The Archangel of Death

Chapter 16

[Hp 6749\10000]

Fu*ck. I wouldn't even need to touch this guy if my real power wasn't blocked yet here I was, shooting nonstop magic bullets at a persistent vampire. Some of my shots weren't even doing any damage. I had stopped using MP recovery potions and me and Max would take turns to attack the vampire.

I would shoot him with magic bullets and when my MP would run out, Max would take over.

[Magic bullet LV: 9 (9078\10000)]

We have been doing this for nonstop two days and even my Magic bullet had leveled up to the point where it wasn't far from evolving. I could only hope that the evolution would also increase the attack power because this wasn't working.

"How long do we have to keep doing this, Your Highness?" Max asked once he had tired himself out. I stood up as it was my cue and started shooting magic bullets at it. My MP was only 240 so it wasn't much longer before it ran out as well.

I stopped being stingy and purchased an MP recovery potion since Max hadn't recovered completely yet. I drank it and continued shooting at it.

"It will take quite some time, Max. But be patient. There is a very big reward waiting for us at the end of this struggle." I said before I purchased another one and started shooting at it.

"Besides, just be glad that he isn't awake," I added and he also nodded at this point. That fact that we were killing a B-rank existence right now while we were just low-leveled scrubs was itself an achievement that no one would believe even if we showed them the corpse.

[You do know that you could purchase a one-time item and kill him very sooner]

'I know. I also know that it is going to cost me all of my coins.' I replied sarcastically. Coins are very important right now. It's not like I have to be anywhere anytime soon so I could afford to waste time. Wasting coins was something I would regret very much. Even now I regret the moment when I talked back and now my 3000 coins worth potion was 10000 coins.

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[Magic bullet has reached the pinnacle of beginner rank]

[It is being evolved]

[Please wait]

[Congratulation]

[Magic bullet (Intermediate) LV: 1 (0\1000)]

'Let's find out the improvements.' I thought as I conjured up a magic bullet and shot it. I willed it to change direction and to my pleasant surprise, it did. I shot it at the vampire and was disappointed to see that there wasn't much improvement in the attack department. I was also a bit disappointed at the next level up requirement but beggars can't be choosers.

Just it becoming manual at this early in the evolution was a blessing. I don't have to worry about them being wasted anymore at least.

[It's not like you can control all of them perfectly]

'Then you are severely underestimating me.' I replied.

[So you mean to say that you can control multiple magic bullets at the same time accurately?]

'Of course I can.' I am a genius. Sure my INT stat is low but that doesn't mean my general intellect. My intellect is far greater than any human being. This was one department I beat my father in.

Anyway, this evolution doesn't exactly help with this situation.

[HP 5277\10000]

Three days and we're only halfway there. It was frustrating beyond the point of frustration. I was patient. Of course, I was patient but it was different for my comrade who was slowly losing his mind.

It wasn't just the fatigue that was affecting him. It was also the loneliness and our frequent act of murder that was taking a toll on him. Not to forget that just half a month ago, he had never taken a life before. Suddenly going through this drastically was slowly changing him.

I was doing my best to keep him focused but he was just a young mind. He will easily grow out of the grand schemes and do something stupid soon such as letting his mentality get affected.

In the Gulag, they don't torture you physically. I mean they do but it is nothing compared to what they do to your mind. I have seen even the cruelest criminals lose themselves there. When I went on a visit there, I was just thirteen years old. For my age, I was quite experienced but even I was averse to the inhumane treatment of people there no matter how much they deserved it.

Sure, I developed far worse techniques throughout the years after that but it doesn't beat the first time of experience. 

It was the same here. Max was slowly losing himself. Fatigue was only quickening the process.

"Have you really lost your memory, Your Highness?" He asked when I stopped my barrage of attacks and sat down for a break.

"And if my answer is yes, then?" I counter asked. He didn't reply but instead said, "I heard about you when I came here. They say that you were an ingrate who didn't deserve to live."

Ouch! At least he's still being respectful despite his words. "What do you think then?" I asked.

"What you did to those bandits, was inhumane. Like an animal." He replied. There was something else too but he was hesitating to say it.

"Go on. Say it." So I encouraged him to.

"Did you feel any remorse?" He asked when I gave my consent.

"No. No, I didn't." I replied with complete honesty.

"How? How can you do something like that and still call yourself human?" He asked. So that's what it was. He wasn't questioning me. He was questioning humanity.

"Demons don't lie. Nor do they violate women. Dark elves are the same. Even though they are lascivious, they don't violate women or vice versa. Vampires also have a very strict code among them. Never insult a prisoner."

"Now to you, they are monsters yet look at how they treat their enemies. Yet what do humans do? They have elven slaves, demonic slaves, and slaves of different species. When they win a war, they ransack, violate, and kill to have fun. They justify it by saying that they deserve it."

My reply was the opposite of what he was expecting. I wasn't defending humanity but I was defending the other side. But that is only because he was just focusing on the dark side of things.

"But you know the old blacksmith in the smithy? He saved more than 200 lives and he didn't even know he was doing it. And then there is you, the young man who chose death over dishonor."

"Everything has a dark side, Max. One can either suppress it like you are doing right now or let it out in a direction where it would benefit the people more."

"I could have easily let those bandits go but do you honestly believe that they would have stopped doing what they were doing?"

"So I unleashed my darkness onto them. It wasn't rational and it sure as hell isn't justified, I killed someone and no one can change that fact. But, that little girl wouldn't have to live with the traumatic memory of seeing her mother violated in front of her eyes. That other girl also got her mother back."

"So to answer your question, Max, No. I don't feel anything for them. No remorse of any kind and if I have to, I will do it again."

"Why would I let myself suffer by keeping my darkness in when I can help someone else by letting it out on someone who deserves it."

I left him to contemplate what I had said and got up to finish what I had started. He has many days to figure it out. The deeper meaning inside of it. I don't judge him for having childish beliefs. I had them too. I criticize him for not growing out of them.

It took me time because there was no one to help me out of it and I wished every day that there was someone to help me see the bitter truth but there wasn't anyone. He had me yet still he was refusing to see the reality of the world then it was his mistake for not listening.

[Like you said, there is no one more intellectual than you]

'You're right. This intellect is indeed a curse.' Sometimes I do wish I wasn't a genius because I remember everything. Everything down to the last detail and that makes every memory so alive that it's like I am living them at the moment.

It's great for good memories but my life has more bloodshed than happiness. And I live that life every day because of my higher intellect.

[HP 5000\10000]

=========

Three days later.

[HP 21\10000]

Fu*king finally. I drowned hopefully my last MP recovery potion which brought my gold revenue down to 250000. Oh yeah, I had used more than a whopping 250000 just on this dungeon. Still, although I was disappointed, I didn't regret a single bit of it. The reward waiting for me after this was something that this expenditure was a very small sacrifice for it.

"Get ready to finally leave here Max," I said and Max stood up, forgetting his fatigue. I charged all the 240 magic bullets at once and shot them directly in the vampire's face because it had begun to annoy me at some point.

[Congratulations]

[An unbelievable achievement]

[Achievement: Sleep assaulter

Kill a very high-rank enemy in its sleep]

[Reward: INT +100, PER: +50]

I felt a liberating feeling undergo when my stats increased. This wasn't an achievement I wasn't expecting. Even though the name of the achievement was very embarrassing, the effect was heaven-sent.

My senses tingled a little as my perception increased and my surroundings also cleared a bit. Compared to this world, it was a whole rank increase. And the sweet part was, that wasn't all of it.

[You have slain a vampire]

[Estimated rank B-]

[Calculating EXP]

[Please wait]

[You have obtained 10,000,000 Exp]

[Level up]

[Level up]

[…]

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Oh crap. I uttered inwardly as a massive pain started assaulting me and Max. We both fell to the ground as our stats were now changing rapidly and massively. Honestly, the pain was too much so it wasn't long before we both passed out.

======

[Congratulations]

[You are now level 92]

[You have obtained a B rank vampire blood essence x2]

[You have gained a B-rank skill rune]

[You have gained the heart of a vampire]

[Your charm has increased by 50]

[You have gained 1000000 coins]

The moment I woke up; a barrage of notifications was already in my view.

Ugh!! My head was exploding. Must be the change in the surroundings. My senses, body, and mental capacity have all increased at once by a lot. Of course, there were going to be adverse effects.

'How long have I been out?' I asked the only person I could since Max was still out cold near me.

[Almost two days]

Great. I cursed at her swift reply. She could have at least broken it down to me slowly. Anyway, 'How long until I stop feeling disorientated?' I asked for an analysis.

[In about two minutes]

'Well then maybe you can explain why I received less Exp? By my calculations, there were three fewer zeroes.' I asked. As I said, if you kill an E- rank monster or individual, you receive ten Exp. The Exp gain multiplies every time a sub rank goes up so for a B-rank, I should have received, 10,000,000,000.

I somewhat knew the reason but I needed to be sure.

[Because then your body would have exploded]

As I had expected. I wasn't angry that I didn't receive less Exp. Not in the slightest. I was in fact thankful to Allison for limiting the Exp. No doubt with that extra Exp, I would have reached at least level 200, but I would have died in the process of assimilation. Even now, I was out cold for two days. Unfortunately, that excess energy has long since dissipated since energy is quick to vanish so it has to be integrated quickly. when my level was being increased, the extra EXP\energy dissipated right at moment.