Hitman with a Badass System - Chapter 1410

1410 Michael in Horror Movie

Michael knew, with a sickening certainty, that he couldn't fuck this one up. He could feel the weight of the arrow, the power that radiated from it. It wasn't just a weapon. It was something more.

Even if the arrow couldn't kill a god, getting shot in the head by an arrow charged with Nithroel's grace would ruin his day. It would probably destroy his physical body, forcing his soul to retreat to one of his backup bodies in the mortal realm. It would mean losing his current cultivation, and his connection to the realm of the Gods. It would set him back months. Maybe even years.

And he wasn't sure what other effects it might have on his soul. Thus, he needed to get this right.

"System, give me the answer. Now."

[Providing the answer to the riddle will require 10 million Badass Points. Does the host wish to proceed?]

Michael knew that ten million for a single answer was day light robbery. The System was expensive. But he couldn't afford to guess. Not now. Not with everything on the line.

"Do it," he thought, gritting his teeth.

[The answer to the statue's riddle is a bat ] said the System.

"A bat," Michael quickly said without losing his calm despite the pressure of the situation.

When he uttered the answer, the statue remained motionless for a moment with its arrow still aimed at Michael's head. Then, slowly, it lowered its bow.

"Correct," it rumbled, its voice devoid of any inflection. "You may pass."

And after a moment, the final chain, the one binding Michael's left hand, dissolved into motes of golden light. The statues, their task complete, stomped their way back to their original positions, standing in perfect allignement, still as stone once more. As they moved, a set of stairs, crafted from the same red obsidian as the statues, emerged from a corner of the room, and a section of the ceiling slid open, revealing a passage to the next level.

"Fucking finally," Gaya groaned, stretching her limbs, her invisibility flickering for a moment as she moved. "Those fucking statues were giving me the creeps. Bunch of stone-cold weirdos." She looked at the statues pointedly before spitting on the ground.

Michael's wound, the one inflicted by the spear-wielding statue, was already gone. The APD in his armor, had taken care of it. The spear had gone through his shoulder, piercing flesh, bone, and even armor. Even his enhanced armor hadn't been enough to stop the attack completely.

Noticing the absence of the wound, Gaya reached out, her fingers brushing against the spot where the spear had pierced him.

"You okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.

"I'm fine," Michael said, shrugging off her touch. "Let's go. I don't know what kind of shit awaits us up there. But I'd rather face it sooner rather than later."

Gaya, activating her invisibility again, nodded in agreement.

They ascended the stairs, their footsteps silent on the cold stone. The third floor was different as there were no statues, or riddles but just bones.

The floor was a sea of skeletons. Human, elf, dwarf, even creatures Michael couldn't identify. Their bones, bleached white by time, were scattered across the floor, a macabre carpet that crunched under their feet. The walls were a dull, gray, the ceiling lost in the shadows.

"What the fuck" Gaya whispered, her invisibility flickering as she stared at the remains.

Michael, his gaze sweeping across the chamber, felt a chill run down his spine.

"I don't like this," he murmured, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his sword. "What the fuck happened here?"

"I know you're here, little one," the voice purred with a sinister amusement. "You're a naughty girl. And naughty girls need to be punished."

Before Gaya could react, a sharp, stinging pain, like a whip made of ice, lashed across her cheek. She cried out, her invisibility flickering for a moment, as she was thrown from her perch on the ceiling, her body crashing into the bone-strewn floor below.

As Gaya's body hit the floor, the impact jarring her bones, she scrambled to her feet, her hand flying to her cheek, where a thin, red welt was already beginning to form.

Michael, reacting instantly, teleported to her side, his form a blur of motion in the darkness.

"It's me," he said, grabbing her arm.

Gaya, startled, instinctively lashed out, her fist connecting with his jaw.

"Fuck!" she yelped, jumping back. "Don't do that! You scared the shit out of me!"

Michael, his hand flying to his jaw, simply chuckled.

"Sorry, my bad," he said and handed her one of his Dark Swords. "Here. Stay on guard."

"That bitch slapped me," she snarled, her voice trembling. "She fucking slapped me, human. Across the damn face! And it hurt."

Gaya growled, tightening her grip around the hilt of the sword. They stood back-to-back, their gazes scanning the darkness, trying to penetrate the illusion.

"I've had enough of this shit," Gaya growled, raising her hands, her fingers crackling with fire. "Let there be fucking light!"

She unleashed a torrent of flames, a fiery blast meant to illuminate the chambe and reveal their attacker. But the darkness absorbed the flames, swallowing them whole, leaving them blind.

"Naughty, naughty," the voice purred, a hint of amusement in its tone. "Mommy doesn't like light. And children shouldn't play with fire."

"Who the fuck are you, you bitch?!" Gaya roared, her voice echoing through the darkness. "Show yourself, you coward! I'm gonna rip you apart! I'm gonna tear you limb from fucking limb!"

The voice suddenly shrieked with anger

"Filthy mouthed child! Mommy needs to teach you some manners!"

Sensing something was moving towards them, Michael activated Silenes, his time-slowing spell and swung his sword with fluid, precise movement despite the slowed down time.

The blade connected with something.

A screech, high-pitched and filled with pain, echoed through the darkness. And for a moment, just a fleeting moment, Michael saw her.

An old woman, her face a mask of wrinkles and fury, her eyes glowing with a malevolent green light. Her hair, long and stringy, hung around her face like cobwebs, her teeth, crooked and yellowed, were bared in a snarl. Her breasts, sagging and disturbingly bare, swayed as she moved. And then she was gone.

Vanished back into the darkness, leaving Michael and Gaya alone, surrounded by bones. And the lingering echo of her scream.

It was one of the most fucked up, disturbing things he had seen in his entire life. And considering some of the things he'd witnessed that was saying something.