Chapter 11
"You are a foolish child." Afford commented as soon as I felt the effects of the medicine in my inventory. And no doubt Max felt it too since he turned to look at me. I signaled him to be quiet with my eyes before turning to Afford and said, "Not as much you, he isn't."
"I highly doubt so. Anyways, now I just have to kill two instead of one." He replied while drawing his sword. The rest of the knights remained where they were, some snickered between them.
"You were always going to kill two." I corrected and Afford stopped to look at me. After a while, he chuckled and said, "Yes, I was. Sorry Maximillian, but you were going to die anyway."
Max turned to look at me confused so I clarified for him, "You are the scapegoat prepared to take the blame for my murder."
Disbelief, betrayal, relief, and many more emotions passed through Max's eyes before resolution came. He turned to Afford and said, "Since I was destined to die anyway, I might as well die believing in my beliefs."
Ha! Again, Youth. Even Afford chuckled at Max's words. This is exactly the naivety you expect from young minds. However, right now wasn't the time to teach him about life. Right now, I needed to kill all of them.
"Don't worry Max, we're not dying today," I said while taking a step back, taking Max by the arm with me. Afford gave us a sinister look and said, "Oh yes you are, you waste. Yes, you are."
And now he's even resorting to name-calling. Seriously. He then turned to look at Max and said, "Tell me, boy. Have you ever killed before?" Max froze at this question. This was exactly why I was mocking him earlier. This is a life-and-death situation. Well, not really, this is a joke but anyway, in this situation, he is upholding morals when he should be doing anything to survive. That is why he is so naïve. He needs to learn.
And what perfect opportunity to learn than right now? I'm going to make him kill people who are weakened than him to crush that knightly honor. To show him, that the only way to win is to survive.
"Tell me Afford, do you have a wife?" I asked and he stopped in his tracks. He mused for a while before he replied, "Yes, I do."
"And children?" I continued asking but he smiled instead of answering and said, "That is a very naïve approach, Adrian. Trying to awaken feelings of guilt in me. Really?"
I chuckled and shook my head while replying, "Of course not. I just wanted to know in front of whom I have to act. After all, you all died in honor trying to save me."
Afford turned to look at the rest of the knights and then turned to me, "What mad gibberish are you talking about?"
"Did you know that Arachne spiders drop venom sacks?" I asked instead of answering his question. "Yeah, the ones you haven't been collecting." A knight from the back replied.
"But what if I was? What if I had an ability that would let me collect things without even extracting them?" I asked but none of them replied. It was completely irrelevant.
'Is it done yet?' I asked Allison who gave a positive reply while a notification appeared in front of me.
[You and your party members are now immune to poison]
The medicine had finally taken effect.
I waved my hands without waiting for their reply and about four hundred venom sacks appeared in front of us making a small hill. All actions in the room stopped.
"What are you doing?" Afford asked as he prepared to jump at me. No doubt that his instincts were screaming something at him right now.
"You know Afford, your Crown Prince isn't very smart. Because if he was, he would have never said which dungeon he was sending me to. That way I wouldn't have been able to prepare beforehand." I chuckled as I procured a matchstick from the inventory.
"Have you lost your mind?" Afford took a step back while he shouted. Now he understood the gravity of the situation and so did the rest of the knights as all the snickering and jeering among them stopped.
"Have I?" I smiled as I threw the alighted matchstick on the sacks of venom. "Run!" He shouted but it was already too late. All the sacks exploded as if bursting out and throughout the room, a fog spread. A fog of poison. A fog of pure unprocessed poison.
This much poison was even harmful to a B-rank. These D and C ranks stand no chance against it.
"Your Highness, please hold your breath." Max blocked my mouth and nose with his hands while he himself was still panicking. Talk about excessive. He really needs to learn a lesson.
Cough, cough. All I heard throughout the cave were the cough sounds. Cough sounds filled with agony and pain. They didn't even have enough time to scream and plead as the concentration of venom was too much for them to hold out. Afford was doing better than others because of his high rank but these guys weren't silver knights. These were just riffraff knights. The highest in their order was a B-rank.
In other words, they had no special training and resources. An experienced person would at least know what to do in this situation rather than just blindly run.
Afford lasted longer than the rest but not for very long. He too soon dropped to the ground after choking on poison gas.
Now the troublesome part. These guys aren't dead. They also know that and the only reason they panicked is because they know that while they will be out of commission, someone will split their throats. Otherwise, no matter how high the concentration of this venom is, at most it is a low-level E- rank poison. Mana would protect the body from dying to poison.
At most the effects would be blacking out, pain in receptors, rashes in many areas, and your senses being dulled for quite some time. That was why we needed to kill them before they woke up.
And by we, I meant Max.
"Go on now. They won't be out for long." I spoke. He moved and started running for the exit, clearly misunderstanding what I wanted him to do. "Wait," I called out to him, and he stopped. There was confusion on his face, but it disappeared when I drove my sword through the head of a random knight.
"What are you doing, Your Highness?" He shouted with shock and disbelief written on his face. I didn't reply and did the same to another knight. He watched as I did it a third time. I kept on doing it and doing it until there was only one knight left. Afford.
"That one's yours," I said nonchalantly while moving to a corner. "Wh.. What?" He asked with a low voice. Stunned and in disbelief. Of course, killing someone for the first time isn't easy but that wasn't the only problem here.
"How could I do that to an enemy who can't fight back?" He mumbled but it was enough for me to hear.
"Then are you saying it's alright if he kills us?" I retorted. He thought for some time before stating his point. "But he is in no position to fight back. What honor is there in attacking a weakened enemy?"
Honor. That's a nice thought but it has no use in this world. I also used to think like him, but I was quick to throw away that belief. I regret throwing many things in my life but that is one thing I don't regret.
"Honor has no use in the real world. It's only a weakness for people like you." I answered while picking up Afford and threw him in Max's feet. Max trembled but remained in his spot.
"It's time to choose, Max. Live shamelessly or die honorably. But before you decide, I want you to know that you will be the scapegoat for this incident. Your family will bear the damage also, not just you alone. That is what your honor will bring." I said all I had to and stood aside. Now it was up to him.
I watched as he went through many emotions at once. Fear, panic, guilt, worry, family, rules, belief, humanity, cruelty, honor, and many more.
He was considering what would happen to his family if he died here. He was wondering what they would do to his family when he would be blamed for all of this when he would be painted as a spy. He wondered what the truth behind the incident really was.
It is a pity and no doubt cruelty from my side, pushing a young innocent man into the world of pain and death. But it was good for him. My cruelty was a thousand times better than the cruelty awaiting him in the future.
And it will all start with this moment here—this moment when he will drive his sword through another human being right now. Mercy would appear. Of course, it would appear but that is what he needed to overcome as well. Honor and mercy. Two greatest weaknesses of mankind.
He gripped his sword tightly and gnashed his teeth, his eyes became wet and there was nothing but helplessness on his face. He didn't want to do this. Yet his hand moved. He moved his sword and the next moment, with a loud shout, drew the sword through Afford's throat.
It was an amateurish hit and even though he was knocked out cold, his body still reacted when he was losing a massive amount of blood.
[I guess there is no harm in showing a little mercy]
I nodded at Allison's suggestion and moved forward. In one swift strike, I beheaded Afford. Max was already on the verge of a breakdown. Seeing Afford die slowly was taking a toll on his mentality. Sure, he needed to learn. But learning too much at once also has adverse effects.
"Come on. Let's go." I said as I grabbed Max by his arm, and he lifelessly followed me.
[Are you not going to take care of this dungeon's boss?]
Allison asked while we were leaving. 'Then who will get rid of the evidence for us? The venom in there is dense but it is nowhere near enough to melt those bodies.' I explained and focused on the multiple notifications that had appeared when I killed all those knights.
[You have killed a D- rank]
[You have gained 10000 Exp]
[You have killed a D rank]
[You have gained 10000 Exp]
[…]
[…]
[You have gained 29000 Exp]
[Your party member has killed a C rank]
[You have gained 100000 Exp]
[You have gained a total of 390000 Exp]
[You have leveled up]
[Your party member has leveled up]
[…]
[…]
[You are now level 16]
[Your party member Maximillian Specter is now level 29]
[Shop is now unlocked]
A massive improvement if I might say. It wasn't much compared to the powerhouses of this world, but the surprises were yet to come.
[Achievement obtained]
[Win a fight without a fight]
[INT +10]
I smiled at the generous rewards I had obtained. I was now in the ranks of F. It wasn't strong but I was close to the point where I would be officially at the level of a minimum-ranked student. And I had about five months left to increase my strength.
I will be able to become strong enough to be on the protagonist's level by then. Of course, the other problem was still there. It is easier to level up now but once the requirement increases, it will become very difficult to raise my level.
If I have to compare myself to the people of this world, then I would have to at least level up to five hundred and focus on a single stat to become a powerhouse. This is why, getting stronger with just a level up won't be enough. I need other alternatives.
And one such alternative was now available to me.
[Shop has been unlocked]
[You have ten thousand coins]