Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Danmachi(2)
Going into the dungeon was pretty easy. There were some guards stationed outside, but they barely looked at Blake. Perhaps it was his confidence, or maybe they just didn't care. In the end, everyone could enter the dungeon, for they knew the danger that they were putting themselves in.
As soon as Blake was inside of the dungeon, he took out his phone. 5% left on the battery. Blake didn't use it except for taking pictures and playing some music. The fact that it was about to die disturbed Blake quite a bit, but there wasn't really anything that he could about it right now.
Blake opened the camera and took a picture of lightly lit passage in front of him. Then he bent down and took a few more photos of the lightly blue stones on the walls. Finally putting his phone away and turning it off, Blake inspected the crystals, slightly tapping them.
He felt no chakra anywhere within the dungeon, which made sense. However, Blake still had his chakra inside of him, so he could use everything that he had learned under Nagato's and Konan's guidance. Blake flexed his muscles. He had to kill five adventurers. It seemed like a relatively low number compared to what the Akatsuki was doing, but Blake knew it was not going to be easy.
Once he begun the carnage, some people would obviously start looking for him, and Blake didn't want to be hunted down like a madman. He had to be discreet about it. His plan right now was to simply wait near the entrance, until a party showed up and ask to join them. In case they disagreed, Blake would just stalk them and try to murder them in an ambush.
"I am talking about murder so freely." Blake mumbled. "Did I change that much?"
It was weird. On Earth, Blake would have already been deemed a criminal, yet here, Blake was simply trying to survive. And survival meant getting stronger. He had already checked whether he could open the door back to Naruto, coming to the conclusion that he had to finish the mission first.
It came down to his survival or the death of five adventurers, and Blake would always choose the former. Maybe it was selfish, though Blake never considered himself some altruistic individual. He would choose himself anytime.
As Blake waited near the entrance, he got a moment of solace to think. He remembered his dad and, to his surprise, the memory didn't hurt as much as it used to. So much has happened in these few months that Blake buried that memory somewhere deep within himself. Instead only good memories came to his mind, like playing football with his father when he accidentally slipped on the wet grass.
His dad had complained the entire way back home.
A smile surfaced on Blake's face, until it was replaced by a frown as he registered a creature appearing in the corner of his vision. Turning sideways, Blake took out his dagger, staring at the little green creature that was slowly cautiously approaching him. A goblin. It looked dumb as hell, and it was, in fact, dumb as hell.
The goblin began to rush forward towards Blake, holding a broken piece of arrow in its hands. Pointing the sharp end, the goblin run towards the human, yet Blake was staring at it with narrowed eyes. It was really slow. Blake took a step to the side and the goblin tripped on its own foot, falling to the ground and letting go of the arrow.
Blake stared at it from above with a mixture of pity and apprehension. Then Blake brought the dagger down on the creature, killing it immediately. It disappeared as soon as it was dead, leaving behind a small crystal. Bending down, Blake took it, inspected it for a few seconds and then threw it in his bag.
Looking around for a moment, Blake pressed his back against the wall. Silently, he extended his hands forward. Closing his eyes, Blake concentrated and created an ice clone near him. After learning that he had Kekkei Genkai, Konan recommended learning how to create clones out of ice, which proved not that difficult. It was similar to shadow clone and required more or less the same amount of chakra.
But, the ice clone was infinitely better, for it had substance behind it. Blake could actually use his ice clones for something, instead of just having a shadow that couldn't engage with the world around it.
The clone looked wobbly and had some imperfections.
However, Blake had decided that waiting at the entrance felt a bit dangerous.
What if the first adventurer would be some psycho and attack him for no reason?
Blake was simply paranoid and felt a bit out of place in this place. Pushing chakra onto his feet, Blake walked up the wall and onto the ceiling. He found a sturdy crystal sticking out from the wall, taking a seat on top of it, his feet dangling in the air.
He felt much safer here. The adventures wouldn't see him unless they decided to look up and he had a good view of his clone, who was leaning against the wall and picking his nose. Blake wanted to smack his clone for trying to ruin his image, but he abstained form going through the ordeal of going down.
Blake waited, growing bored. Another goblin tried to approach his clone, but Blake threw a shuriken at him, which his clone picked up afterwards. Continuing to wait, Blake meditated, recovering his chakra. Meditating didn't actually help him recover his chakra, for it recovered by itself even if he didn't do anything.
Blake was about to recite a song in his head and see whenever he gets it word by word when he finally saw a group enter the dungeon. A frown appeared on his face when he saw the person in the lead, it was the same guy that he had stolen the dagger from, followed by another guy and a girl. One was clearly a tank, whilst the girl was probably the mage. The annoying man was probably some sort of assassin, considering that he had a small dagger strapped to his belt. A new one, it seemed.
"I am telling you, when I find that fucker I am going to make him—" The annoying man, whom Blake mentally named Tom, was talking loudly, but stopped upon noticing Blake's clone leaning against the wall. Tom pointed at Blake, his face furious. "It is this guy! He stole the dagger from me!"
Tom rushed towards Blake, closely followed by his two teammates. Blake's clone barely glanced at Tom's direction, resuming his eye contact with the crystal on the wall. However, the clone was disturbed, when his neck suddenly got pressed against the wall by Tom's elbow.
"You are so freaking dead! Give it back!" Tom shouted at the man, whilst the two comrades behind him stared intensely at Blake. They were both prepared to attack at a moment's notice. Blake stared at the ongoing scene from above, seeing his clone giving Tom a blank stare.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the clone punched Tom in the gut, making him bend over. His comrades immediately reacted. The huge burly man rushed towards Blake's clone with a shield, whilst the woman aimed her hands at him. However, Blake reached out and tore Tom's dagger from his belt. Before the shield could close on him, Blake's clone dashed to the left.
Blake, who was standing above pushed some chakra onto his feet, silently strolling to the left by the ceiling. Tom recovered and began to pursue Blake's clone, followed by his comrades. Once Blake turned the corner, he was surprised to see a dagger sticking in the ceiling. It seemed that his clone had thrown it up in order to give it to Blake, which brought Blake a smile.
"A clone is the representation of the host." Blake mumbled quietly, picking up the dagger before pursuing the running adventurers. Blake's clone run without fault, despite his facial defects. The clone turned corners, dodged attacks from the goblins and then began to descend towards the lower floors.
New monsters began to appear in the proximity, featuring kobolds, who literally looked like wild dogs. Blake didn't feel any danger within the surroundings, so he kept following them, until, finally, Blake's clone was caught. The real Blake looked around. They were pretty far from the entrance and he shouldn't be caught by anyone.
Blake saw his clone getting kicked by Tom, who was shouting loudly with saliva escaping his mouth. Tom got even more angry when he realized that his new dagger was nowhere in sight. Grabbing his comrade's shield, Tom hit Blake's clone with its sharp tip. The comrades tried to stop him, yet Tom was in a frenzy. He kept forcing the shield down…when Blake's clone suddenly turned into ice, which shattered against the fury of the man. If Blake thought he had seen anger before, then it was a lie. Tom was red like a tomato and he looked like he was about to rip his own hair out.
Whilst they were distracted, Blake walked from around the corner, slowly making his way towards them, until he was right above them. Then, Blake removed the chakra from his feet, falling on top of the woman, presumably a mage. She didn't even know what happened before a dagger was sticking out from her throat.
Tom and his comrade turned around, their eyes wide, as they stared at the girl, life disappearing in her eyes. Blake stood behind her, staring at the two adventurers with killing intent in his eyes. Their confusion promptly turned into anger, as adrenaline rushed into their bodies.
Before they attacked him, Blake grabbed the dead woman, pushed some chakra into his arms and hurled her towards the men. They could have dodged the flying human, but the tank clearly cared for the woman, so he reached out and caught her mid-air. It was a bad decision.
The woman's back was featured with two explosive papers, which ignited as soon as the man caught her. Blake began to run away as an explosion resounded throughout the area. The man who was holding the woman had his head blown off, literally. Tom, on the other hand, was hurled back against the wall since he was still holding that shield.
Smoke rose throughout the area as Blake rushed back into the smoke. He had to finish it quick before either monsters or other adventurers rushed here to check what happened. Holding two of the stolen daggers in each hand, Blake spotted Tom, who was coughing wildly as he held onto his bleeding head.
Tom saw Blake sprinting towards him, promptly raising the shield. However, Blake saw that Tom had no experience with the shield, for Tom blocked his own vision with it. Taking this opportunity, Blake stopped abruptly and bent down, stabbing Tom in the foot. Tom shouted at the pain, yet some clarity returned to his gaze.
Still not seeing Blake, Tom extended his hand, pushing the shield forward, wanting to trap Blake against the wall. Yet, it was a stupid move. Blake had mock battles every day and the shinobi in Akatsuki were all extremely skilled. Tom, compared to them, was simply a bullhead.
Blake dodged to the side, seeing Tom's exposed back. Tightening the grip over his dagger, Blake rushed to stab the man in the back. Yet, out of nowhere, a creature appeared right in front of him, which rushed towards him. Blake recognized it to be a kobold. Without halt, Blake dodged its teeth and penetrated its stomach, sliding it through it.
The moment of disturbance gave Tom some time to recover.
Blake looked to the sides, seeing no more monsters. Then he stared at Tom, who was clearly frightened. Blake needed to finish this quick. Despite his fear, Tom's face was a snarl. "What the fuck are you doing? My familia is going to find you and kill you if you don't let me go."
Blake strolled towards Tom.
"Hey, stop! Don't move!" Tom shouted, his shield straightening. "Is this about the daggers? Listen, I don't need them anymore! You can take them, for all I care! Stop!"
Blake wasn't listening as he rushed towards Tom. Instead of trying to stab the man through the cracks, Blake pushed chakra into his right shoulder. Running at full speed, Blake jumped slightly and turned sideways, hitting the shield with his full force. Tom was holding the shield in an incorrect way and the shield pressed him against the wall.
Tom hit his head on the wall, getting dizzy. Yet, Blake didn't stop, he kept hitting the shield with his body every few seconds. Tom was unable to recover, not even get a second to get an intake of oxygen. His head kept hitting against the cave wall, until Tom was unable to hold the shield anymore. He was so dizzy that he didn't even realize that two daggers were sticking out of his throat.
Tom stared at Blake's face, anger still within his eyes. As Tom fell forward, he spit out the blood, which landed on Blake's face. Blake, bloodied and exhausted, had no energy to even dodge it. It was deserved, anyway. Removing the daggers, Blake looked around at the chaotic scene that Blake orchestrated and felt…empty.
Blake thought he would feel bad, but he didn't find a soft spot in his heart for these people. Staring at Tom from above, Blake considered whether he should hide the bodies. It would take him quite some time to clean this mess up, and he would probably be spotted by adventurers or monsters by that point. He had to leave them here, and remove any possible evidence about himself. The monsters were hopefully going to take care of them before any adventurers find them.
For a few more seconds, Blake simply stood in a daze, looking at the dead adventurers before he snapped back into reality. Without further ado, Blake gathered his weapons and pushed some chakra into his feet, running through the ceiling towards the lower floors.
-
Unfortunately for Blake, a pack of adventurers stumbled upon the three dead adventurers on the second floor before the bodies could get eaten by monsters. News about their death spread throughout the city of Orario. Normally, little people cared for such news, for adventurers died in the dungeons all the time. However, this case was different, for the three individuals were promising rookies, yet they died on the second floor, which is considered as barely dangerous.
Upon closer inspection, it was an unanimous decision that they were killed by another adventurer. Stab wounds along with high degree burns implied an involvement of a human, yet no one knew who could have done such a thing. Gossip and speculation spread throughout the city, and it began reaching ears of people Blake never meant to attract.
Ais Wallenstein stood on the wall of a castle, overlooking the expanse.
"A newbie killer?" Ais murmured to herself, an absent look on her face.