The steps seemed to stretch in endlessly, causing an already tired Magnus to mutter curses under his breath.
The tunnel walls, originally covered in thick metal plates, had long since been replaced by an uneven rocky surface. The torches that lit up the staircase with an ominous blue flame had also become sparse, creating sections of darkness on the stairway.
The moldy scent grow stronger, and soon he saw the end of the staircase. A long tunnel stretched before him, and an orcs footprints were barely visible on the dusty ground.
'How did he run so fucking far!' he thought while panting. By now he had descended hundreds of meters into the ground, and a faint chill pervaded the air.
As he ran deeper into the tunnels, he asked the system—
'How far until I reach that bastard! It feels like I've ran a marathon already, yet I haven't caught up to him!'
[You've almost caught up, another 50 meters and you will face him. This is a dead end after all.]
'Ah... The rat is cornered.'
Thinking that far, he was about to stop and recharge his drained stamina.
[If you don't hurry up, he could teleport away, you know?]
'Ah... This is bull...' thinking that far, he continued running forward.
The tunnel finally ended, and a large chamber stretched out in front of him, easily the size of a football field. Glowing mushrooms illuminated the sides, all shining different colors.
Red, green, blue, yellow, some were polychrome even, shining multiple different kinds of lights.
In the center of the chamber, the orc shaman stood, panting just like Magnus did. Turning to look at Magnus, a look of resignation flashed through his eyes, before he began clapping.
"Bravo... Simply astounding."
'What is he on about now... It doesn't matter, I'm recharging my stamina, and then I'll —'
"I never expected a dumb NPC to force me this far. Even my patron didn't think I would have to ever resort to this, so be honored to die to th—"
Magnus couldn't take it anymore and took a deep breath, before cutting him off mid sentence.
"Why do you keep calling me an NPC you fucking troll. You don't even know how to run a castle and think you're some hotshot reincarnated wank stain that is gonna live his life out fucking bitches and winning every battle!"
'What a mouthful, but worth.'
He looked at the orc shaman, seeing it first have a dazed expression, before he scowled and then kept pointing over and over again, stammering.
"You... You... You?"
"Yes. Me. I'm also a reincarnated person, so fucking get on with this shit and let's kill each other. Or did you really think you'd get to live the easy life by acting cocky, that you'd get to slap every face you see, and get away with it?"
Making a circling motion with his fingers towards his head, he then switched to flipping off the shaman.
All the while, the shaman stared blankly at Magnus. The orc suddenly shouted, his face panicking.
"This can't be! There's no way my harem life can be threatened! I am the protagonist! I AM THE PROTAGONIST!"
He raised both his hands up, and a formation that stretched across the entire cave lit up.
"THE PROTAGONIST!"
TZZZT!
A massive wave of lightning drowned the entire cave, covering everything. Some of the lightning bolts struck Magnus causing a feeling of numbness, yet most of them gathered towards the orc shaman.
'As if I'd let you transform!'
Resisting the feeling of numbness, Magnus raised both his hands up high.
Bang! Crack! Crack!
His hands smashed into the ground, a Web of cracks spreading across the formation. The lightning began to move erratically, no more gathering at the orc shaman, instead striking the sides of the walls, the ground and the mushrooms.
"NOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" The dad below of the shaman echoed, yet Magnus paid it no heed.
Magnus, now struck by more lightning than before, felt his entire body going numb. His skin was charred, his hair in ends, and he had fallen to the ground.
Slowly, the blanked of lightning subsided, and the cave was revealed.
Magnus who had his whole body charred, stood up. The orc shaman, now oddly deformed into a muscular abomination, did as well.
His right arm had increased in size, reaching all the way to the floor, while his left tooth stuck out of his lips like a sword. He had also grown taller by another two heads, and was uttering nonsense.
His eyes suddenly locked with Magnus, and he let out an ear piercing roar. They charged at each other, their faces twisted in fury.
A fist whistled towards Magnus, and he precisely punched towards it. With a scraping noise, the large hand was deflected, struck into the ground.
Before the orc could react, a knee was flying towards its face.
Bang!
Its face cracked from the blow, sending it flying backwards. Rolling on the ground a few times, it tried to get up—
Another flying knee—
BANG! CRACK!
The orcs large tooth was broken off, and he once again was sent rolling in the ground. As green blood flowed freely from the orcs crushed face, Magnus picked up the oversized tooth.
"This will do."
Seeing him approaching, the orc shivered and began grovelling.
"Please... Spare me... Please... I swear I won't do anything excessive anymore, and I'll follow whatever you tell me to. I don't want to die..."
Tears and blood covered his deformed face as it kept begging. A semblance of clarity had returned to one of its remaining eyes.
'A good beat down works, huh.'
"I was a loser in my past life... A dead end job, no family... I just wanted to find somewhere where I could belong, and the system gave me the chance. I swear I will never do anything the system asks of me, but please let me go..."
'Hey system, does he—'
He was cut off.
[I would never bind myself to someone I don't like, and I find him an abhorrent, ugly worm. I could just extract his system fragment since he lost but you know what to do.]
Not hesitating anymore, the hand holding the 30 cm long tooth flashed. Directly piercing through the skull, and coming out on the other side, the orc's eyes lost their luster.
Thud.
He collapsed to the ground, an unresigned expression on its face.
A blank expression was all Magnus had. A storm formed in his heart, having killed someone similar to him.
'He remembered his past life... Yet I don't. The things I remember are practical. Did I have a family? A lover? Or was I a broken man like him?'
He shook his head.
'No matter, I'll keep going forward. I have people I like in this world, and I have others who depend on me.'
Unknown to Magnus, a faint darkness crept into the corners of his eyes. And he suddenly saw a tiny ball of light being pulled upwards from the orc's corpse, a thin white string attached above.
'Is this... A soul?'
As he saw the ball of light ascend higher and higher, he was considering reaching out to touch it.
[MineHandsoff]
A garbled system message appeared, and his body froze. A black tendril shot out from his chest, wrapping around the ball of light. Even the thread above was wrapped around by it, before it pulled everything back into Magnus.
A distant roar echoed, filled with fury and pain.
Once more, Magnus could move his body, a cold sweat breaking out.
'What was... I don't want to know.'
He glanced at his chest, a system message appearing.
[Smart. Also, you didn't torture him, considering he said he'd flay you alive? How noble.]
"Huh? Wait, the bastard did say that, I shouldn't have given him an easy death!" Magnus shouted, acting surprised.
[Wow, what a good actor~ You could maybe fool a grandma. Here's your reward though.]
[Eater of the Fallen]
[Any unnatural beings slain by you have a portion of their essence absorbed directly.]
[Current reward: 12 STR 4 SPD 23 WIL 2 INT]
[Skill(s) absorbed : Lightning magic ]
Magnus laughter echoed in the cave.