Surviving in my Own Unpublished Failed Novel

Markim's brown eyes slightly constricted at Russell's peculiar words that came out of his mouth., but without any thinking about it any further, he lunged towards Russell, wielding his sword.

Bam-!

After their first exchanges, he noticed the difference between them, although he didn't know how an E+ rank player possessed a speed comparable to A- rank player. Markim thought that it may be because of a hidden artifact that Russell possessed, or an Intrinsic Effect of the weapon he was holding, whatever the reason was, Markim wasn't capable of knowing, thus, brushing off his guesses, putting it at the back of his head, and prioritize to end the man named Russell according to what he saw by using the general-type Status Appraisal Skill which let him inspect the basic information of the target.

Markim's Agility stat was around 2300+, but his opponent, the young man seems faster than him. It caused Markim to somehow felt slight alertness, but when he received the surprise attack from before, he knew that the opponent's strength was around C- rank, which also caused a slight confusion because the opponent's rank according to Status Appraisal Skill was only at E+ rank, but as a man with battle experiences, he knew that questioning something while in a fight was extremely detrimental and might lead to getting off-guard with a slight opening, thus he focused of cleaving down the sword he's holding, to be specific, it's a greatsword with a tail of the dragon carved on it.

'Is he in pain? He keeps dodging.'

Bam-! Bam-!

Whoosh-! Whoosh-!

Markim noticed Russell's reactions, but one thing that he noticed the most was the expression that Russell had, it depicts an expression of being calculative and calm as Russell's atmosphere changed in that short amount of time that Markim praised his fine sword, and casually said he'd take it.

"I see... this won't be simple as it seems."

Markim stopped his chase and kept his distance for a few meters away as he looked at Russell who took a dirty white mask from his Dimensional Inventory and quickly put it on. Markim saw the dirty white mask and was about to say that it was too late to don a disguise, but when he saw the carved symbol of X tilted 45 degrees to the right, he instantly concluded that it was an artifact, although it was plain-looking.

Markim's eyes dilated as the opponent suddenly blend in the shadows, prompting him to use one of his skills this time, especially when he didn't know the full capacity or Intrinsic Effects of the artifact that Russell was wearing.

[Activating Skill: Blazing Slash (B+)]

Boom-!

Markim slammed the ground, blazing fires scattered that came out of his greatsword seemed to swallow everything in its path, burning some necessary equipment of the facility, but due to the land area of the underground facility that's at least a hundred square meters, some were spared. Although the blazing of fires mercilessly burned the guards that fainted due to Amelie's Shriek of the Shade (EX), the smell of their burned flesh along with their scream that woke them up from their fainted state reverberated throughout the underground facility, Markim didn't care because of one reason... Aside from him and the wardens, the guards here were also forced to work in this facility with the help of Arthur Wolfson, nephew of the Guild Master of the Shadow Guild, who did manipulation into signing a slave contract.

Although the control lasted only for a short amount of time, the guards, who were picked with cautiousness to avoid the prying eyes of the other guilds due to possible connections, wholeheartedly accepted the illegal job as time passes due to the amount of money that's going into their pockets. They became equally guilty and no different from Markim and the wardens.

"Agh-!"

A grunt cut off Markim's thoughts as he achieved the objective of his attack.

With his Blazing Slash (B+), the shadows were expunged by the light of the fire, causing Russell to not have something he could blend in.

...

'...F*ck!'

Russell cursed inwardly as his back hit a metallic wall. Although he's not hurt badly due to the body of a player that's strengthened, his advantage of moving through shadows was temporarily extinguished.

He realized how much of a disadvantage he has because it was only his Agility stat that was strengthened, not Strength, Vitality, Stamina, or any other stats. The average stats of an A- rank player were about 2200 up to 2700.

'If I could just combine a sword and a scythe to take advantage of the additional effects of Cull and Cut...'

According to its additional effects, Cull, if he's wielding a scythe, it's his Strength stat that would be strengthened by five times; Cut, if he's wielding a sword, would strengthen his Agility by five times.

Boom-!

Without waiting for his thoughts to be collected, Markim lunged at him who was just about to stand up, which he dodges by rolling to the side.

'F*cking...!'

He knew that complaining in this situation wouldn't give him an advantage, then a notification sounded in his ears as he quickly skimmed through the System message, but as soon as he read it, his thoughts of cursing were spoken verbally.

[The Constellation, 'Night of Primordial Chaos', says that if you eat the Fruit of Chaos in its entirety, a power of Symbol of Night will be unlocked, allowing you to combine a sword and a scythe weapon of Chaos origin.]

Russell's cursing was heard by Markim, prompting his ears to prick up a little, but as a professional, he didn't care whatever Russell was going through, rather he used another skill to bombard Russell.

...

[Activating Skill: Blazing Circles]

Soon, upon Markim's activation of the skill, blazing of fires that were swirling, forming a shape of a circle lunged towards Russell who was running and dodging endlessly.

These circles of fire could cut through metal easily.

Russell didn't have fire resistance, only dark and light, which was different compared to fire, that's why, when he's hit by the circles of fire, his body would get cut in half, or his head would fly off instantly.

'It's not time to summon Ceru yet.'

He never forgets about his summon who he barely calls as there's no necessary occasion for it to be summoned.

Rumble-! Rumble-!

A sudden earthquake inside the underground facility that could be slightly felt from outside stopped his train of thought and tracks for a moment, it's the same for Markim who stopped lunging at him, the same for circles of fire that he controls through his mind as he became confused about the earthquake. As a guild branch manager, he's been in a guild for at least 8 years, he knew that the underground facility was strongly built, made from expensive materials which couldn't be shaken up by an earthquake of this magnitude.

'Chance!'

Russell was the first to snap out of his thoughts and silently summon Ceru. The surroundings were still burning with blazing fire which gave bright light to this underground facility.

'Ceru, blink and bite!'

He quickly commanded it through his connection, which Ceru obliged and used the blink skill it has.

Bam-!

A spinning slash from Markim cut through Ceru's body as he anticipated such an attack.

[Your summon, 'Ceru' has died.]

"I was waiting for you to do that, you summoner and swordsman."

A deep voice of Markim entered Russell's ears, but Russell only looked at the body of the Alien Slime that was cut in half with his cold deep blue eyes.

...

Twenty minutes earlier, just after Russell commanded her to chase after the escaping employees.

Amelie was running through the metallic walls in the underground facility with the use of her Unique Skill: Shade Transformation.

'They're only at F- to E- rank...'

Amelie said inwardly as she traversed the underground facility at a very fast pace. Then after at least four to five minutes, he saw the backs of the running employees and quietly observed them as they couldn't see her, then after some time, four wardens reached the employees who heaved sighs of relief.

Amelie used the Skill, Eye of the Darkest Spade (EX) to inspect the details of the wardens, but this time she did it thoroughly unlike when Russell asked her before to survey the area in which she only inspected the ranks of the employees, guards, wardens, and branch manager.

'Well, it doesn't matter, they couldn't see me in this form.'

This time, aside from peeking at the wardens' Status Windows, she also used the other ability of the Eye of the Darkest Spade, which was to peek into the weaknesses of the target, then after a second or two, she received the System messages.

[Confirming weaknesses of the target...]

[Weakness: Poison]

Amelie thought that the weakness was on point due to the wardens' same professions of being a tanker, the same with Harold, the warden that's left behind with the Branch Manager Markim.

'Fighting them head-on is dangerous.'

Amelie thought as she quickly came up with an idea.

Approaching the wardens who asked questions about if a woman chased after them, and receiving the collective answer of 'No' put the wardens at east for some reason, Amelie, in her Shade form, appeared behind the back of a warden that's on the back of the line, then she mildly pierced her left palm with her staff, causing for her left palm to bleed, then a miniscule amount dark blood flowed from her palm and reached the shoulder of the warden on the backline.

[Your Trait: Blood of the Lamented One has taken an effect.]

[Your blood with Chaos property has been transformed to Dark Property as it escaped your body.]

[Blood with dark property will cause corrosion.]

...

The warden on the backline felt something on his left shoulder, it was also gradually felt by the other three wardens walking in the front.

"...What's wrong?"

A man with blonde hair and brown eyes wearing gray-rimmed eyeglasses asked with anxiousness.

Sizzle-! Sizzle-!

Soon, screams from the four wardens who were guiding them as they were nearing the Emergency exit reverberated to one of the hallways of the underground facility.

The skins of the warden rapidly turned dark, from shoulders, to head, and it completely engulfed their bodies after a minute, then some of their flesh was peeled off through the corrosion the blood of Amelie caused.

Retches could be heard from some employees as they started to run in panic to the direction of the Emergency exit, but to no avail, their attempt was stopped by a woman with pink hair color that's in a pigtail, and ruby eyes that contained luster through the surroundings.

Amelie turned off her Shade Transformation skill and blocked the way of the employees, but the employees reflexively took out weapons in each of their Dimensional Inventory.

"...Hmm... so even though you all seemed to not like the profession you were granted and worked here as an office worker, handling papers or whatnot, you still wield your weapons."

Amelie said casually while maintaining her cautiousness, although not every employee or office workers have a combat profession.

"Hey, I'll spare anyone who can answer my question with true honesty."

She said while looking at the exactly 50 employees excluding the dead wardens whom they didn't even dare look at due to their bodies' state.

"Has any of you killed someone before...?"

After some time, the employees looked at each other and one of them, a woman, said with inexplicable anxiousness through the presence in front of her.

"A-all of us had killed someone already... But..."

Amelie raised her left hand, the one that was not holding the Staff of the Lost Spade (Growth), upon hearing the answer.

"Do you want to repent of your sins? Have a change of heart?"

A man with a fitted body, black hair, and black eyes, in the middle of the crowd, shouted at Amelie upon hearing something he considered as ridiculous.

"You f*cker! Stop your babbling, this ain't a church!

"Let's attack her together, she's alone!"

The other 49 employees seemed to gain some courage through the man who stood up against something ridiculous.

"Attack!"

...

Amelie looked at the 50 employees, lunging together at her as she stood a few meters away.

"...You accepted to repent and change your heart..."

Amelie raised the Staff of the Lost Spade (Growth) with her right hand and looked at its tip with her pink eyes that contained lamentation, then after a second or two, a dark aura started to emanate from her body.

"You're f*cking crazy! Kill her!"

The man from earlier shouted again.

"You are now forgiven."

[Activating the Intrinsic Effect of the Staff of the Lost Shade (Growth): Spade Cross of Penitence.]

Amelie said in a serene voice, but this time, the employees who heard her felt a chill run down their spines.

At that moment, a darkest, spade-shaped portal horizontally formed in the air, then a huge, towering, at least 30 meters, dark cross with four points; for head, feet, and both hands were shaped in spade. The Spade Cross of Penitence attached itself through the ground instantly, causing an earthquake with its impact, along with a dark shockwave that touched the employees' bodies.

Then, the moment the dark shockwave hit their bodies... small dark crosses protruded from within their bodies, killing them instantly, expressions of extreme horror left in their widened eyes that didn't even close.

It's a very horrific and cryptic sight, but Amelie's lips curled up, emitting a cold atmosphere while looking at the 50 employees with small dark crosses that sprouted out of their bodies that died by her hands.

"May the Spade be with you."

She muttered before traversing back to Russell.