LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 16: You Are The One Who's Going To Die
Blood and mechanical parts fell to the ground, followed by a body split cleanly in two.
Awer licked his lips, resting the handle of his axe on his shoulder. "This is fun," he muttered, glancing at the scattered dead bodies around him, a smile tugging at his lips. This was the sight he relished most, people falling under his weapon, their bodies succumbing to its brutal edge.
He lingered, admiring his handiwork, before tapping his earpiece. "Everything's done here. Let's excavate the Growth Orb before more groups arrive. And tell Brad to prepare one of his fingers, I'll make sure he doesn't dare disrespect me again."
His voice echoed in the comms, but no response came. Even after several seconds, the earpiece remained eerily silent.
A frown formed on Awer's face, frustration bubbling in his chest. "Hello?! What's wrong with you three? Do you really want to piss me off, huh?!" he shouted.
Still, no answer.
With a red face and mounting anger, Awer turned to yell at his teammates, only to stop dead in his tracks.
Silence filled the air, broken only by the faint whisper of the wind. Awer was the only one standing in the area. His gaze swept the surroundings until it landed on one of his teammates sprawled on the ground. A pool of blood beneath the man's head glistened in the light.
"Luke?" Awer whispered, stepping closer. He crouched, examining the lifeless body. The clean hole in Luke's forehead told him everything he needed to know.
"Sniper bullet?"
The realization darkened Awer's expression, his frown deepening.
"Brad! Did you do this?!" Awer roared, scanning the terrain with his rifle raised. "If you've lost your mind, let me remind you, I'm not someone you can take down that easily!"
His voice reverberated across the battlefield, but Brad didn't respond.
Suddenly, a flicker of movement caught Awer's eye near a rock in the distance. Without hesitation, he opened fire, the sound of bullets tearing into stone echoing loudly.
"Just keep hiding, you *ss!" Awer bellowed, laughing angrily as empty shells spilled from his rifle. Despite the apparent betrayal, his confidence didn't waver. He knew Brad's capabilities, excellent at long-range, but nothing special up close.
If he could just close the distance, he'd beat the living daylights out of that traitor before finishing him off. The thought only fueled the fury burning inside him.
A loud click signaled his rifle running dry. Before reloading, Awer activated his shield module. A light blue, transparent barrier materialized in front of him as he advanced, his weapon aimed at the now-crumbling boulder.
"I suggest you surrender, Brad!" Awer shouted, each step deliberate. "I won't promise you a painless death, but it'll be better than what's coming if you keep hiding! Show yourself!"
"Alright, alright! I'll show myself, but I'm not Brad!" a voice called out from behind the shattered rock. The cracks in the stone looked as though a single touch would cause it to collapse completely.
Awer's eyes narrowed. The voice sparked a glimmer of hope, but when the figure emerged, confusion clouded his face.
"You? The weak Grey Hunter?" Awer muttered, his tone laced with disbelief. Still, he didn't lower his weapon. The advanced rifle remained pointed on the young man's head, Awer's finger twitching on the trigger, ready to fire the moment this unexpected interloper tried anything funny.
"Yeah, it's Trey, by the way," Trey introduced himself, his backpack clanging as he adjusted it.
"I don't care what your name is!" Awer snapped, his cold eyes fixed on the young man behind the rock. At the same time, his senses remained sharp, scanning the surroundings for any potential threats. "Tell me, are you the one who killed them?"
"Killed?" Trey glanced at the lifeless figure of the half-exoskeleton wearer on the ground before shaking his head. "You obviously killed them with your axe. Did you forget?"
"Not them, you d*mbass," Awer barked, kicking Luke's lifeless body in frustration.
Realizing what Awer was referring to, Trey leaned closer for a better look. His eyes locked onto the hole in the dead man's forehead. "That looks like a wound from a Pulse Sniper Rifle. Do I look like I'm holding a sniper rifle?"
"I see," Awer said, his expression twisting with irritation. "Well, it makes sense. There's no way a Primer without even a suit could take someone like us down." He hefted his weapon menacingly. "And now that I'm p*ssed off, I'll let it out on you."
"W-wait! Let me explain!" Trey raised his hands in surrender. "I was just passing by. I heard some commotion, so I came to check it out!"
"You should have stayed hidden."
Killing intent erupted from Awer, sharp and suffocating. Though he was puzzled by the sudden appearance of this renown Grey Hunter, his frustration demanded an outlet. And Trey had presented himself as the perfect target.
Awer's finger tightened on the trigger, but suddenly, a chill ran down his spine. His hair stood on end, an instinctive reaction from someone who had reached Level Eight. With all his Attribute Points allocated, Awer was no ordinary human anymore, his enhanced strength, durability, and senses far surpassed those of lesser beings.
Something was wrong.
Reacting on pure instinct, he spun toward the perceived threat, his shield snapping into place just in time.
Then he saw it.
A Shockwave Grenade? Awer's eyes widened in shock. Before he could react further, the grenade detonated.
A blinding flash filled his vision, cutting off everything else. The force of the explosion lifted him off the ground, pain shooting through his body as he was hurled backward. He crashed through the dirt and splintered remains of trees, finally disappearing into a thick dust cloud kicked up by the blast's aftermath.
Trey watched it all unfold, his legs giving out beneath him. The act of pretending to be brave had taken everything he had. Being one pull of the trigger away from death had left him trembling.
"Lunatic…" Trey muttered, a shaky smile crossing his face as his eyes landed on the figure atop a shattered tree trunk.
Kael stood there, casually tossing and catching another grenade in one hand while a sniper rifle rested in the other.
…
"Strike," Kael smirked, catching the second Shockwave Grenade with ease. He tucked it into the utility belt he'd scavenged from the Aegis Dreamer he'd taken down. Then, he jumped off the broken trunk, landing lightly on his feet.
Whistling a cheerful tune he vaguely remembered, Kael strolled toward the settling dust cloud. A trail of dirt followed as he dragged something behind him.
The dust began to clear, revealing Awer's battered form.
"You look like you've just eaten a grenade," Kael quipped, a smirk playing across his lips as he stood in front of Awer.
Awer coughed up a mouthful of blood. Whether it was from his injuries or Kael's taunting, it was hard to tell. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he glared at his adversary.
"I know you…"
"Who wouldn't know my name? I'm Kael Draven! The strongest human who has ever lived! I am one of the Aegis Primeval, the White Prime!" Kael declared, puffing out his chest with a confident grin.
"You are… an idiot," Awer muttered, pausing to take a deep breath between his words. "I will f*cking kill you… You messed with the wrong guy…"
"You don't believe me," Kael sighed, shrugging. As he did, his eyes caught sight of Awer pulling out a tube filled with red liquid from his utility belt. "You can't do that."
Kael kicked toward Awer in an attempt to stop him, but the larger man raised his hand effortlessly, catching Kael's foot mid-air.
"Seems like you don't know what I'm wearing," Awer said, his voice calm and mocking. He pressed a button on the tube, releasing a needle that he thrust into a port on the side of his hips. The red liquid surged into his system, and his injuries began to heal almost instantly.
"I know exactly what you're wearing," Kael said, watching Awer with a smirk. "It's a knockoff version of the real deal. A cheap imitation of the original, and a very weak one at that. But you can keep trying, it's futile. Once I set my mind on something, I always achieve it."
"You talk big for someone not wearing a suit," Awer sneered in fury as he stood up, towering over Kael at six feet tall. "So you're the one who killed my men."
Being hit by a grenade was a humiliation, and his anger rose to another level.
"Yes," Kael replied, his expression unwavering as he tossed something onto the ground between them.
Awer's eyes narrowed as Brad's lifeless body rolled into view, a hole drilled clean through his forehead.
"Haha, this is interesting," Awer chuckled darkly, licking his lips. Killing intent radiated from him as he sized up the man before him. In his eyes, Kael was a fool, a suitless lunatic who dared to face him head-on. At first, Awer had been wary, thinking a hidden threat might still be lurking, but when he realized the culprit was the same unarmed man he'd bumped before entering this fissure, his apprehension vanished.
If this crazy bastard had stayed hidden, sniping at him from a distance, he might've stood a chance. But standing out in the open against a Primer in an Exoskeleton? It was a death sentence.
"I admire your marksmanship," Awer said, flexing his Exoskeleton-covered hands as he stepped closer, "but you've thrown away your only advantage. And now, you're going to die." He smirked cruelly. "Oh, and calling yourself the White Prime? That's hilarious."
"It's not a joke," Kael said, taking a calm step back. "And I will not die."
"You can't run," Awer snarled.
"I'm not running," Kael smirked, his confidence unwavering.
"Then why are you—" Awer's voice cut off as a sudden beeping sound echoed around him. He glanced down, his eyes widening in horror as he spotted five grenades surrounding him.
"What the–!" Awer's gaze shot to Kael, who stood smirking a few feet away.
The madman wasn't done. Kael reached to his side, activating almost a dozen Shield Tubes in rapid succession. Layers of glowing barriers stacked on top of each other, encasing him in an impenetrable cocoon.
Kael raised his middle finger toward the towering six-foot man. "You are the one who's going to die. And it's all because you bumped into me, you imbecile pig."
BOOM!