Benny groaned from pain as he hit the bottom of the pit. Though he fell from three meters in height, he could still gradually get up. His sturdy body lives up to its expectation.
But absolute horror had just begun when his flashlight brightened the closed chamber, revealing two Cifers silently looking at Benny with their big crimson eyes.
"Kheh! Sammy, that fu*ker! I will kill him next time I meet!" Benny gritted his teeth, but the person in question was long gone.
"Hello, Professor Aizeck?! Why the hell the emergency call button isn't working?!" Benny tried to call Professor Aizeck, but no response whatsoever. The camera on his chest plate was also broken; no, it stopped working!
'Wait. That girl! That bit*h!'
Recalling hoodie girl Shiina who was holding a tab at the time, it must be her! She was the one who hacked his gadgets! After all, she wasn't there to collect a date or some shit!
But who planned all of this?
"Wendy…!"
Now all dots are connecting. Benny realized why those assholes were so quiet this whole time. They come prepared!
Bullying was one thing, but she even planned a murder?!
Rage that Benny never held began to dwell within him.
Even if Benny was a Nap, he wouldn't forgive Wendy this time! He would murder her! No, he will take revenge on all of them!
But Benny's most important concern was…
"How should I deal with them?"
The two Cifers were just standing there, glaring at Benny with little to no movement. Benny didn't know why they weren't attacking him since Mors attacked humans on sight. Maybe they have modified Mors and weren't designed until or unless the other attacks first.
As such, Benny still hadn't drawn his katana. It was a tense situation, so Benny didn't want to move on impulse.
Slowly he took a step backwards to climb up and escape from the cave.
Cifers wouldn't be spawned for more than 15 minutes in the main room, so Benny could still escape.
Benny was about to turn around to climb the wall when one of the Cifers shrieked and jumped.
Bam!
Benny's senses, which weren't sharp like before, screamed, and he instinctively jumped back, barely dodging Cifer's tapered spike-like arm.
Though it was his first time dodging such a fast attack, he was more surprised by his jump. He jumped freaking 2 meters high in the air!
However, he wasn't lucky the next time as the other Cifer slammed its head right into his abdomen, sending Benny further away from the escape route.
"Arg!" Benny moaned as the hit was way more powerful than Kevin's punches he had ever received. But thanks to his chest armour and battle suit, it absorbed most of the force. However, the plate armor also cracked, and Benny didn't think if he could stand out another blow.
Without a further ado, Benny drew his katana. He knew he had to fight them at all costs to get out of this hole.
Though he didn't know how to use a katana properly, he did learn how to swing a sword from Zoey 2 years ago.
!!!
Cifers shrieked again and attacked Benny, but his instincts answered the timely call, and his body moved again, dodging Cifers' attacks barely but successfully.
'Wait, they are attacking in some sort of combination….'
Benny realized that their pattern of attacking him was similar to how they attacked him for the first time. One Cifers constantly attacked first while the other assaulted after the first one.
Benny has learned that Mors usually attacks in some kind of pattern. They aren't intelligent species that could plan a tactic against humans, especially low-level ones. So they use one or two combinations of attacks to take down humans.
If Benny could read their moves, he probably could defeat these Mors and escape from the hole.
Without thinking for a minute about whether or how he would kill Mors as a Nap, he wrapped his armor on his left arm and held the katana with both of his hands.
!!!
And then, as Benny expected, one Cifer shirked and attacked him with his giant pointed arms, which Benny dodged like before, and then another Cifer answered its attack with a headbutt which Benny blocked with the shield on his left arm.
Just like that, the assault continued.
Benny took a couple of hits while dodging most of Cifers' attacks without lending a single blow. He was avoiding fine, but the problem lies with lending an impact. If he had known he would have to fight Mors someday, he would have forged some combat skills.
Benny would worry about that later since, for now, he finally memorized their moves.
'3,2,1, here it comes!'
Cifer shirked and moved towards him, and Benny dodged the attack again. However, this time instead of avoiding, he pointed his katana and thrust it in the head of the second Cifer that was about to attack him with a headbutt.
The katana moved and easily pierced second Cifer's head.
Benny was a little surprised since Cifer's head was as strong as steel, but the katana slipped like butter right into it.
However, Benny didn't waste a second and retracted his katana. Turning his attention right towards the first Cifer, Benny dashed towards it.
!!
The Cifer shrieked again and moved towards Benny, but before Cifer could use its arms, Benny slipped right under Cifer, holding his katana vertically.
Just as Benny came out under the Cifer, the Cifer shivered before a line formed on its body, slicing it in half.
"Huff* that was intense…." Benny sighed in relief as he was able to kill Mors as a Nap. Indeed the Mors were weak on the standard point of view, but it was a sense of achievement for Benny.
He looked at the katana curiously. The person who gifted this katana was Benny's avid bug buyer. He was a Japanese bug lover and regularly bought bugs from Benny. The last time Benny sold him a pair of Hercules Beetles and some Cicadas, the man gifted this sword in addition to paying the money.
It wasn't much of Benny's use, so he put the sword in his room as decoration until today, but Benny hadn't expected that this sword would save his life.
He put the sword back to its sheathe and began crawling up. The wall was straight but had some torn parts, so Benny could firm his grip on them. Thought it was unbelievable how he could climb even though he had barely exercised for the past year.
"Finally…" Benny smiled after coming to the surface with a ragged breath but alive. He was alive at the cost of some torn muscles and broken ribs.
He knew that Cifers was going to respawn at any minute. He was already on edge after fighting just two and barely escaping alive. He didn't think he could win the whole group again.
So he got up and began to walk.
However, his eyes then fell on one person he least wanted to meet. It was Wendy Thena with her goons. And she was holding a crimson spear… piercing Benny's stomach.
"Gah!" Benny coughed a mouthful of blood and slowly looked at Wendy with disbelief.
The girl had not the slightest guilt for killing a person.
"I didn't know a Nap could win against Mors. I must say I am impressed." Wendy spoke with a slight smirk as she retracted the bloody spear, which reformed into the blood and returned to her finger.
Benny's legs gave up as he fell to his knees. Disbelief in his soon began to distort, and rage took over.
"You fucking cunt…!" Benny gritted his teeth, "What have I ever done to you to end up like this?!"
"Your existence was the reason for you to be dead. A Nap should take a nap in hell rather than walk on this earth's surface."
That was it? Was living as a Nap that much bothers these fuckers with slightly better strength?! Where is the justice in it?! This is so agonizing and so unfair…
"Hehe…" Benny let out a bitter laugh as his body dozed in front. With his hands on the ground of his blood, he smirked at the group of murderers, "S-so, you are the bunch who will be going to become 'hero'?! Are you fu*king kidding me?! You are all nothing but murderers! And murderers can never become heroes!!!"
His hands also gave up, and he slumped over on a pool of his own blood. Life was leaving his body, but his pure hatred and sheer will kept him alive.
"You… not a single one of you deserve to live! You all are scums! Scums who will also meet their end like me! Karma will get back to you fuckers!!!"
Benny might be a dying cockroach moving its limbs; something about the creature chilled them to their bone. Everyone in the group except Wendy Thena instinctively flinched backwards from the sheer bloodshot pressure the dying man shot at them. Sammy, who was also with the group and sweating with fear, cowered back and ran away.
"Tch. Legs go." Wendy just clicked her tongue and turned around to exit.
"Come back here, Wendy, you disgusting cu*t, and finish me off properly!" Benny cried with rage. He didn't want Mors to tear his body apart while his body was still conscious like this.
"Rest in peace, Benny Olbion." Those were Wendy Thena's last words before leaving the cave with Asamio and Kevin on her back. The support girl, Shiina Markova, wasn't with them.
Benny's eyes fell on Professor Aizeck and the girl in question outside the cave.
"Where is Benny?"
"He ran off, scared of these Mors, and we couldn't find him," Kevin answered casually.
Aizeck didn't answer and slowly looked at Benny lying in a pool of blood.
"I see. We must leave this Gate and inform the admin. There must be something wrong about this Gate: even top students couldn't find one person."
And with them, the silenced soon replaced their stepping noise.
'I see. Professor Aizeck was also collaborating with them.'
It was a betrayal, but some part of Benny expected it from how unusually Aizeck was indifferent to Benny.
Benny doesn't pray to God or gods since he hates them. After all, they support mortals like Wendy and her goons, but for the first time, he wanted to swear to God to take revenge on him.
"Hehe… w-wonder if I could become a ghost and then spook them… afterwards…."
On the verge of death, where he wasn't even feeling the pain, weird ideas began to surface in his mind.
There were some regrets that Benny had in his short life. Among them was his argument with his only friend Zoey. He shouldn't have talked with her like this.
"Should have asked da-wae to bed…." Benny chuckled and wished he should have dated Zoey.
Definitely had some feelings for the punk girl but didn't know what kind, but dying a virgin also regretted all virgins.
Soon his vision got blurry, and his breathing slowed down. He could see Cifers reemerging in the main hall. They would be coming to stomp on his body, but Benny was glad that he would be dying soon without seeing the gruesome display.
He smiled one last time and spoke, "Mom, dad… I-I am coming to you…."
'No, you won't, master!'
[The conditions have been met. System… initiating.]
Just then, he heard a voice in his head and saw a message on a holographic prompt screen in front of him.
[Welcome to the Entomancer System.]