Hero Of His Own Opinion

Chapter 4

She huddled in a corner of the room and sobbed, holding the point of the knife to her throat. A girl no older than 23, beautiful and ... pregnant.

– Sveta, please, – I tried to calm her, the wife of my friend, we all knew each other from childhood. She's been missing for over a year. Finally, we found her here in Turkey, in s*x s*****y.

– Stay back! "no!" she shouted in a voice that was not her own. — I'll kill myself!

– Svetochka, it's already over! We found you, everything will be fine!

She cries and shakes her head.

"No, it won't, Volodya. Nothing will ever be the same again. Never.

Another wave of tears, and I snap the knife out of her hands to hold her close.

— Everything will be fine, it's already over.

I was sure of it. Even if it's too late to terminate the pregnancy, you can leave it in the hospital as a last reminder of the nightmare you experienced. My whole life is still ahead of me... So I thought. And then...

Sveta lay on the asphalt under the Windows of a high-rise building in pools of her own blood, turned on her back by some passerby who thought she was still alive. And this huge belly towered over the corpse of a once cheerful and cheerful girl like a fresh mound of earth on her own grave. She transferred to us in the eighth grade, immediately stealing the heart of Kolka, my neighbor in the Desk.

Holy s**t! She just went to Turkey to relax with her friends! How could this banality turn into a personal hell?

I remembered her blank stare with the reflection of clouds floating across the sky. And it's a calm, relaxed expression. For the first time in a long time, I saw her like this. Alas, only death could smooth out the lines on her face.

Kolya's eyes were also empty, as he sat on a bench near the entrance and stared at nothing in front of him.

I've seen that look before. No matter the color of the iris, the shape of the eyes, they always expressed one thing: the end. The end of everything, of all life. A walking corpse with a beating heart. That's what I saw in the eyes of those women in the cave. Distraught, empty eyes. They would never be able to go back to their old lives, I knew that very well. A barely audible crunch of the neck vertebrae and it's all over. It's a simple truth to take a life from someone who doesn't need it. It was a crime on Earth, but here it was the natural course of things. But whatever it was, no matter how sure you were right, these eyes sink into the brain, staying in the memory for a long time. I guess I was afraid to see the same eyes in my reflection in the mirror one day. Just glass with no signs of life.

...

I woke up, but I kept lying there, looking at the ceiling of the cave. I think I'm the only one, the other Characters are asleep.

I heard a rustle nearby and carefully placed my hand on the hilt of my dagger, ready to attack at any moment.

"Thank you," I heard a girl whisper, and turned my head. Rosalia looked at me with a kind of gratitude.

I didn't say anything, just turned away. She sighed.

Soon the others woke up. We washed up from a nearby spring, had Breakfast with the remains of porridge, and moved on to the teleportation stone.

A warrior and a spy led the way, followed by a knight and a priestess, and the girl and I brought up the rear. Rosalia hesitated, clearly wanting to say something, but I wasn't going to make it any easier for her.

"I'm sorry," she finally managed to say, looking at me piteously.

"For what?" I answered without emotion.

— I had to do it. You're a newbie...

I stopped abruptly and grabbed her shoulder, yanking her toward me. She practically breathed into my navel, so small and fragile. She was looking up at me with a slightly puzzled expression.

— Are you ... are you serious?" I asked, my voice sinking.

— Yes. I

closed my eyes and walked on, her following.

"No, you shouldn't.

"Please, I want to do this." Otherwise, I'll feel obligated.

– Okay, but only if it's not something complicated or expensive for you.

— No, no! I could hear the joy in her voice. — It's nothing to me, I just want to make you feel good."

Oh, my God! Do you want to buy me some ice cream? I pictured myself walking around the city with her, eating sweets. Like a father and daughter. I felt a little sad. I had no children in my second life, and in my first... What are these stupid thoughts? I almost forgot everything, but I know that there was definitely more than one of them.

"Don't make it so important," I said again. — I don't think girls should do this kind of work.

— But we're all Heroes. This is our responsibility.

— I don't... I don't care about the traditions of this world. This is my opinion. That's all.

I was about to say I wasn't a Hero, but I stopped in time. I don't want to admit that I've killed people like her in batches before, do I? Perhaps the punishment of living in a weak human body changed my beliefs somewhat. It is she and Egle that I would prefer to protect from such filth as the murder of the doomed. So did Ilina, who pretended to be a strong-spirited sss.

— I'm more interested in why the guys didn't just draw lots between themselves, " I said.

— We are first and foremost colleagues. We have the same responsibilities. And then we are women and men.

I looked at the girl in disbelief. And this is what the one who made dinner and warmed up Breakfast for everyone with Egle tells me? What are the same responsibilities she is talking about? The guys didn't even bother to help, but I watched their magic manipulations with interest.

Meanwhile, we came to the teleportation stone. Ilina and I went to the second level, and the others went deeper, to the fifteenth.

What about the second level? It's nothing new, actually. The same caves with poor lighting. Well, maybe a little more in volume. And there was vegetation larger than lichen: thick moss and even some grass. Ilina told me to be careful: there might be predatory flowers hiding in this grass. We were big game for them, but the damage this stuff could cause a decent, up to 40 OZ.

Ilina taught me to move silently, but in vain. I honestly copied her movements, but all the progress went into error. I needed some cores, at least.

We finally ran into monsters. Rats.

Huge rats, the size of a cat. They could even walk on their hind legs.

Ilina and I went around a group of 5 individuals, held them in a vise, and I killed four of them with arrows. As I sat down to cut out the cores, my companion grimaced.

— You don't have to take cores from all low-level mobs. The cost is not much higher than that of slime. Better let's not waste time on this and quickly gain skills to hunt high-level mobs. Their cores will be more valuable.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick.

Yeah, the rats were disgusting creatures. There was no point in attacking large groups of 50+ individuals: it was impossible to kill them from afar, the creatures are extremely fast. They could run to the attacker and crush them, eating them alive. Abomination. So I soon became in solidarity with Ilina and avoided them. If I had a technique that hits the square, it might make some sense.

Further, lizards, minitraktory, only nimble. Their cores were equal in value to the Goblin cores from the first level.

Speaking of goblins. They were found here, too, only a higher level. Ilina said that they have a certain hierarchy, the most successful at low levels, as they can resist stronger competitors. They also differed in appearance, already having some semblance of armor and more decent weapons. I killed a few single goblins on my own. For the tenth level, it was not enough to knock out an eye, you had to either shoot a second one, or in the throat, or two arrows into the body from above. Still, the Archer has an undeniable advantage. I could even kill five people by changing the location of the firing. I thought I could do more, but I would be uncomfortable.

I needed to absorb the cores that I had collected. But not under Ilina's nose? For her, this is money, currency. And he's always looking at me like he wants to get under my skin. Did she?.. No, if she liked me, she would have found a more obvious way to show it. Rather, it was a certain ostentatious superiority of her, the sss, over the pathetic me. A strange girl, of course, but a professional in her field, it would be stupid to deny it.

"Listen, Ilina! Let me go scouting alone. If I'm not back in 10-15 minutes, then catch up with me. Well?

– you look, how nimble — – the girl grinned. "But okay. You're a really fast learner. It's unlikely that you will be killed in such a short amount of time.

So I went. When ilina was out of sight, I met three slimes, and this time I spent two arrows on each of them.

There were 39 slimes, 67 rats, 27 lizards, and 17 goblins. I swallowed 304.2 mana, rising only to the 4th phase. By the way, this time the core was covered with some kind of haze, like steam, only black.

...

Status:

Vladimir (Hero) level 3=> level 4

OZ: 160

OHMS: 6

Characteristics:

Power: 19 => 22

Dexterity: 19 => 22

Endurance: 19 => 22

Perception: 19 => 22

Mind: 19 => 22

Class: Archer

Distortion (Grain) phase 3=> phase 4

All features +9 => +12

Light Resistance +15 => +20

Resistance To Darkness +15 => +20

Until the next mana phase 6/400 Passive

skills

:

Enhanced will (innate) level 3= > level 4

Resistance to mind-controlling techniques +9 => +11

Acceleration of progress (from the "hero" status)

progress characteristics 250 %

Interpretation (from the status of "hero")

Understanding all local dialects, including reading

Active skills:

Absorption f. 3=> f. 4 (absorption Coefficient 30 % => 40 %)

Simple analysis ur. 3=> ur. 4

swordsmanship level 3= > level 3 4 dagger

Proficiency level 3= > level 3 4 hand

–

to-Hand combat level 3 => level 4 shield

Possession level 3= > level 3 4

possession of the bow level 3=> level 4

Quiet step level 3=>.

Stealth level 3=> level 4

Again, an incredible surge of strength. And Yes, you need more cores! I just have to finish my phases to ten. I need all 100 %! I wonder if there will be an evolution of this Distortion, or will the phases be f. 11, f. 12, and so on? What will phase 11 give me? I doubt that 110 % of the absorption, where to take them then?

I killed a few more slimes and some single rats, then went back to Ilina and showed her the catch. She nodded approvingly. We continued in the same spirit. Until the evening, I was able to absorb 573.7 mana points. This raised me to 5% and 50%, which was much more important to me. But the characteristics of 25 units for each item were also very good. I was holding back because of the adrenaline rush during the jump in the level of acting like the euphoria from the d**g.

It might have seemed easy for me. And so it was, at least in part. Hero status gave a certain strength of the body and accelerated healing, even if only slightly. I've been bitten by rats a few times, and I've caught Goblin arrows a couple of times, but the slimes never got to me. Of the 200 oz required, as many as 50 WERE missing! I was tired as a dog, physically and mentally exhausted. I still wanted more cores, but I knew I couldn't continue hunting in this state.

After the last arrows in the shoulder and leg, ilina ordered to stop training and move to the teleportation crystal. I didn't resist.

– Vladimir, are you crazy?! — stop it! " she yelled when she noticed the rat bites near the rock. Suicide, or what? Although, men tend to overestimate themselves — " she said sarcastically.

— Not shout. I'm tired, I need a rest, that's all. Nothing special happened.

In General, from the city square, she helped me get to the Palace, where magical medical care was provided. I was then placed in the hands of a servant, Rue, who washed me and took me to my chambers. I collapsed on the bed.

I wanted, of course, to grab Ilina by the a*s, but I held on. A proud girl, such only by force to take, care and courtship does not recognize. Only a powerful and domineering male that would restrain her willfulness. Alas, not my type. I like the more docile ones, and Egle's shape is clearly more attractive.

I dreamed about these disgusting monsters. Goblins, lizards, jelly slimes. And rats, hordes of rats. I cut them down with my dagger, snatching up the cores on the fly, and immediately devoured them.

M-Yes. I got delusions. Going crazy just wasn't enough for complete happiness.