The Exploiter (A Sword Art Online Fanfic)

Chapter 19:Savage

Rain poured from the heavens as I waited on a rock adjacent to the dungeon. I tried to shake the water out of my hair and hold back my frustration. I failed to do both. The clearing party was late, and the weather was not helping me to calm down. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, a group of 4 people walked out, all in golden armor with expensive weapons at their hips.

The bait had finally arrived. My hands twitched in anticipation as I saw them walk away from the entrance. One of them, probably the leader, was laughing and patting the other members on the back. Their happiness was going to be short-lived.

As soon as all of them had their teleport crystals out, arrows whizzed from the mountains and shattered the crystals. Everyone knew the clearers only carried one crystal because they were expensive as heck. They were supposed to be used for emergencies and emergencies only.

Shadows emerged from the hillside, and descended down on the trapped clearers. All of them wore cloaks and carried poisoned weapons. A tall, thin man broke off from the head of the group and started laughing." Well, you're in quite the predicament here. But I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a fighting chance. How about we play a game?"

The clearers all lowered their weapons in confusion. The tall man continued." The game is simple. You're going to fight each other, and the survivor gets to leave alive."

The clearers looked at each other, some already drawing their weapons to defend themselves against their own party members.

"How about we both play a game instead?". I jumped down from my perch on top of the rock, and they all finally saw me. The members of laughing coffin all instinctively took a step back out of fear, and one of the clearers slipped and cracked his head on the dungeon door.

"Johnny black. You have been a hard man to catch. But now that you're here, your head is as good as mine."

Johnny flinched, then snarled." You idiot. How the hell are you going to get to me when we outnumber you? There are five of us and one of you!" He pointed at the clearers." Are you hoping these weaklings are going to help you?"

Then, in a move faster than the eye could see he released a cloud of paralyzing daggers at the clearers. All of them slumped against the wall they had their backs to, now boneless.

"What are you waiting for!? Bring me his head! Carve his flesh from his bones!"

At Johnny's command, the group surged forward, with one of them leading the charge. The front-runner drew his sword back and lunged forward, hoping to skewer me though the heart. His first mistake. I grabbed his wrist to veer the sword off of its fatal trajectory, and put my fist through his chest.

The boy had hardly enough time to register his death as he fell to the ground. But I wasn't done with him. I quickly picked him up and threw him towards a giant axe wielder, and he finally exploded into a shower of red. The giant tried to swat away the polygons covering his field of view, but it was in vain. I snapped his neck like a piece of dry firewood.

I hurled his axe though the air towards the head of one of the archers, and it split his head like a melon. Enraged, the girl next to him tossed her poisoned dagger at me. I snatched it out of the air and leapt at her. I proceeded to carve a cut into her throat, and she died clutching the wound.

Finally, it was just me and johnny. We circled each other, and fear rolled off him in waves. The primal, fight or flight fear. The kind prey feels when a predator stalks them. I lunged at johnny, my hands aching to rip his heart out of his heart.

And johnny ran. He tossed mud into my eyes and leapt through the air, using a teleport crystal to escape while mid-air." I'll see you again."

I slammed my fist into the dirt. Damn! He had gotten away again.

I sighed as the clearers started to move and looked at me in horror. The leader spoke up." You....savage. You killed them with your bare hands."

I opened my skill menu and looked at the new skill that had appeared a month ago with the symbol of a lock. The number it showed now read 48. How much more of my brutality did I need to unleash to unlock this skill?