Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 48: Ch46. RE: [World Quest] (4) - Sounds like a plan

Chapter 48: Ch46. RE: [World Quest] (4) - Sounds like a plan

The tension in the air was suffocating, thick with the remnants of scorched metal and the acrid scent of charred flesh. Sarissa barely had time to process Miles’ sudden arrival before something small and delicate flew toward her.

Instinctively, she reached out, catching it midair.

’What? A teacup?"

The translucent crystal cup was filled with an ethereal liquid, a shimmering blend of blues and purples, swirling like a captured galaxy. The fragrance that wafted up from it was unlike anything she had ever encountered. It was warm, and comforting, with a hint of cinnamon and something magical.

"Drink it," She heard Miles say, without looking at her, his scythe still locked against the katana. "You look awful with all these bruises and cuts." He chuckled.

Sarissa tilted her head, frowning. A psychopath in front of him, and he has time to notice all her bruises? What is he even?

She hesitated for only a moment before shaking her head and tipping the teacup back, swallowing the strange liquid in one gulp. The effect was instantaneous.

Sarissa felt a surge of energy coursing through her veins, mending her wounds, closing the gashes along her ribs, and easing the throbbing pain in her limbs. But it wasn’t just a healing potion. She could feel it.

Something deeper, something potent filled her core with renewed vigor as the system’s voice echoed in her head.

[You have consumed an unknown infusion]

[All wounds have been healed]

[For the next hour, all experience points gained will be increased by 300%.]

Sarissa exhaled sharply, flexing her fingers as her eyebrows went up. The weariness that had weighed down her limbs vanished, replaced with something sharper, more precise.

’Three times more experience points in the next hour?’ She gasped as her eyes flickered toward the battlefield, teeming with [Fallen Puppets], their grotesque forms shifting in the moonlight. A smirk ghosted across her lips.

"I’ll take care of the puppets," she said, igniting her flames once more. "You handle Shinji."

"Sounds like a plan." Miles didn’t turn, but she could hear the smirk in his voice under the eerie mask.

Without another word, Sarissa spun on her heel, launching herself toward the mass of corrupted monsters. Fire surged around her arms as she dove headfirst into battle, her mind focused, her strikes precise. Every kill, every explosion of molten metal, sent another surge of experience into her system.

[You killed a Monster...]

[You killed a Monster...]

[You killed...]

[You leveled up]

Whatever that tea had been, it was working.

***

Miles barely waited for Sarissa to leave before pushing forward, breaking the deadlock against Shinji’s katana with a sudden forceful shove.

"Are you always this dramatic?" Shinji asked, twirling his katana seemingly effortlessly, the blackened blade of Miles’ scythe gleaming under the flickering moonlight.

"Only when the occasion calls for it." Miles chuckled under his mask, adjusting his stance.

Then he moved.

Shinji barely had time to react before Miles closed the distance between them in a blink, his scythe slicing through the air like a whisper of death. Twisting the weapon, Miles parried the blow with a sharp clang, sparks flying where the two weapons met.

Shinji’s attacks were fast, precise, and meant to kill in a single stroke. But Miles wasn’t just dodging. He was watching. Studying the way Shinji moved, the way his weight shifted with each strike, the subtle tells before each attack.

"So," Miles said between exchanges, blocking another lightning-fast strike with unnatural ease, "you steal skills when you kill players, huh? Seems a bit excessive."

"It’s efficient." Shinji sidestepped, barely avoiding Miles’ counterattack. "This world is built on power. Those who fall deserve to be forgotten."

"Is that what you tell yourself at night?" Miles swung his scythe in a wide horizontal arc. When Shinji struck the opening, though, Miles switched his handling, blocking the strike of Shinji’s katana with the scythe’s shaft, the weapon swirling in his hands as though it had a life of its own. Before Shinji could block, the scythe’s blade descended in a downward diagonal slash. "Just because someone is weaker than you, they don’t deserve to live?"

"Isn’t that how all games work?" Shinji smiled stepping back right before Miles’ weapon could hurt him.

Their blades clashed again, but this time, Miles shifted his stance at the last second, redirecting Shinji’s strike instead of meeting it head-on. The sudden change in tempo forced Shinji to take another step back.

"You know, you talk a lot for someone who doesn’t have the upper hand." Miles smirked.

Shinji’s eyes shook, his smirk faltering for just a moment before he lunged again. Faster this time. More erratic.

Miles weaved through the onslaught, his movements fluid, as though he was always one move ahead, or half a move, even.

Whatever it was, it was enough to give Miles said upper hand.

Shinji narrowed his eyes before blocking a whirlwind of unrelenting blows.

"You noticed it, didn’t you?" Miles’ voice carried a hint of malice.

His strikes weren’t missing because Miles was faster. They were missing because Miles knew.

Shinji’s breath hitched, realization dawning as he took a step back.

"You’re not just fast, are you?" Shinji murmured, his grip tightening on his katana. "It’s something else."

"Oh, so you didn’t notice, huh?" Miles shook his head. Tilting his head, he stepped forward, and before Shinji could even blink, Miles was on him.

"You..." Shinji exhaled sharply, his voice low, wary. "You have some kind of power, don’t you? I would’ve seen it if it was a skill, but it’s not. It’s something else. Something... outside the system, isn’t it?"

The red eyes in Miles’ mask gleamed under the dark, stormy sky, as a thunder rumbled above them, the eerie, stitched smile on the mask’s face subtly looking malevolent.

"Oh, but no." Miles twisted his scythe and struck Shinji in the chest, sending him flying a few reasonable steps away. "Wouldn’t it be cheating, if I had something that fooled the system?"

Shinji coughed a mouthful of blood before getting back up and raising his katana again, but Miles did not let him take a step forward, already lunging at him with frightening speed.

When he spoke, his voice dripped with malice and coldness.

"Let’s see how long it takes until you realize what it is and I have to really kill you."