Crafting Death: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Towers & Rifts Book 2)

by Nephilim Night

  “No, I don’t… think so. All I know is… that they wanted to wipe your portal.”

  “Right. Greet the dead when you wake in the afterlife.”

  His eyes grew wide as I stabbed the tip of my halberd through his throat, cutting his head off with a single hit. One piece of shit was now gone, with several more to go. Great, I was going to look forward to this much more than I thought I would.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I picked the spear up and stashed it in my pouch, as it would be a waste to leave it behind. I could always upgrade it for Mark when I got back and gift it to him. A chime rang out in my mind, telling me about the newest acquisition.

  Notification:

  ITEM RECEIVED:

  Bone Spear Rank 1

  PHYSICAL ATTACK: 70

  ENMA ATTACK: 60

  DEFENSE: 20

  BREAK: 55

  NOTE: Stat values only apply when the item is equipped and being used. The stats go up with every new enhancement and upgrade.

  Footsteps resounded at the far end of the hallway where something bright drew my attention. I broke into a jog and exchanged my halberd for the sword, just to make sure nothing would go through if I was caught off guard.

  As if on cue, several high-powered guns boomed down the hall, and bullets flew at me with incredible power and speed. Two strafed past the sword and struck my shield. Each of the near-hits cut off over a hundred points, but none of them struck me head-on. The attackers got up and ran, moving up the stairs.

  “Fucking leeches!” I cursed as they ran ahead of me.

  I wasn’t up for a chase right about now, so I took my time, moving with the sword in front of me. The building had been turned into a battleground, every room turned into something else entirely, many of which served as sleeping quarters with bunk beds and loose mattresses lying around. In what kind of conditions were they keeping these people? Damn bastards had never planned to give them any other use than throwing their numbers at a target.

  “Wait!” a voice called out from behind me.

  I rolled my eyes and stopped as Lana came running.

  “You’re supposed to be helping the others. What if they come across a ranker?”

  “A big group of people from the Association joined, and new reinforcements came in with trucks. They can handle themselves.”

  “It’s not about them, it’s about you! What if we run into several S rankers? You think I can protect you against all of them?”

  She frowned and bared her teeth. “Why would you need to? I’m almost S rank as well, Vik!”

  “You are, but they don’t play fair, Lana. I’ve already been attacked several times by grenades. What if they have other things? And you, Scar, go check the portal. They tried to blow it up!”

  “On it,” was all he said as a trickle of lightning flashed across the hallway and he ran out.

  “Wait a second,” she muttered. “Was he there all this time?”

  “He was. I told him to watch over you.”

  “Stop treating me like a child already!”

  “I will when you start doing what you’re told!”

  “Well, tough luck, husband! I’m not going to fucking listen to what you have to say!”

  I closed my eyes and turned around. Fuck it. If the situation called for it, I’d save her, but I wasn’t going to have this argument right now.

  “Keep your distance. At least ten steps, alright? We never know what they might throw at us.”

  I could feel her grin even without turning around. She was enjoying the hell out of this, but maybe I could do so as well?

  I rushed ahead and toward the stairs. More bullets flew at me, whittling my shield down by just under 200 points. Damn bastards were fully hidden. I didn’t even see where they were shooting from.

  Lana rushed up the stairs and jumped over the railing, slashing her sword through a pile of shelves and a cabinet. It was only then that I noticed their hiding spot. Four armed men darted out and attacked Lana, but she made short work of them even before I managed to double-jump up there to join her.

  I dashed past her, taking my spot at the front again, and suddenly found myself flying backward as the world around me shook. Flames licked the ceiling and engulfed the corridor I ran up into. Most of the right wall was missing, and a good part of the left as well. The wind blew inward, fanning the flame as I lay there, half of my back stuck in the wall I smacked into.

  “The hell was that?” Lana hissed as she pulled me to my feet.

  I got to my feet and managed to stand, but my right leg and side burned as if seared by flames from hell itself.

  “I don’t know,” I groaned as I stared down at my leg and then looked my shield up. Just above 100.

  “You good to go? Or do you want to rest?”

  “No, we need to move,” I almost hissed but caught myself. This was partly her fault, but I needed to trust her more, or what would the use of having her around be?

  I took a step but then almost dropped to my knee as an intense pain shot up my leg. It wasn’t just burns, I must have been hurt much worse than I thought. I dropped down and pulled several rank two crystals from my pouch. Two went in each hand as I sat there and absorbed their power as fast as I could while Lana stood on guard.

  The shield’s points started to rise by three points and then five every second until I was at 350 again. The pain in my leg dissipated, and it was only then that I felt the bone had been cracked as it grew back together.

  “You good?” she asked as I got to my feet.

  I nodded and stretched my arms, then shook my leg and leaned down on it. “Yeah, I’m good. I must have run into a bomb or something.”

  “Not just one. Look over there,” she said, pointing at several thin strands of thread that were barely visible.

  They were pinned to both of the walls and covered with boxes or paper. Damn, they almost got me with that one. Battle in the rift world was much easier than over here, but then again, I could use that to my advantage.

  “I need to ask the general to give us some explosives and—whatever he’s willing to let go of. If that snake from back in the cave ever appears again, I’m gonna rip it a new one.”

  Lana snorted and shook her head lightly. “Are you serious? I barely glanced at it and almost shat myself.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe.” I winked as I walked back and ripped a chunk of plaster from the broken wall. “Look at this.”

  I pulled my hand back and hurled the plaster through the row of traps. Massive explosions shook the hallway, ripping the walls apart with ease and sending chunks of concrete, metal, and wood flying in all directions. I turned my back toward the explosion and shielded Lana from it, but I was barely even hit, only losing about sixty points.

  “Shit, that was brutal,” Lana muttered as I turned around to check the situation.

  “You can say that again.” I laughed. “But shit, look at the passage.”

  I had made a slight mistake, and now there was no more floor to pass across.

  “What now?”

  “I’ll carry you over. Come here.”

  I scooped her up and then double-jumped across with little difficulty. She squirmed in my arms, so I set her down and stuck my tongue out at her. Lana scowled as I stormed past her and smashed my shoulder through the wall, creating a hole big enough for me to pass through.

  More explosions and a mass of gunfire erupted from outside as the battle raged anew. Screams accompanied the raging battle, but I tuned out, not able to help them anyway. I had my own target to eliminate.

  “How far in are you?”

  “Two minutes out. I’ll let you know,” Scar replied over our link.

  “Stay here. Let me check ahead.”

  Lana nodded and readied herself for battle, putting her sword up in a defensive posture as I disappeared through the hole. To my surprise, there was no one in the hallway waiting for me, and after staring at the walls, ceiling, and floor, I didn’t notice a
ny traps.

  “Lana, follow, but keep your distance.”

  “Sure thing,” she called back from the other side of the wall.

  I hurried through the corridor and reached a single door. It swerved to the right and looked quite luxurious for some reason. What was this building anyway? Not that it mattered. After tonight, no one would work or live here anyway.

  I kicked the door open and stepped back, but nothing happened. Nothing except a small explosion that resounded from the far end of the ballroom. Shit, this must have been one of those places where the rich held parties.

  I rushed into the room, holding the sword up in defense. Several high-caliber rifles sent projectiles my way, but the sword was way too tough for any of them to penetrate, all but a single one that strafed my left knee, and all that did was drain 40 points off my shield, bringing it down to just under 300 again.

  Half a score of men and women, all armed with weapons from the rifts, stood there waiting for me. Two slightly broader men sat at a table, drinking from an expensive-looking bottle. I recognized one of them: Sandro. The other man was unfamiliar to me, but he looked dangerous. Both turned their heads my way as I stepped closer.

  “Don’t attack him yet,” Sandro snapped as the group looked restless and twitchy beyond normal. If they were the so-called elite group the Green Dragons used, then the fear they exuded told me they weren’t as big a threat as they wanted me to think. They knew I wouldn’t have made it there if I was ordinary or a weakling, so every single one of them stepped back and made room for me to come closer. I took them up on the offer, grinning all the while.

  “Where are you going?” Lana asked from behind me.

  “To have a drink with them.”

  “What about me?”

  “Come have a drink as well.” I laughed. “It’s not like they can do shit to us.”

  I could feel the annoyance seep from her very skin, but she hurried after me and fell in step. The group withdrew even further as I came into arm’s reach.

  “Viktor, so good to see you!” Sandro laughed as I stopped across the table and sat down. “What are you doing here? I don’t remember offending you since—you know?”

  “Oh, I know.” I laughed along. “Yeah, since you tried to have us killed.”

  “You wanted to kill me first thanks to that fucking bitch Melina! How dare you hold it against me.”

  “Oh, I’m not holding against you, Sandro. But there’s one thing you need to make sure you do if you’re trying to get someone killed.”

  “And what’s that?” the other man asked smugly. His bald head and the tattoo that peeked from underneath his shirt told me he was no ordinary gang member. He was both strong and part of the leadership. Only assholes who thought so highly of themselves could look at me the way he did.

  “You gotta make sure to kill them. That’s one of the basic rules, wouldn’t you agree?”

  The man’s expression changed and turned to a deep frown. He put his hands on the table and leaned forward slightly. “Wait, is this the bastard you told me about?”

  “Oh, it sure is.” Sandro laughed.

  “Bastard? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “What? You’re not fucking Melina anymore? I’m quite disappointed, Vik. She may be my sister, but she’s a damn nice piece of ass, you gotta admit that.”

  “The fuck is this slug, Vik?” Lana demanded. “Let me cut his head off and shit in his mouth. Please.”

  I snorted and shook my head as Sandro’s stare changed from me to Lana.

  “Really? And I thought you were just a trophy, pretty girl. Why not join Anton and me for a drink? I think we might have started on the wrong foot.”

  I stared at him and then at the other man as he said his name. “Anton?”

  The man snorted as if finally catching up on something that should have been clear to both of us. “So this is the bastard fucking my wife, huh?” he snorted.

  “Ahh, so you’re the bastard who hurt Melina, who cut and mutilated her body?”

  “Wait, what?” Lana hissed. “There are no cuts on her body!”

  “I’m sure there are, young lady.” Anton laughed. “I did a full hundred myself, thank you very much.”

  Something within me snapped, and all the rage I’d held back since being reborn came rushing out. I pushed the table almost over, but at the last moment grabbed it instead and hurled it into the group of armed men and women. Some scattered; others got caught as I roared and readied my sword to gut both bastards.

  “I’ll fucking chop your body up a slice at a time, you freaking pig!”

  “Wait! You do that and this whole building blows up!” Sandro screamed.

  “Stop!” Lana hissed. “Look at the walls! They’re all rigged!”

  I stopped and looked around, barely able to stop myself from going wild.

  “Ahh, good man.” Sandro snickered. “Now, what the hell are we supposed to do with you? The next logical step is to take your woman for myself and taste her. She looks almost identical to my dear little sister!”

  I could feel Scar’s presence a mere heartbeat before he spoke.

  “The portal is fine, but the area around it is devastated. The second portal is still active as well, but the fighting is brutal. Both sides are losing badly.”

  “Can you help them?”

  “Is that an order? Or a request?”

  “Order.”

  I could feel him sigh, but then he replied, “Consider it done.”

  The hairs on my back stood upright even before I heard or felt it. A massive electric surge erupted some two miles from where I stood, halfway toward the place where the general waited for good news.

  A two-way radio crackled in the dead silence of the room. Anton pulled it from his side and turned the volume up.

  “Boss! A demon has appeared, spewing lightning! We’re being devastated! We can’t—”

  The line suddenly cut off, and I smirked.

  “Lightning? Viktor! Is it that damn wolf of yours?”

  “I’m just returning the favor for what you did to my portal. An eye for an eye, a life for many lives.”

  “Oh, enough already! They were my men! I paid them for years! What the hell are you acting so righteous about?”

  “You killed them after they promised me their lives and servitude! That made them my men!”

  I stepped closer to the two, who weren’t so sure of their situation anymore. Lana turned her back to mine and slowly moved along with me.

  “The two of you have a choice,” I hissed, staring at both Anton and Sandro. “You can come with me and die an easy death, or you can resist and die a horrible one. A death far worse than anything you could have imagined.”

  “Greet the bitch from me!” Anton suddenly hissed as he pushed Sandro toward me and bolted through the gaping hole in the wall. Every single explosive that surrounded the room went off at once, leveling the floor.

  I put my arms around Lana and jumped up into the air, then used all my power to force a second jump, sending me crashing through the glass roof as flames licked my boots. The world stood still for a moment as I was suspended in the air by the tremendous blast wave, but then it was gone, and I dropped down like a brick.

  Sandro was nowhere to be found as I landed on my feet. All of the goons were either dead or screaming for salvation, their bodies blown to bits and mangled, still burning and disintegrating.

  “Shit, that was close,” Lana hissed as I put her down.

  “Too close for comfort,” I muttered, looking around for the sneaky weasel. “We need to follow them. I’m not letting either of them go.”

  I bolted to where Anton had dropped off the building earlier, not even caring that there might be other traps around. Lana was hot on my heels, keeping up with me with ease. I jumped down from the third floor and landed with catlike grace, rolled along the ground, and got up into a sprint.

  “Sandro and a big bald dude might come your way. Don’t let them get th
rough the portal no matter what!”

  “Sure thing.”

  I loved it when Scar was short and to the point. There was a time to bicker and fuck around, and there was a time we did what needed to be done. Now was the latter.

  “Where are we going?” Lana yelled after me.

  “To their portal! I’m sure they’ll be running there!”

  I gathered a good amount of Enma into my legs and pushed off even harder and faster, moving with the speed of a sports car. A passive surge of Enma tickled my senses, forcing me to stop in my tracks. I bumped into a wall and slammed through it, then skidded to a halt as I concentrated on my surroundings. I couldn’t see anyone, yet someone had managed to find me.

  “Lana!” I yelled, searching for her.

  “I’m kind of busy!” she yelled back. I turned to face her and cursed under my breath. A dozen or so attackers surrounded her, pressuring Lana into defending by raining blows down on her from all sides.

  “I’ll be right—!”

  The words died in my mouth as a grenade exploded against my back, sending me sprawling to the ground.

  Damage Notification:

  You have received 234 damage from Sandro.

  You have received 241 damage from Sandro.

  I hadn’t felt such immense pain in a damn long time as having my skin burned. I rolled over on my back as the shield formed around me again, or what was left of it. Barely 100 points. Having cracked the shield, I’d lost a lot of health as well and was down to 677, the first time since I’d entered the rift.

  “Vik!” Lana screamed as she noticed me.

  “Stay back!”

  I pushed myself up and growled, pissed off and annoyed as hell. I looked around and found Sandro standing on a rooftop as he smirked, holding an RPG launcher in his hands. Anton stood next to him and did the same. Alright, if that was how they’d like to play, then I could do so as well.

  I picked up my sword and hurled it at the two, launching myself after the weapon. Sandro panicked and shot his grenade. It exploded against the sword that acted as a shield, but I still had the spear. I pulled it from the pouch and at the last moment threw it straight at him, then did a double jump as Anton narrowly evaded the throw and dropped off the roof.