Viego and Ines followed the continuous sound of explosions to the east, conveniently annihilating several small, scattered enemy squads along the way. The pattern was the same: Viego would face the sword-wielding warriors head-on, while Ines would hide in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to execute the shooters in the rear.
The Ruination within Viego's body also grew stronger in the process. Although his reckless berserker fighting style of trading injuries for injuries would cause the Ruination to consume power to repair his body, the life essence obtained from slaying enemies more than replenished the Ruination, making his income greater than his expenditure.
—Part of the reason was also that the enemies basically all wielded longswords, which couldn't inflict large-area wounds on Viego's body, so repairing them didn't consume too much power. On the battlefield of the Sarkaz mercenaries, it seemed that heavy melee weapons such as great hammers were rarely seen.
This world is really strange. They've clearly developed high-powered destructive weapons like hand grenades and grenade launchers, yet on such a large battlefield, not a single gunpowder weapon is to be seen. If Viego hadn't seen W's grenade launcher, he might have really suspected that this world didn't have firearms at all.
It feels like the tech tree of this other world is a bit twisted…
Viego stepped on the corpse of a Sarkaz mercenary, struggling to pull the longsword out of his neck. The Ruination within his body grew more and more restless, and along with it, the memories of the Ruined King became more active in his mind. Viego actually found himself missing the Blade of the Ruined King from his memories, the one that wouldn't get stuck on people's bones.
I wonder if the Blade of the Ruined King would still have its percentage damage in the real world... or is the so-called percentage damage just a reference to the corrosion of the Black Mist?
Viego looked down, glancing at the inverted triangle hole in his chest through his clothes. He had a feeling that something was gathering its strength there, like the feeling of shaking a soda bottle just before it reaches its peak and you twist the cap open.
If I kill a few more people, will something strange come out of my body?
As he was thinking, Viego also saw W in the distance, holding what looked like a grenade "gun"... or was it a grenade cannon? She was laughing maniacally while indiscriminately bombarding the area.
"I'm going over to rally the team first. Don't die, Viego. You're still useful to the team," Ines's cold voice sounded. Viego watched as the barely perceptible shadow moved towards W.
"…Is this woman really a tsundere?" Viego turned and slashed at an enemy mercenary who was trying to sneak up and stab him in the kidney from behind. "Don't hit the face when you fight, and don't stab the kidneys when you backstab! Don't you have any manners!"
Ines's speed was fast. Without having to deliberately slow down to accommodate Viego, she reached W, hundreds of meters away, in just a few seconds.
"Rally the team. The enemy has been fully exposed. We can try to counter-attack."
"Alright, alright... Captain Ines calls the shots." W temporarily stopped her bombing spree and gestured to the bugler and messenger behind her.
"Wooo—" The low, deep sound of the horn echoed across the battlefield in the next second.
Viego pulled the sword from the enemy's body, feeling the life essence brought back into his body by the Black Mist, his face full of satisfaction.
Last-hitting minions was a tedious process, but if you were playing Nasus, then every minion you last-hit brought a little more joy of the harvest. Viego at this moment was just like that.
He could clearly feel the Ruination growing stronger. The restless curse within him made his emotions a little excited, and he was no longer so resistant to the memories from the Ruined King in his mind. The tyranny of the Ruined King, who had slaughtered countless lives without a flicker of emotion, also flooded into Viego's heart along with his memories. The memories from the Ruined King could help him better utilize the Ruination and the Black Mist, and then he could kill more enemies, and then he could gain more power, and then he could save Is—!
No!
Viego slapped his forehead, his handsome face looking somewhat ferocious and twisted.
Save your fcking mother's Isolde! Get the hell out, you dead simp's obsession! I haven't been a simp for many years now, don't you dare try to pull me back into the simp squad!!*
The next moment, a roaring explosion in front of him interrupted Viego's thoughts.
BOOM—!!!
The ground trembled violently. Viego looked up at the place where the massive cloud of dust was rising. It turned out that there was another powerful enemy Caster squad that had been hiding all along, not making a move. And their target was the commander of the mercenary team.
Which was... W and Ines.
That powerful Originium Art covered their position, burying the messenger and bugler in the dust along with them. The order to disperse the queue, which was originally intended to delay the enemy's advance and wait for reinforcements, had now become the most fatal death sentence.
The dust settled. W and Ines were nowhere to be seen.
The commander had lost contact. The various squads were without a leader. The hidden Caster squad was now bombarding indiscriminately, picking off the exposed mercenary squads in their sights! The team was completely scattered. More enemies appeared, reinforcements that were completely hidden from Ines's perception.
This time, the enemy had perfect intel on the mercenary group's high command.
Viego stared at the cloud of dust, his thoughts freezing for a moment. In the next second, his vision was covered by a massive blaze of fire.
BOOM—!!
It was the enemy Caster's attack spell.
Viego's body was blasted into the air by the impact of the explosion, followed by several well-prepared crossbow bolts, as well as Originium Art constructs created by the enemy Casters—ice lances, fireballs, rock spikes…
Several attacks landed on Viego's body at the same time, sending his body flying like a ragdoll for dozens of meters before finally crashing to the ground. My fighting style of trading injuries for injuries and my performance on the battlefield had long been noticed... they knew that one attack couldn't kill me!
Viego crashed to the ground and rolled for another dozen meters. He understood in his heart, but he was already powerless to change the situation before him. The Ruination within his body was being consumed at an extremely fast rate, causing his skin color to visibly turn ashen. It was a good thing that his body had long been without things like blood, otherwise he would have had to deal with a "bleeding" debuff in this state.
The good news was, Viego had saved his life.
The bad news was, the power of the Ruination had already bottomed out, not even enough to completely repair the injuries on his body. The Ruination stopped repairing his body just before it was completely exhausted, falling into a dormant, inert state. The Black Mist had completely dried up.
Ice lances and rock spikes were still embedded in his body, interfering with Viego's movements and preventing him from getting up. In his vision, several enemy squads were surrounding his position, their formation tight, ready to support each other at any time.
This was the enemy's elite. Wiping them out completely, pulling out the roots, a lion using its full strength even to catch a rabbit...
What a thorough plan. I was careless. Viego smiled bitterly in his heart.
"Hey, you're the one who was with Captain Ines, the one called Viego, right?" A strange voice sounded by his ear. Viego's body was turned over. The person appeared in his field of vision. It was a Sarkaz warrior with multiple wounds on his body, bleeding profusely. He looked somewhat familiar; Viego felt he should have seen him in the camp.
"I've observed you. You can recover from injuries by killing people, right?" he asked, struggling to break the ice lances and rock spikes on Viego's body so they would no longer impede his movements, while shoving his own sword into Viego's hand. "The enemy is almost here. Kill me, then go kill them."
Viego's eyes widened. "Wait, you…"
Shnk—!
The Sarkaz grabbed the sword in Viego's hand and, without hesitation, plunged it into his own heart. He looked at Viego, his eyes showing no fear of death, only saying, "I can't survive, but you can, Viego."
The stranger, whose name he didn't even know, just looked at Viego calmly, his eyes holding a kind of firm belief he had never seen before.
"Survive, comrade."
'Sarkaz are never afraid of death. That thing is the most common thing on this land. For a Sarkaz, death is just a natural destination.'
At this moment, the words W had said to him before they parted flashed in his mind.
'Death is just the beginning of a new life. The new inherits the old, and then also becomes the old. The Sarkaz have always been like this.'
Before that moment, Viego had never thought that foul-mouthed crazy woman could say something so philosophical. Before this moment, Viego had never thought that W's words… were without exaggeration.
Life essence surged into his body, replenishing the Ruination, giving him a trace of strength to fight again. The unknown Sarkaz warrior fell backward, his skin ashen, but his face was peaceful.
"You son of a bitch…" Viego gritted his teeth, pulling the longsword from the dead Sarkaz warrior's body. "I don't even f*cking know you. You could have at least told me your name before you died."
"Don't worry, buddy. I'll survive."
The man stood up shakily, looking at the enemies surrounding him. It might sound a bit chuunibyou to say so, but at this moment, Viego really did feel a little… fired up.
Under the swirling emotions of anger and tyranny in his heart, he gripped the longsword, gritted his teeth, and grinned, looking like W. Words that he didn't even think about, words that came purely from the heart, came out of his mouth:
"Laozi is… a Ruined King one-trick!!"
-----------------
MyPatreon : patreon.com/TrueAngel?
Check Collections
Now : (ZAW)System Acting Zhongli in arknights World? (Now Chapter 57)
Now : (INSL) I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!! (Now Chapter 61)
Now : (POA) Prince of Angels in Arknights (Now Chapter 46)
Now : (RBT) Reincarnated as a Blood Demon on Terra? I've Hit the Jackpot! (Now Chapter 50)
Now : (VIA) Viego in Arknights (ฺNow Chapter 50) *New*
--------
Coming soon : (ZAW)Texas Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter) (Now Chapter 1)
Coming soon : (ZAW)Exusia Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)
Coming soon : (ZAW)Lapland Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter) (Now Chapter 1)