Gacha System: Reborn In The Hardest World
Chapter 43: Arrival of The Cavalry

Chapter 43: Arrival of The Cavalry

"Huh–?" Gael looked over, witnessing a hole bore through the afflicted shoulder, quickly grabbing it as blood squirted out. "...Ghh!"

"It seems I was a bit late. How tragic it is that such dutiful young men have fallen for the sake of their homeland. Worry not; I will give their deaths meaning," a masculine voice spoke in a dejected manner.

As he looked up, holding his wounded shoulder, he found the source of the injury; a figure stood near the tunnel leading deeper into the mines, in a bestial, black cloak with a face hidden behind a dazzling, moonstone skull mask. He recognized that uniform immediately; the gun-like contraption that shot air, the blade extending from the forearm.

"You’re one of them," Gael said, squeezing his own wound as frustration bubbled up. "--A Venator."

The melancholic hunter corrected him, "Amadeus, captain of the Orion Squad of the Venator. Don’t bother giving your name in return, Outlander. I have no need for the name of a dead man."

"But you were kind enough to give me yours?" Gael said sarcastically, breathing in as he moved his hand away from his shoulder. "I don’t really care to know yours either, by the way."

It was a vague attempt at buying time, running his options through his mind, whether he wanted to begin summoning right now or to hold off. He considered summoning his familiars, though felt there was a bitter time.

’I still have the element of surprise with them–if I choose the right moment, it could decide the battle,’ he thought, clenching the dagger in his hand.

The Venator released a sigh, "I believe I was kind enough to give you the name of the one who will guide you to the afterlife. Yet, you fling childish quips at me. I do think my kindness has been thrown back at my face."

["This is a test. This is what I’ve been waiting for. When I first came to this world, I could barely survive against a full-fledged Venator. Rouge, Dolus...Now, Amadeus. If I can win here, I’ll know the level I’m at."]

"Come on, then. Let’s get this over with," Amadeus said with a hurried breath, approaching him with casual steps.

As he readied himself, sliding his feet over the gravel to steady his footing, he looked towards the Venator before–he was right there. The distance was crossed in an instant, forcing him to raise his dagger to protect his own neck as the blade clashed against his own.

It wasn’t enough to simply stop that one avenue of attack; the moment he rejected the wrist-blade, he found the arm-attached barrel pointing right at him. He ducked down just as it fired, countering as he swept the dagger for the Venator’s abdomen.

Like a piece of paper pushed by the wind, he found the armored stock retreating from his dagger’s reach.

"You’re the one that was recently reported, aren’t you? Ah, I remember...Rouge was the one who encountered you, but he failed to put you down," Amadeus recalled casually, dodging the repeated strikes as if it was entirely accidental. "--I suppose I’ll have to correct his mistake. How tiresome."

Gael shouted at the miners, "Get out of here!"

As the malnourished workers listened, stumbling their ways out of the crystalline tunnel, he found himself having to defend his neck from being severed as a blade nearly opened it.

"Ah...Keep your eyes on me, please. It’s rude," Amadeus groaned.

–

Without any need to hide in the shadows, Jae-Seong moved like light itself, passing right past the soldiers guarding the gates to the mansion. Like nothing more than a passing breeze, the guards were none the smarter.

"Did you feel that?" One soldier asked the other on duty, looking around.

"Just the wind," the other answered.

On the other side of the gates, Jae-Seung reappeared from a matter-free form, breathing out as the coat hanging from his shoulders fluttered, "Well, easy enough bypassing all that. I hope Gael got on his side as smoothly."

The man adjusted his shades, looking around the courtyard that was left dreary; the hedges were dried and dead, along with the beds of flowers left to wilt.

’Guess nobody has been taking care of the garden. I know a rich guy like Frederick is pissed about that,’ Jae-Seong observed.

As he watched his surroundings in front of the far-spanning mansion, a rustle in the bushes immediately drew his attention.

"Oh, some company–it’s about time. Is this really the standard of Mastorn these days?" Jae-Seong announced, shrugging as he held a confident smirk.

From the untended bushes of the courtyard, skull-masked figures revealed themselves, completely surrounding the lonesome man.

’About a dozen? Of course it’s the Venator behind this takeover...The dogs of the Crown,’ he thought with a quiet sigh.

He rolled his shoulders, pushing his knuckles into his palm as they cracked as though yearning for a bit of action. On each foot, he bounced, shaking his arms to warm himself up. All the while, the Venator stood there, ready yet not approaching.

"Oh, c’mon already! I’m getting bored here!" Jae-Seong challenged with a smile.

The provocation led the foremost of the skull-masked hunters to lunge towards him, raising their blade with the full intent of cutting him up. In response, Jae-Seong raised his fist, thrusting it forward with such blinding speed that the sound didn’t catch up to it before the impact was born–

As his knuckles made contact with the hunter, the mask was shattered along with the face behind it. The force rippled through the Venator’s flesh, blowing away the attacker’s head into nothing more than a red mist.

"Alright," Jae-Seong said, withdrawing his fist as the now headless hunter collapsed beside him, looking at the others. "Who’s next? Oh, man–don’t tell me you’re all scared now? It’s not fun when the Outlanders you hunt have some bite to them, is it?"

The challenge was met; the withered bushes shook as the dried leaves flew. Each of the hunters approached swiftly, firing their air cannons for the lone man.

It was no more than a flicker of light; a dazzle of moonlight over the withered courtyard. Jae-Seong abandoned his corporeal form, shifting into pure light as he moved unbound by the laws of physics.

—One.

—Five.

—Eight.

—Twelve.

Across a single moment, he paid each of his adversaries a personal visit. A punch to the head; a knee to the gut; a kick to the side–each strike carried the same result as he returned back to his starting point:

As if he never moved from the spot he started, he adjusted his glasses as each of the Venator that lunged at him exploded into red mist. There was hardly any evidence of the existence of the hunters, besides the stench of blood in the air.

Before he could move forward, the twin doors of the mansion, preceded by the quartz steps, opened in front of him. The air coiled with an unnatural density, as though an unnatural winter rolled its way in; the pillars holding up the front of the mansion began to coat in frost. Through the withered garden of the once luxurious courtyard, ice gripped each blade of grass.

"Damn, just my luck, isn’t it?" Jae-Seong remarked, tugging his shades down as his pearlescent irises laid on the figure on the doorway. "--I expected the Venator to be here, not one of you."

The figure that led the doorway carried the air of winter around himself, dressed in a snow-white, immaculate uniform, tightened by belts and studded with decorative metals. A youthful man with fluffy, pale eyelashes that matched his messy hair, staring back at the Outlander with glacial retina.

"It was only predictable that the "Heavenly Kings" would show themselves here to help out their compromised ally. So, naturally, I’d have to lend a hand to prevent that," the young man who exuded frost said with a harmless smile. "I’ve always disliked that title your group possesses by the way."

[Impervious Seven | The Fifth, Quintus | "The Ice Age"]

Jae-Seong clenched his fists hard enough that the veins on his arms pressed against his skin, feeling his body warm up to combat the sudden cold as he laughed, "Says the one in the "Impervious Seven"--that name isn’t going to mean shit when I kick your ass! Also, you know why we’re called the Heavenly Kings, right?"

"--" Quintus remained silent, holding the same, unmoving smile as the wind of frost only kicked up, swirling around him.

"It’s a pompous title to spit in the face of those in Mastorn who think us Outlanders are nothing more than cockroaches," Jae-Seong explained, cocking his fist back as it became engulfed in blinding light.

"Everybody that attempts to resist me is a cockroach, don’t get the wrong idea. That’s just the way it is, so don’t spout this droll nonsense," Quintus spoke as frost swirled around his body with a greater intensity. "--None of those titles of yours will matter once you’re six feet under, anyway."