"Is he doing better?"
Lucius asked with an expression of concern.
Before him were the two twins, behind him were Alexander and Dian whilst in the corner of the room stood Julius. On the ground was Grit. Still ill and still dying it would seem. They were all packed into a tight grey room.
"He's alive."
All had just eaten and it was the daybreak of tomorrow. The day decided upon by Lucius and Julius to slay the Revenant.
Although the atmosphere in the room was light and flowy, Julius just couldn't shake off the image in his head of anyone in the room suddenly transforming into the Revenant and killing them all.
Food and drinks were plentiful but not lastful. They would run out in no more than 3 days if they failed to ration properly.
Lucius stopped conversing with the twins abruptly.
"I think I ought to check up on the corruption. The situation is ever-changing."
Julius too stood up abruptly.
"I'll join you."
Those conscious in the room merely shook off the interaction as the goodwill of Julius and Lucius.
As soon as the door shut behind them the two picked up their pace, grabbing their weapons and heading straight to the outskirts of the village.
Julius almost stepped back as he halted his steps.
"Lucius."
"Do you even know how to beat that thing?"
Lucius looked back calmly.
"It's not that difficult. From what I've grasped its only ability is to apparate behind something that enters the corruption zone but it probably has a cooldown. It can't attack us if we aren't in its corruption zone either."
Julius smirked as he thought to himself in his mind smugly.
'Well, then this should be easy-.'
Lucius' voice went cold.
"But its partner can."
Julius furrowed his brows.
"I don't get it. Why hasn't its partner killed us all already? We should be 7 free meals. It doesn't align."
Lucius looked up to the sky wisely.
"I assume that the cost of mimicking a human severely cuts down on its strength. Therefore it's simply waiting for the time to strike."
Julius rubbed his head in confusion.
"But it still doesn't make sense. How did it start off with us in Earth clothes? I thought this was a fantasy world."
Lucius let out a wry smile.
"Listen, I don't know that much about it either. I just got some information through a skill. As far as I'm aware one of us probably got devoured somewhere between the time we arrived and when we got that bread."
Lucius started walking, but Julius refused to move.
"Lucius. This all means that the Revenant within our group is currently in that tight stone room with everyone else."
"Does that not scream warnings to you?"
Lucius sighed.
"Look. I'm pretty sure these Revenants work in pairs. Unless this is some kind of game to them then we'd all be dead already. I suspect that the mimic Revenant is planning to settle its roots first to guarantee the biggest meal. That's why we can use that period of time to hunt the other Revenant that resides in the corruption zone."
Lucius saw his reflection within the gleam of his blade.
"Julius, I know we aren't fighting things humans are meant to fight. But we carry weapons that humans were never meant to carry. Just look at this Julius."
Lucius walked over to a tree.
In one clean swipe, his blade flourished, chopping straight through the tree.
The tree came crashing down on him.
Lucius looked up as if all was well.
"Light Seal."
A revolving rune of light formed and spun, stopping the falling tree in its tracks.
Lucius moved out of the way and soon the seal gave way, allowing the tree to hit the ground with a deafening thud.
"Julius. Have you ever seen a human do that before?"
Julius was secretly seething with Jealousy.
With 500 mana points, he couldn't even chop off one of the tree's branches.
Julius laughed depressingly.
"No. No, I haven't. Let's just get on with this."
Lucius slowly stepped onto the corruption, Julius followed.
The air felt thinner and dirty. The ground below bulged and flowed like a slug.
After a solid minute of tension, silence, and sweat. All that ensued was nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Not a thing happened.
Lucius' tongue was caught. His eyes concentrated.
"It knows."
Julius looked at Lucius in bewilderment.
"Knows what?"
Lucius spoke like a man who had met death.
"It knows that we found out that there's a mimic. And that's why it's not showing up."
Julius flipped his sticky black hair.
"What the?"
Lucius looked down calmly.
"Sleep. We'll be waiting here for a while."
Julius shrugged.
"You better wake me up before my head gets chopped off."
Lucius looked at Julius like he was insane.
"Why would you sleep on the corrupted parts? I meant sleep over there."
Julius froze.
"Oh. Yeah. Same. I was just looking out for the imposter. You know."
Lucius watched Julius take his walk of shame in amusement.
"Now we wait."
Julius laid his head on a cold rock and didn't even realize how tired he truly was. He fell asleep before he could even produce another thought.
Julius woke in the dead of night. The moon was blazing silver brilliance and Lucius was still standing in the position where Julius had seen him last.
Julius walked up whilst holding back a yawn.
"Killed it yet?"
Lucius smirked.
"No. But I've killed my legs by standing here for hours."
Julius' eyes widened.
"You've been standing here this whole time?"
Lucius looked at Julius face-to-face.
"No. I think I'll need these legs for the upcoming battle."
Lucius heard heavy pants behind him. He turned his head instantly to see Grit, still sick and half-dead running for the hills. His path would intercept Lucius and Julius.
Lucius instantly noticed the oddity and without hesitation, drove his blade straight through Grit, severing him in half.
His upper half went flying, landing just within the corruption zone.
Soon his skin molded into black metal armor full of purple veins. Two hypnotizing eyes spun into place. A solidarity black helmet formed which enclosed its head.
But it seemed like Lucius had attacked him at the right time, for the Revenant could neither attack nor defend in its current position.
Julius caught up to the situation and readied the spear in his arms. He had been practicing some jabs and swings lately but he was still far too amateuristic to be willing to put pride in them.
The Revenant opened its mouth, but no sound came out. Its helmet had split in half as its mouth merely quivered in the air.
Lucius was unbothered before his eyes tightened and his form shook.
"Ready yourself."
He spoke too fast for Julius to translate into his mind.
"That's most likely a call for its partner."
Within a single frame, a new entity appeared. No flashy entrance, no big bang boom. Just a silent apparition. Julius blinked twice to ensure himself that what was in front of him was reality.
Julius cursed.
"What the hell do we do now?"
Lucius braced himself.
"We need to wait. We can't risk anything meaninglessly."
The original revenant, a flawless black knight with purple veins corroding its armor and huge hypnotizing beams of purple coming from its eye sockets, kneeled onto one knee for its fallen, brother.
Soon, the revenant on the ground melted into a boiling black liquid. The liquid climbed and slithered around the original Revenant before it formed a wing on its back. The wing had no feathers and looked more like a spike and even though it should've made the revenant one-sided it seemed to be weightless.
Julius cursed yet again.
"That thing just got stronger. That's not good."
Lucius merely gazed into the eyes of the revenant peacefully.
"It's scared."
Julius looked back and forth between Lucius and the Revenant.
"That thing? Scared of us?"
Lucius nodded.
"It thinks we killed its brethren whilst it was in its full form when I just sliced through its mimic form. It's cautious of us. I doubt this will increase our winning chances though. Especially with it now strengthened."
Julius looked around, he opened his system page whilst keeping an eagle eye on the revenant.
'Damn it. Isn't there anything I can use 500 mana points for?'
Eventually whilst Julius was scrolling he noticed a quest.
{Quest}
{Eliminate the 1-Winged Revenant}
{Rewards: 3 ̶L̶e̶v̶e̶l̶ ̶U̶p̶s 1 Random 0 Wisdom Skill}
{Failure: ???}
Julius breathed out heavily.
'I guess that's some motivation.'
The Revenant suddenly aimed its empty left palm out. Within the center was a beautiful violet shard intertwined with a multitude of purple roots.
Lucius almost screamed his words out from the shock.
"FEEL YOUR HEARTS BEATS."
Julius looked at him strangely.
"Wha-"
Lucius forced Julius' hand over his heart to mirror his own image.
Soon, Julius felt an invisible power seeth in the atmosphere.
Lucius panted.
"That thing... It just tried to crush both of our hearts at once. I only knew how to solve it because of my system."
The revenant temporarily gave up.
Julius swore.
"Hah? Your system gives you warnings?"
Lucius let out a brief grin.
"It's my talent. It even amps my system. Just now I got a quest to feel my heartbeat. The failure condition was death. Thank me later."
Lucius muttered lowly.
"Still I never thought it would be this good."
Julius thought all was well until something submerged his entire mind into mayhem.
The Revenant raised one leg slowly and tediously.
And then effortlessly the revenant placed that very same leg on the land just outside of the corruption zone.
The Revenant was in the safe zone.
The last place where it ought to have been.
Julius laughed nervously.
"This can't be fair right?"