore stood upright and detonated a C4 charge against a metal plate. The plate would deflect the blast, sending a cone of solid steel pellets faster than sound.
Though different in use and shape, both would tear enough holes in people to make them unlikely to survive. They had limited use against zombies, but for humans? They were fucking terrifying to face.
Both mines were often used with tripwires to deny access to an area or for ambushes. The Claymore could be triggered manually as a bonus.
In Hellsgate\'s medieval style of combat, I would surely be branded a coward and a thug for using them.
But who the fuck cared?
Besides killing their targets, these mines also inflicted massive psychological trauma. After all, if you could die for taking a single step, how would you have the courage to run?
I only had ten of each, but combined with {Day by Day}, {Replace}, {Rewind}, {Portal}, and [Lightning Step]...
"I will show you fucking Savior bastards what it means to make an enemy out of me."