The red warning pulsed in Nico’s vision like a dying heartbeat while counting down the seconds of his remaining life.
119... 118...
While the tip of the bloody arrowhead grazed the skin of his throat, drawing a bead of blood that slowly trickled down his neck.
Arlath was savoring it, withholding his full strength, enjoying the terror radiating from Nico’s wide, trembling eyes as he slowly increased the pressure.
"What’s the matter, kid?" Arlath sneered with his face inches from Nico’s. "Where’s that arrogance Luger talked about? Where’s that fancy dragon?"
"Beg," Arlath whispered with a voice dripping in sadistic pleasure. "Beg, and I might make it quick."
And that command snapped something within Nico.
The sheer audacity of the word acted like a bucket of ice water being dumped directly onto his shock-addled brain.
Nico’s vision tunneled as the panic clouding his mind evaporated instantly, burned away by a sudden, violent flare of indignation that cut through the fear like a hot blade.
For the first time since opening his eyes in this terrifying world, he had been having actual fun.
For five glorious minutes, he had ceased to be a fugitive, a liar, and responsible for keeping the Chimeras safe, to finally become that classic isekai adventurer having fun.
And this piece of trash had ruined it.
Arlath had stolen the only moment of peace Nico had earned before shattering his armor and mocking him while butchering him out in the dirt like a savage’s roadkill.
That cold fear in his gut curdled into a raw, bubbling, childish fury that screamed in his skull at the sheer injustice of it all.
He looked up at the scarred face grinning above him to see nothing but a bully poking a man who was already pushed to his absolute limit of patience.
And Nico’s trembling lips curled into a blood-stained, manic snarl that made Arlath pause mid-breath.
"Go... fuck yourself!"
Nico tightened his own grip on Arlath’s wrist, digging his fingernails deep into the bracer with enough force to make the metal creak.
His broken body screamed in protest, but he didn’t care.
"AAAAAH!" Nico roared through his bloodied teeth as he shoved against the heavy limb with every ounce of hysterical strength left in his dying frame.
The sudden resistance halted the downward momentum of the arrows while his trembling arms locked in a desperate stalemate against a man four times his Tier.
And that wiped the sadistic grin off Arlath’s face instantly.
He had expected the kid to squirm and beg for his life like every other victim, but instead, he found the rabid, hateful glare of a cornered animal staring back at him.
It was disappointing.
And most importantly, it was insulting.
"That is not what I wanted to see," Arlath growled low in his throat before tightening his grip on Nico’s hair to anchor his skull against the ground.
He threw the arrows aside with a backward shove of his hand before cocking that free fist back to unleash the full difference between their Tiers.
-BAM!
The fist crashed into Nico’s face with the weight of a sledgehammer before his head could even recoil because of the iron grip anchoring his skull.
Blood sprayed from his nose in a fine mist while his vision whitened out from the concussion.
Instinct took over before his brain could process the pain, forcing his ice-encased gauntlets up in a desperate, trembling block before-
-BAM!
Arlath’s fist came down like a falling boulder, shattering the frost-armor on his hands instantly.
The force drove Nico’s arms down violently while the protective plating exploded into useless fragments.
Before Nico could even twitch his fingers to raise his guard again, the next blow arrived.
-BAM!
Spit and blood flew sideways as his jaw cracked audibly under the pressure, but the grip on his hair kept his head pinned perfectly in place for the slaughter.
Nico’s eyes rolled back in his head for a moment while he was swimming in a pool of white-hot agony, yet the defiant glare refused to fade from his rapidly swelling eyelids.
Arlath saw the look and snapped.
"Off with that glare, motherfucker!" Arlath roared before turning his arm into a piston of pure, unfiltered violence.
-BAM!
-BAM!
-BAM!
The sounds merged into a sickening rhythm of meat striking meat as Arlath’s face pummeled the face beneath him into an unrecognizable ruin.
He didn’t stop until a wet, tearing sound echoed through the clearing.
Arlath pulled back for another strike only to find his fist empty of resistance as a thick clump of black hair ripped clean out of Nico’s scalp with a grotesque squelch.
Nico fell face-first, limp against the ground with a face reduced to a swollen mask of red and purple.
While Arlath straightened his posture, holding the bloody trophy up to the sunlight.
He looked at the tuft of black hair tangled in his fingers with a bored expression before bringing it to his lips and blowing them away with a casual puff of breath, sending the strands scattering across the wind like dark snow.
Arlath looked down at Nico’s limp and blood-drenched frame before stomping his heavy boot squarely onto the center of Nico’s spine to pin him against the earth like a crushed insect.
He then reached down to seize the shotgun on his back and, with a grunt, yanked the weapon upward without bothering to unclasp the harness.
The reinforced leather strap caught under Nico’s chest, digging violently into his battered torso like a constricting snake.
And that pressure transferred directly into Nico’s already shattered ribcage.
The tension mounted instantly as Arlath pulled with the mechanical leverage of a winch while his boot kept Nico’s body anchored immovably to the ground.
"AAAAHH!"
The scream tore from Nico’s throat as the agony flared and ravaged through his body, while a wet, sickening crunch echoed through the clearing as the bone gave way under the sheer crushing pressure before grinding against the sensitive nerves beneath until finally the thick leather snapped with a sharp crack.
Arlath wrenched the weapon free with a stumble while Nico gasped desperately for air that refused to enter his collapsed lung.
Arlath still offer even a single reprieve. With a swing of his leg, he shoved his steel-toed boot deep into Nico’s soft underbelly with a vicious, casual kick, folding Nico’s body around the impact like wet paper with such force that it lifted him off the ground entirely, sending him skidding across the forest floor.
Nico rolled to a stop a few meters away, coughing up blood and bile in equal measure.
While Arlath weighed the stolen Armament in his hand for a moment before tossing it carelessly through the air.
"Voss," he grunted.
The mage caught the weapon with a smirk. "Come on, man... let’s end this. He may have called for his Greater Dragon. It could be upon us any moment."
Nico lay across the forest floor, fighting to keep the consciousness that flickered like a dying candle in a hurricane.
Every breath was a wet, rattling struggle against the blood pooling in his throat, but the sheer, spiteful refusal to die kept his heart beating against his shattered ribs.
The sudden absence of fists raining down on him felt almost alien.
[Finally... some personal space...] The thought bubbled up through the pain with delirious sarcasm.
Nico didn’t bother checking if they were watching. With a trembling mental command and a burst of blue in his aching arm, he summoned his trump card.
A small, intricate crystal vial filled with a swirling, deep crimson liquid that seemed to pulse with its own internal light.
It was one of the two remaining Grade 2 Healing Potions he had received as his starter reward. It ranked third in the entire world’s alchemy hierarchy.
He popped the cork with his thumb, and concentrated mana instantly filled up his surroundings while he frantically raised the miracle cure to his bloody lips, but-
-Twish!
-CRACK!
A black streak hissed through the air before colliding with the crystal vial with the surgical precision of a sniper’s bullet.
The impact was instantaneous and devastating.
The arrow shattered the container in Nico’s grip, detonating the glass into a cloud of glittering dust that caught the sunlight like crushed diamonds, sending the lifeline splashing across the forest floor in a useless, heartbreaking spray.
Nico watched the crimson splash the dirt with wide, horrified eyes, watching his salvation soak uselessly into the soil.
Save only a few pathetic drops landed on his face.