Chapter 34: Assault on the Penitents of the Mist

Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Assault on the Penitents of the Mist

An explosion of colors: gray, blue, purple, gold...

The sphere that had accompanied him since the first day of this nightmare floated before him. Victor felt as though not much time had passed, but he had been trapped in this place longer than he cared to admit.

The gacha system stopped on blue.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: Action Hero Outfit.]

[Rarity: R]

[Part of the "Action Hero" Set 5 / 6]

The sphere transformed into a small pile of clothes. A fitted black polyester T-shirt, black military-style pants, and a matching leather belt.

When the clothes fell into his lap, Victor realized that his own had been torn to shreds by everything he’d endured during his pathetic fight against the orc. Only his bulletproof vest and his incredible boots had survived, but the rest was a complete mess.

’About time,’ he thought.

[Description: A change of clothes specially designed for the toughest situations. It will last as long as its wearer needs it to, but it has a designated limit.]

’Just one more piece to go.’

The knife, the bulletproof vest, the boots, the assault rifle, and now the Action Hero outfit.

Shaking his head, since he had something more important to deal with at the moment, he set the clothes aside and focused on smelling his surroundings. He had already flipped his coin, and the result had been satisfactory. Now he would use the little luck he’d been given to make his plan work.

From where Brika was positioned, she could see something tied to four ropes that extended from the windows of four houses and converged in the center of the nearby intersection.

In the middle sat Victor’s silver bell, and directly beneath it lay a flashbang on the ground. Its safety pin had been removed, but a separate rope was tied to the safety lever.

If the lever was released, the grenade would explode. From her position, Brika aimed her pistol at the center of the intersection. She also had another grenade resting on a box, just in case.

Meanwhile, Victor had closed his eyes. His imagination was busy giving shape to the scents moving through the scenario.

At first, there was only one irregularity, but soon it doubled. A few seconds later, the air around him grew murky. More and more nearly imperceptible presences were subtly distorting the scents around them.

They were very close, and for Victor, that was the signal.

He pulled the rope in his other hand, and the bell began to ring, immediately shattering the silence. Then he let a few seconds pass before pulling the rope again.

The bell had become a "beacon of light" in the darkness, quickly attracting the attention of the nearby specters. How could Victor know this for sure? Because one of those bastards had just passed within a few yards of him.

He felt his breathing grow heavier as he fought to keep his nerves under control. Then, once again, he pulled the rope. This time, the bell swung violently.

Suddenly, one of the creatures let out a scream near the bell, and several others followed.

Holding the other rope with his walking stick, Victor continued to wait patiently.

He needed as many specters as possible to gather in one place. When he could no longer detect disturbances in the distance, he raised his walking stick, sending the rope he was holding flying off into the darkness—the flashbang’s safety lever released.

Immediately afterward, Victor grabbed his rifle and, with a single stride, stepped into the middle of the street.

"Brika!" he shouted.

The specters heard him and were just about to lunge at him when the flashbang exploded.

Victor closed his eyes and opened fire, relying solely on his sense of smell.

The gunshots rang out one after another as shell casings hit the ground with that unmistakable hollow metallic sound. The screams of those bastards followed almost immediately. They sounded like chickens having their throats cut.

Some seemed ready to escape, but Brika, protected from the light by the shadow of the wall, aimed her pistol and fired at point-blank range.

Her System window appeared:

[+10]

[+10]

[+10]

[+10]

And when the beast fell, the window displayed:

[+100]

Victor struggled to do it, but he emptied the entire magazine, guided by the specters’ horrendous stench, which nearly made him throw up again.

The assault lasted only a few seconds, but between the gunshots, the shrieks, and the horrible smell of the corpses, Victor would have sworn it had lasted an eternity. However, when the weapon clicked, empty of ammunition, he opened his eyes.

There was no sound anymore. He couldn’t detect anything except the stench of decay.

"Did we do it?"

"We killed them..." Brika said.

She could see them. There were more than eight: twenty corpses scattered across the ground, with one or two lying on the rooftops after being hit by Brika’s bullets.

Victor smiled, and a second later, he burst out laughing.

"We did it! We finally did it! We’re the masters of this scenario!"

Although he soon broke into a coughing fit.

"Damn it! How can they smell this bad?! Take a bath, you stupid ghosts!"

Brika approached him from behind. With a faint smile, she watched him cough and complain like a teenager. That little smile, however, didn’t last long, as she moved ahead toward the corpses to see what she could loot.

Meanwhile, Victor had to endure the stench and return to the corner where he’d left his clothes. His bag was still there, and he quickly pulled out the supplies he needed to light his torch.

With enough light to see, he met up with Brika in the middle of the carnage.

"It doesn’t feel real," she said.

"And they’re definitely dead."

They had truly won, and it was something worth celebrating. But Victor’s eyes widened in disbelief when his System window activated on its own.

[Congratulations, Victor Sapphire (Prime)!]

[You have defeated 12 Penitents of the Mist.]

[You have obtained 600 coins.]

[Your Luck Value has increased by 2 points.]

[You have moved up several places in the rankings.]