Chapter - 70
"Can you please speed things up?" he said, voice low and raspy, "I need to get back ho. After killing the bunch of you."
As soon as Lucius spoke, silence followed in the room. Nobody spoke for a mont, trying to grasp his words. And then ca a sharp, loud laugh... Not from Lucius, Not from the n around him, but from Rauf himself.
"Hahaha... Lucius... You have got balls, I will give you that," Rauf said, stepping closer again. But now his eyes weren’t amused. They were cold, "You are going to kill ?"
"Huh... You are going to regret every word."
Lucius looked up, his eyes locking with those of the atball’s, "Start the regret soon, then. I am bored."
Rauf’s jaw tightened. He raised a hand and slamd his fist into Lucius’s back.
Lucius doubled over, coughing.
"Put him on the rack," Rauf ordered, "Let’s not make our guest wait."
As the n moved in, dragging Lucius across the floor, the warehouse echoed with tal clanks and heavy footsteps.
anwhile, the silence in Lucius’s mind had finally broken. The System’s voice, usually so smug and mocking, now carried sothing rare... It sounded scared.
[Okay, okay, this isn’t funny anymore. What are you doing? Why aren’t you fighting back? Give the command, Master!]
Lucius, still hanging between the two goons who were dragging him across the warehouse, smirked.
"What happened?" he thought lazily, "Did the mighty System finally grow a conscience?"
[I am being serious, MASTER!]
[If You die... I die. You know that, right? I am linked to your soul. If they gut you like a pig, I disappear into the void.]
Lucius chuckled, the sound faint and shaky. His ribs still ached from the punch. But the amusent in his eyes was unmistakable.
"So you do care about ."
[No! I care about myself more! You are just the at puppet I am stuck in.]
Lucius laughed. Not in his mind, but out loud. And his laugh echoed through the warehouse.
The sound bounced off the steel beams of the warehouse like a joke thrown into a graveyard. It was unexpected. Unnatural.
Rauf, who had been looking at his tools again, paused.
His n glanced at each other.
"The hell is he laughing about?" one of them muttered.
"I think he has lost it," another said, "Pain must have fried his brain."
But Lucius didn’t care. He kept laughing. Because he wasn’t afraid. And they had no idea what was coming.
Two of Rauf’s n stepped forward and began wrapping Lucius’s legs in thick, rusty barbed wire. The thorns dug into his flesh with every twist, slicing through skin and muscle. Blood oozed out, running down his legs in slow streams.
But Lucius didn’t flinch. He was still busy talking to the System.
"Hey, didn’t I get so rewards I haven’t opened yet?" Lucius asked.
The System paused.
[Yeah... you still have three: a Special Mystery Skill Scroll, one Lottery Spin, and a Bonus Reward from the last quest. Why? Want to open them now?]
Lucius grinned, showing his teeth, "Open them all."
[Are you banking all your hopes on that?]
"You said we are both going to die, right? So let’s at least see what I have won before I bleed to death," Lucius didn’t sound afraid at all, "I have a hunch I have the plot armour."
[You are a madman, master. But fine. Processing...]
A low hum passed through Lucius’s head, like static moving across his skull. In front of his eyes, though no one else could see it, a glowing window opened in the air, showing three reward icons shimring brightly.
[You have received: Wrath Glyph: Flashburst]
[Flashburst is a close-range burst glyph. Once activated, it releases a blinding light and a concussive shockwave. Can stun enemies in a 5-ter radius. One ti use. Slam your palms together to activate]
[You have received: Grinning Devil’s Brass Knuckles]
A dark red pair of brass knuckles appeared in the window
[They increase damage output ’3X’ in lee combat. Bonus effect: Each perfect strike makes enemies disoriented for 3 seconds. Bloodthirsty and flashy.]
And the last reward was
[You have received: Ashborne Cigarette]
A slim, black cigarette with a silver tip floated in the air.
[Not just for show. Once smoked, it temporarily slows ti perception for the MC only, allowing hyper-reaction till the cigarette lasts. Downside? Addictive as hell.]
Lucius’s grin widened.
He was now hanging upside down, barbed wire biting into his flesh, the blood beginning to pool beneath his head.
And still, he smiled. And Rauf noticed it too.
He walked toward Lucius, whip in hand. It was thick, with tiny bits of broken glass tied along the end. His eyes burned with a hunger for pain.
"You think this is funny?" he asked, voice low.
Lucius said nothing.
CRACK!
The whip ca down on his chest. The black shirt tore in one brutal strike. Blood sprayed into the air.
A second hit followed. Then a third. His skin split open. Strips of flesh peeled. His chest was a canvas of red agony.
Still... Lucius didn’t scream.
He was too busy looking at the rewards floating in front of his eyes. He looked like a man enjoying a private joke.
"Nice knuckles," he whispered inside his head.
Rauf’s anger exploded.
"SCREAM, DAMN YOU!" he roared, swinging the whip again and again. The sound echoed.
The others watched, so with horror, so with twisted excitent. Rauf’s face was now red and sweaty. His breathing ragged. His hand shook from the force of each strike.
Lucius’s body was trembling, covered in blood. Wounds were open across his chest and back. His arms were sliced. A pool of crimson had ford on the ground beneath him.
And yet... his mouth curled up into a smile.
Rauf stepped back finally, chest heaving. He tossed the whip aside with a growl.
"You are a stubborn little shit," he spat, "You are going to die down here. Like a worthless dog."
Lucius raised his head slightly. His face was bloody. One eye was swollen. But the smirk remained.
He looked at Rauf, and in a calm, quiet voice, he said—
"Now it’s show ti."
Rauf froze.
Those four simple words hit harder than any punch.
"Now it’s show ti?" He blinked. Confused. Angry. But sowhere, deep inside, he felt sothing else too... A tiny sense of fear.
"What... Did you say?" Rauf asked, stepping closer.
Lucius’s head dipped slightly. He whispered sothing under his breath, "Activate Blood Instinct."
A chi echoed in his mind.
[Blood Instinct Lv.1 activating...]
Then ca the flat, robotic voice of the System... It was calm and steady, not like the usual System banter.
[Initial Effect: Increases Strength and Stamina by 10% when wounded.]
[Secondary Effect: Increases Strength, Stamina, and Agility, additional 20% when critically wounded.]
[Duration: 10 minutes.]
A mont of silence passed.
Then—
[Host status: Critically wounded. Secondary effect initiated.]
[Strength]: 29 → 37.7
[Stamina]: 30 → 39
[Agility]: 33 → 42.9
[Skill Duration Left: 09:53]
Lucius’s lips curved up again. The air around him felt warr. Sharper.
His blood was still dripping, but now, his muscles tensed with a sudden surge of raw energy. Power pulsed through his limbs like lightning in his veins.
He looked up at Rauf, his eyes glowing with sothing dangerous.
"Who needs ten minutes..." he said slowly, "...when I can be done in two?"
Before Rauf could respond, Lucius’s body moved.
Fast.
With a sudden pull of his arms, he swung upward, grabbed the barbed wires with his bare hands and snapped them with a loud SNAP! Flesh tore. Blood sprayed. But he didn’t care.
His body flipped mid-air.
And then he landed on his feet slamming down into the pool of his own blood, splashing red everywhere.
"Activate Wrath Glyph: Flashburst."
The glyph burned across his chest and then he slamd his palms together, lines of glowing red light carved in the air for a split second.
And then...
BOOM!
A flash of white exploded, and a shockwave rippled out in all directions.
Rauf and every single one of his n scread, grabbing their eyes, stumbling backward. So fell to their knees. Others dropped their weapons. The sudden blast had blinded them completely.
Everyone was blinded... Well, except for Lucius.
And taking advantage of that, he moved.
He turned towards the first man, standing just a few feet to his left. The man was clutching a gun tightly in his hand.
Lucius didn’t waste a mont. He threw a powerful punch to the man’s throat. And as his fist connected to his throat, a sickening crack filled the air. The man gasped, choking, his grip on the gun loosening.
The gun slipped from his hands, and Lucius grabbed it mid-air.
And before the man could even finish falling, Lucius raised the gun.
BANG!
The bullet tore through the man’s skull. A wet spray of red burst behind him.
His body dropped like a ragdoll, while Lucius stood tall. His black shirt was torn in shreds. His skin was torn. His muscles were tight. And his veins bulged.
He looked down at the gun in his hands. Then he looked at the rest of the blinded n crawling around.
He smiled. It was a wide, mad smile of an obsessed man.
"I love this."
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