Chapter 9: Offering Service
1930 Words
When the whole picture was finally clear, the first thing that Nichol did was to step back as Downing’s party obliviously engaged the Troll.
There had been several of such cases in the past, the entire party were unexpectedly annihilated inside a low-Ranked Maze. All which are dismissed as an unfortunate Maze-related accident. But now, analysing those with the factor he’d just discovered, the victims of those unexpected accidents actually had one thing in common.
Rich, influential, or had stepped the foot of either of the formers.
Politicians, advocates, entrepreneurs, lawyers, relatives of the prior mentioned, etc. They all met an unexpected demise inside the Maze that shouldn’t have been a threat to them. However, since they are all leisure Rangers that are notorious for their arrogance and bloated egos. Their deaths were always blamed to that notoriety. Hence, it had become the perfect cover.
Nichol smiled at this turn of events. Through this development, they will truly fetch a huge bounty today. Hence, he stepped to the side and calmly watched as Downing and his entourage are about to realize how f****d they are.
“Hey, there’s something wrong with this Troll!” A minute in the fight later, it came apparent.
Not unless they’re brain dead, they should already have. They’d raided Greenbleed countless times in the past after all and encountered the Troll just as much.
Not long after that, an ear-piercing scream followed.
“AHHHHHH!”
It was the Tank. When after lifting his shield to defend against the mace of the Troll, the impact broke the bones of his arms.
Then, like falling dominoes, one expression of utter pain was expressed one after another.
“What the f**k is wrong with this Troll!?” Downing screamed in alarm. “Why is it so damn strong!?”
The answer to that is simple. The Troll had been doped. The bee that entered its ear earlier was a high concentration of Mana which had elevated its might by two Levels.
In the Level-Up system established by the Akashic System, what define and elevate the Level of a Ranger or a monster is not the concept of accumulating EXP like what’s encountered in RPGs. Instead, it’s the maximum or the concentration of Mana accumulated in their bodies.
Level 1 – 10 to 20 Mana
Level 2 – 21 to 50 Mana
Level 3 – 51 to 100 Mana
Level 4 – 101 to 200 Mana
Level 5 – 201 to 500 Mana
Level 6 – 501 to 1,000 Mana
Level 7 – 1,001 Mana and above
Then, each Level is divided into three Level Stages. Those that’d just reached the Level are the early stage. Those that are already halfway are the mid-stage. Then finally, those that are only 10% short or less to reach the next Level belonged to the peak-stage.
So far, the highest Level attained is Level 6 mid-stage, the Level of the Strongest Ranger in the World, Castor Bright of England, while the highest Level recorded is from the Doom Drake that attacked New York 10 years ago. It was a Level 7 and it took the combined strength of the still 12 Rank SS back then to defeat it.
For now, the tentative Ultimate Level is Level 7. However, Nichol could tell using the progression pattern displayed by his One Above All as paradigm that the Ultimate Level is Level 10 and his estimate of each of the Levels’ Mana concentrations are as follows.
Level 7 – 1,001 to 10,000 Mana
Level 8 – 10,001 to 100,000 Mana
Level 9 – 100,001 to 999,999 Mana
Level 10 are those that reached the 1,000,000 Mana.
Injected with a high concentration of Mana, the Troll is a Level 3 right now. Then coupling that Mana concentration with its innate durability and strength, a bunch of amateur Rangers are completely powerless against it.
On the other hand, this type of monstrous strengthening surely has an equally dangerous side effect and given the fact that this modus of the assassin remained undiscovered. That side effect is surely death.
After eliminating his targets for him, the sudden and forceful increase in Level will rupture the Boss’ body, killing it. Ultimately, the targets and the witnesses are eliminated, the Boss is killed, and the death of the Boss will reset the Maze. Hence, the crime that transpired inside the Boss Room will be swallowed in the Abyss for eternity.
It’s the perfect set up.
“AHHH!” A miserable scream echoed again and the figure of Downing crashed beside him. His weapon is destroyed, there’s a huge c***k on his armor, his eyes are bloodshot, and some of his bones are surely broken.
“Not in a good position, aren’t we?” Nichol said to the beaten down Downing.
“Shut up!” Downing angrily roared back at him. “Nooo.” Then, he grunted in a panicked tone. “I can’t die here.”
“Well, the situation says otherwise,” Nichol quipped again.
“I said shut up!” Which was replied with another spat. But then, when his gaze lingered a little longer at Nichol, his expression instantly turned confused. A confusion over Nichol’s calm demeanor despite their present predicament. “What the hell…?”
“The answer is simple,” he replied before Downing could finish. “When things are dealt and done, I won’t be joining you in the afterlife.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, you’re just...”
*SWOOSH!!!
However, before he could finish his words again, Nichol interrupted him by sending a black metal sphere towards the Troll which struck it directly to the chest.
*BANG!
The impact was akin to that of a cannon and the Troll was threw for several meters back.
“You were saying?” Nichol countered before catching the recalled metal sphere.
Downing’s eyes widened. “What in the…who are you!?”
“Right now, the only person who can get you out of this shit.”
“Then do it!” Downing immediately demanded. “Get me out of here!”
“I can do that,” Nichol assured him. “But why should I?”
“I’m your…!”
Nichol interrupted him once again, “My employer, yes. As a porter. In which, if I may remind you, a service you haven’t paid yet.”
“What do you want then, money!?”
“Lots of it,” he confirmed.
“Then get me out and I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“No,” Nichol still refused. “No offense but there’s no way I’m just going to take the promise of a politician’s son. If you want a deal, I want something substantial. Right now.”
“f**k! Then take everything in our bags!” Downing offered without thinking. “The stuffs there are at least worth a hundred thousand.”
“No deal.” Insufficient. “And seriously, you value your life that cheaply?”
“One million then! We’ll do a pre-transaction.”
Permanent Mazes are already assimilated on Earth unlike the fresh Mazes that are still suspended realms between here and their dimension of origin. Hence, transmissions (radio signals, cellphone networks, Wi-Fi, etc.) procured by the wireless technology of man can reach them with the exemption again of the Boss Room. However, a lot of sudden transactions could transpire inside the Maze regardless of the type and either side involved in the dealing needed a certain degree of assurance.
That’s what brought the program of Maze Pre-transaction or simply pre-transaction into existence. The transaction done inside the signal deprived Maze under the pre-transaction will be fulfilled immediately and without question once the transmission is resumed.
“You can do better that,” Nichol refused it still and it is congruent to the Troll’s recovery from his earlier attack.
“RAAWRRR!!!” *Bang!
Hence, it aggravated Downing’s urgency. “Alright, two! I’ll give you two million!”
“And I’ll keep the backpack too and whatever will be extracted from the Troll.”
“Yes, you can have it too.”
“Deal,” Nichol finally agreed, handing Downing his phone that was kept in the backpack while Nichol also pulled out his own.
Frantically glancing back and forth between the Troll and the screen of his phone, Downing hastily made the transaction.
______________________________
[Maze Pre-transaction]
Under the Maze Pre-transaction, the Account No. 0923XXXX31 received an amount of $2,000,000.00.
______________________________
Nichol’s lips curved into a broad smile. “Thank you for taking my service,” he said to Downing, giving him a low-grade Healing Potion. It’s worth $200 and can mend non-fatal wounds. “Here’s a complementary drink.”
Because they’d been to Greenbleed for countless times and was already like a playground to them, Downing and his friends didn’t bring any recovery potion. The same practice is also true to other Ranger parties that conduct leisure raids. Since they’re overlevelled for the Maze, they find such impedimenta unnecessary. They’d rather save space for food and refreshments. This is also one of the reasons why the assassin conducting this modus had been successful to all his hits.
Downing drank the bottle’s content in one gulp and the effect improved his condition a little.
“Now, we will begin the operation,” Nichol said as he straightened up to engage the Troll. “Libra!”
First, he activated Libra but in a variation where the sole targets are Downing’s companions and the Troll. In this manner, more data can be extracted from them especially towards the Troll where its weak spots must be identified.
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-Identifying Assets…
-Identifying Threats...
-[ASSESSMENT COMPLETED]
-Mapping Options…
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“Shambles!”
With Shambles, through the electronics that Downing’s friends carry, Nichol moved them away from the Troll. Two of them had already suffered some fatal wounds and they’ll surely die if they don’t receive an immediate medical attention. At the same time, Shambles had also moved his drones, a total of 20, to emerge from his bag. They all vary in shape, size, and functions. Some are for range that shoots bullets and lasers while the rest are blades and metal spheres which engages with cuts and impacts.
Then waving his hand forward…
*SWOOSH!
…the drones scattered all around the Boss Room, surrounding the Troll.
“ROARRRR!!!”
With its previous adversaries gone, its rage are now directed to the most glaring target in the Boss Room which is none other than Nichol. Due to the doping, the Troll is now a Level 3. It possessed a strength that’s at least 10 times than an average human and a durable akin to a tank. Fortunately, due too to that same doping, it’s also three times more instinct-driven than normal and hence, its attention is fiercely locked solely to the living target in front of it. The Troll is completely oblivious to the drones that strategically surrounds it now.
*BANG!
Not more than a step that the Troll advanced, a metal sphere the size of a tennis ball struck its nape and it stumbled forward where a couple of sword drones are waiting for the stab.
As defensive response, the Troll abandoned its mace and crossed its arms to protect its upper body from the swords. However, the swords immediately moved out of the way and the Troll fell face down to the ground, completely defenceless.
The weakest part of a Troll’s body is its back but since it was originally such a weak Boss to confront, knowing its weakness becomes irrelevant.
“Fire!” Nichol exclaimed and with the range-drone leading the attack, the Troll’s back was ceaselessly bombarded.
The Troll howled and attempted to resist but with its arms both crossed and weighed down by the weight of its body, getting back up is a struggle especially that the bombardment of the drones are giving no breathing space.
*BOOM! BOOM! BANG BANG BANG!!!
Finally, when the Troll was weakened enough, Nichol delivered the finishing attack.
“Shambles!” Nichol activated Shambles again and save for the blade-types that are holding the Troll down, the rest of the drones combined and formed a cannon directly aimed at the Troll’s head.
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-Calculating damage…Result: Fatal
-Calculating trajectory…Target restricted
-Preparing to Fire...
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*BOOOOM!
A pillar of purple light the circumference of a soda can was fired from the mouth of the cannon which dug a deep hole not only to the Troll’s neck but to the ground underneath it as well.
“ROARRR…” The Troll gave a final faint cry before its life was completely erased.
Ding!
______________________________
YOU’VE DEFEATED THE BOSS
THE MAZE IS CLEARED
______________________________
- Writer
