RSTUM 87

(87: Inside the Painting)

How to kill a person? If it is not the question that will get you a different answer from every person you may come across!

Some would prefer to shoot from distance, others would prefer to sneak and stab from the back, others would use poisons, others would go directly and demand honorable combat with their enemies, others would just go straight into hot-blooded violence.

And let's not talk about the weapons. Humanity is by far the most diverse race when it comes to its choice of weapons.

So… which category would Leon fit in when answering this question?

Let's answer that and say he's the kind that would answer with the word "Yes" and go on a killing spree.

His favorite method is every method in the book. If there is a new method, he'd just adopt it at the nearest opportunity possible.

The Medjay always kept a record of how Captain Shady kills and some of the higher-ups were addicted to the juicy details even though they are the ones who branded him as a psychopath. But as the organization's pet psychopath, they provided him with all he needed to hone his skills into such perfection and to cause Vadim to go ashen-faced with a strong urge to vomit all that he ate.

27 of the 35 were dead and looking at how they died, even the captive elves kept silent and didn't breathe as the psychopath passed by.

A few highlights this night were the man who fill on his daggers when Leon jumped over his back and caused the two blades to come off his eye sockets with his eyeballs on their end, the man whose neck was tied with a rope to a wagon's wheel and then the wagon was pulled by a horse which made the man's body into a circle and probably caused his spine to be fused of the wheel, and lastly was when Leon grabbed a lookout on a tree and took him down from the tree with a wrestling move called the Tombstone (reverse Piledriver) which completely collapsed the man's head inside his body vertically between his shoulders.

And all of this and that was done "stealthily".

Aside from the three dudes he got between and beheaded in circular slash causing their heads to fall simontaincly and bounce on the ground, it was all stealth and shenanigans.

"Kid."

Yet amidst this bloodbath, an old man, held in a cage and tied by rough ropes, called for Leon while he was dragging away a headless corpse into a bush before it bleeds out of control.

Leon tossed the corpse away and looked at the shaggy old man in grey rags before pointing up with the dagger to his lips ordering the old man to remain silent.

"Are you for hire?" The Old Man asked.

"…" Leon didn't even bother about the old man and hid behind one of the tents to watch the remaining gangsters.

Meanwhile, Hector Norman was actively urging the captive elves to get him any feedback on what's going on inside. So aside from the screams that sounded out earlier, the cave tunnel had no more sounds and the elves were too scared to go in.

Hector became fully irritated and immediately pulled out a saber.

"You fucking mongrels! Those of you who don't step in right away will be killed." He said so as he raised the blade over a woman's head and displayed his intent to strike her with…

*Swoosh* *Clink*

But the thing he didn't expect the most was an arrow flying with finesse and accuracy, almost hitting his sword arm only to leave a wide grade on his forearm.

"ARGH! BASTARD!"

Hector cussed as he immediately hid behind two of his men but arrows started to come like the wrath of heavens.

One of the gangsters was killed when another arrow pierced his chest and he fell on his back as the others started hiding behind the captives.

"Find him! Find that archer for me!" Hector shouted as he hid his large body behind a crate but things were already going out of hand.

Once one of the gangsters were down and no support came from the camp, the elves immediately realized that something was amiss and started scattering.

"Stop them! Kill those who try to run!"

The gangsters were surely not willing to lose their meat shields but were too afraid to use their height advantage against the short elves since the archer was extremely deadly but their luck seemed to have run out.

Aside from Hector, there were only five gangsters left and taking them down was nothing to Leon who used his short posture as well and creeped around a gangster who was dragging a couple of elves by their hair and swiftly cut his throat open.

The elves screamed for the sight of blood and some of their elders tried to fend off the other gangsters while getting brutally beaten but Leon arrived instantly and took care of all the remaining gangsters.

{Lad! The gang boss, he's escaping!} Vadim called Leon as he also started running down the hilltop he's on in order to aid Leon.

Leon wasn't busy replying as he was looking around and there he was… Hector Norman was running with his tail between his legs and heading into the cave tunnel the elves dug open.

As the chaos spread in the camp, Leon wasn't bothered by the Elves and he immediately went after Hector Norman.

"Lad! Wait!" Vadim shouted as he got closer to the camp but Leon was already in the tunnel.

Still, Vadim managed to notice another person go through the tunnel after Leon but it was as fast as a blur.

"Shit!" All Vadim could do was to cuss as he used his short Dwarven legs to their full ability and pushed forward after Leon.

***

While it wasn't the strangest thing that happened to him since reincarnation, Leon was sure he was in a tunnel just now.

A few minutes ago, he pushed into this hole in the mountain trying to catch that annoying Hector Norman to tie up loose ends and kill the bastard since he wasn't very much fond of him but that wasn't going according to plan that well.

The moment he reached a certain point in the tunnel, he suddenly started falling with no apparent collapse of anything. It was as if the gravity itself became horizontal and he started to lose his senses and balance until he suddenly splashed into water.

His senses felt so heavy after this unexpected fall and he could barely decide what part of his body was his head before realizing that he was already drowning.

With little air in his lungs, Leon pushed upward sparing no effort for the sake of his survival. He knows how to swim but he can't even fathom how difficult this swim is turning out to be. It was as if he was jammed into a kitchen blender and he had to survive the blades of the shredding machine.

Without sparing any effort, he swam up struggling against the current and the distance to the surface of the water was close yet far away. The moment he felt his hand almost out of the water, his hand was grabbed by someone.

Thankfully, he was pulled up and all he could do was to cough out the water yet he felt that he swam deeper into whatever he was in. As he looked around, he saw the faces of a few frightened elves. A mix of young and old.

"That's a human!" One shouted.

"Hold on to the log" Another called.

"He'll kill us!" The first spoke again.

Leon started to get a grasp of his surroundings and couldn't believe he's no longer in wherever he used to be.

Seeing the old and youth elves around him all handing to a few barrels fastened together with a rope, he couldn't believe the situation.

"How can this be?" He shouted, "It was just a cave… just a while ago!"

"We don't know!" An elder elf replied, "Just hold on to your dear life, young man!"

All of them were stranded in the middle of a raging sea. The waves were moving violently and the sky was raining heavily as thunder and lightning kept striking.

"This isn't right!" Leon looked around with a desperate look but he noticed something not too far eventually.

Hector Norman, he was also there but rather than holding onto floating wood like the elves, he was standing on a rock spiring through the waves.

"What isn't right?" A youth elf asked.

"The waves should have killed us the moment we dropped… and we are not moving that much!" Leon started to calculate the situation before deciding, "We all must swim these barrels to that rock."

"Impossible!" The youth shouted back, "That man is armed! He'll kill us!"

"I'll kill him before he even thinks about it." Leon replied.

"We can't trust you." The youth replied aggressively.

"You have no choice! Your other option is to drown." Leon replied.

The youth was about to retort but just at this moment…

*ROAR*

… no one knew what it was but a deep grim roar sounded, filling the storm with double its dread.

"Swim to the rock!" The elder elf didn't even wait to suspect whatever that was and commanded his fellow elves to swim.

""HYA!""

There were seven elves in addition to Leon and they had no idea how they ended up in the sea from the cave. It was an entirely remote place from the Brownlow Barony since it was a landlocked area in a landlocked region.

Arriving to a vast sea out of nowhere doesn't make a shred of sense and the source of such a roar on all their minds.

They had to survive no matter what and that rock spire seemed like the most decent of their chances.

After struggling against the relentless waves, they crashed against the rock where Hector Norman was still standing. He, who took the elves as captives and forced them to dig a tunnel for him, was standing on that rock and holding on to his dear life while his eyes were searching through the water of the sea.

"Son of a bitch, Hector Norman!" Leon shouted the moment he latched on the rock and started getting a firm foothold before trying to climb it upwards.

Hector Norman heard his name and looked towards Leon.

"L… Leo? It… it was you?" He asked in a shaken voice filled with fear.

"It's me! And you are dead!" Leon replied.

"We… we're all dead." Hector replied as he cried, "Doom is around us! It's everywhere."

"You're afraid of some water?" Leon laughed as he finally caught up to Hector with the Elves climbing up the rock behind him.

"Water?" Hector looked at Leon with a desperate smile as if he found some irony in this hopelessness, "I fear no water! I fear…"

*GROWL*

*CRACKLE*

*ROAR*

And that grim sound struck again causing the world to vibrate in horror.

Leon was also concerned about the source of that sound but was it the storm or was it something else?

Hector Norman, on the other hand, started crying and wailing from that sound.

"What was that?" Leon asked.

Hector didn't seem to be opening his eyes and a large thug like him was holding to the stone like a little girl. The only response he could give is to point at the sea below.

Leon was also curious so he looked down and what he saw made his heart sink with the depth of the ocean. He could barely believe what he saw and every fiber of his being was just filled with dread.

Down there under the sea a large monster coiled like a snake. It's body was as dark as the sea but every time the lightning struck, light would flow through its body and reveal its form, its scales, its hundreds of eyes lining on its back, every eye that was locking on them one by one.

The scale of the beast was as large as the sea itself and the body covered as far as sight could reach.

Was there any word in the vocabulary enough to describe how those insignificant people holding to the small rock felt?

"AAAAH! Damn ya, ye bastard!"

What woke the men from the terrifying feeling they were swarmed with was the rough sound of a man shouting with a strong voice and two splash sounds as two figures fell from the sky to the sea.

"Vadim!" Leon shouted.

He recognized the voice and soon enough, the dwarf peaked his head through the water before diving again and surfacing for a second time. This time, however, he seemed to have ridden himself of his armor.

There was a second figure that initially fell with Vadim but that didn't arrive up to the surface and assumingly drowned. Vadim, however, seemed to be a proficient swimmer as he managed to swim all the way to the rock and held onto it.

"Lad! Ye're alright!" He shouted.

"Hurry the fuck up!" Leon replied.

"Coming…" Vadim was about to reply but it happened again.

*ROAR*

This time and on the third roar, the rock started to shake.

"Hold tight!" The elves shouted.

"What was that?" Vadim asked.

"Climb up and don't look down." Leon shouted back.

Vadim heard the last part and frowned but Leon said it again.

"Don't! Look! Down!"

Vadim compiled and climbed up among the shivering elves who were crying and praying. Something grim was at play and Vadim had no idea but to ask.

"Why are we at the sea?" He asked, "I felt no teleportation or a single spell."

"If you don't know, how the hell should I know?" Leon replied trying to keep some composure but that was about to blow away really soon.

"IT'S MOVING! IT'S RISING!" Hector Norman shouted and at this moment the sea raged even more making the entire rock shake.

"Don't collapse! Don't collapse!" Leon was holding on to dear life hoping that the rock would remain standing.

At this moment, Vadim saw what the others did and his face went instantly pale.

"Spirits, save us!"

Nothing came to save them no matter how much they prayed and at this moment, there was Light.

*ROAR*

The monster displayed its disdain and hate towards the Light which everyone could somehow understand and it started to move even faster finally to emerge with its head from the sea and fill the storm with his dread.

The source of Light was a ship sailing through the sea and on its top was an Orb of Light akin to the purest and most delightful feeling in this abyss. As it sailed unfazed by the waves, the titanic monstrosity adjusted its movement to intercept the light.

The monster showed its form and to the bewilderment of all, it was a serpent of an enormous size and its head felt like that of an evil dragon. The scales on its body could turn into eyes but they seemed too sensitive to light that they were all closed shut.

"Heavens! What is that?"

As the monster kept rising from the sea with its size suffocating the insignificant mortals holding on to dear life on the nearby rock, the ship of light drew closer and on its prow stood a figure shrouded with robes and holding a staff. Lightning descended from the heavens and struck the man who only raised his staff to effortlessly receive it. He then directed the Lightning towards the gigantic monster and struck it under its head.

It was as if the Pride of Del Mar painting came to life!