The Heart is a Void: Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 147: Valley of Death

As they watched, the black shape of an Assassin darted off a ledge overlooking the path and almost soared through the air. A long spear was lifted above his shoulder, with its sharp point glowing white, and pointed straight ahead. He used his Divine Mana to direct his long leap right towards his target, a player named [Mendys] who had begun tentatively walking down the path.

From the agility of the leap, Crucis could surmise that the Assassin was Danemy.

Mendys sensed him late, and hastily reached up a sword to ward off the unexpected attacker, but the spear had longer range and easily pierced through Mendys' neck as Danemy thrust it calmly through. As he descended to the ground, Danemy twisted his spear's shaft slightly, and it deflected Mendys' sword safely out of the way.

Mendys' corpse collapsed in front of him soon after he landed.

Danemy quickly cocked his head as he heard two more players approaching, and raised his spear threateningly.

However, he calmed down on seeing Crucis waving to him in acknowledgement, accompanied by Starfighter.

"Hey, guys, do you mind another in your team?" Danemy said.

"No, come along," Crucis said, sending an invite.

Danemy quickly accepted. "The rest of the DeathGang players are mostly in the West, no way I'm catching up with them."

"Yeah, I saw a few of them running there at the start," Crucis said. "By the way, you're using the spear? That's rare here. People can't just cut through the shaft?"

Danemy laughed. "I notice, not many spears here. Their shaft can deflect other Divine Weapons, at least, but it's not nearly as useful as a sword's blade here. Still, the range is a bit longer, so in an ambush it's difficult to deal with. It's like spearfishing."

"Ah, that makes sense. Having more range would give you a lot of momentum," Starfighter said. "And I'd guess they wouldn't have as much time to react after sensing you nearby, which people can do here."

"Definitely. So, where are we headed?"

"We're planning to go into the valley up ahead, and try to pick off new arrivals there," Crucis said.

"Makes sense. I also spawned there a few minutes ago, I know the way around a bit. Actually, I saw a cave which looked interesting, it looked like there was a shrine or something inside. But I didn't go in, since it would be kinda easy to get trapped in there. It might be safer with three of us."

"Sure, we'll take a look. Since you know the way around, where do you think we should go first?"

"Well, if you follow the first cliff to the left, the valley has a corner, and there's bound to be a few weak players there who can be boxed in."

"Alright, lead the way."

Danemy led the group forwards down the path, and then turned a sharp left as they reached the cliffs. After about half a minute, they reached a corner between two large cliff faces at right angles, and saw four or five recently-arrived players nervously looking for a hiding place there. He could also hear a few more players sneaking around behind the rocks which lined the corner.

At Starfighter's suggestion, they snuck into the cliff-face using the bug, and began to walk closer.

A player named [Mercantal] was already hiding in these cliffs, and raced up aggressively as soon as he saw Crucis entering his space. However, his [Overhead slash] fell short as Crucis used [Dodge Step] to backstep out of danger, and Mercantal leaned down and stumbled forwards from the momentum of the frenzied charge and strike.

Danemy leapt ambitiously over Mercantal's sagging form, using the Divine Mana to power his leap, and then twisted half around to skewer the player from above. His spear protruded through the back of the base of Mercantal's neck down through his chest.

Mercantal fell silent, and Danemy withdrew the spear quietly.

Going further forwards, Crucis noticed that most players were keeping their distance from the cliff walls and had a weapon drawn. Even if these players might not know or be able to enter the walls, they at least knew to be wary of players approaching from there.

However, they did find one player who was trying to hide behind a group of large rocks, and was hence perilously close to the wall. This player fidgeted around to try and fit behind a large, grey slab of rock leaning on the wall, which would hide him from anyone who didn't inspect it closely.

Starfighter and Crucis stood aside to let Danemy move his spear freely, because the spear's range made it the most suitable weapon for this.

Danemy held his spear horizontally and thrust it quietly through the hiding player's neck just over a metre away, causing the player to die and sag down. Rather than letting him fall loudly, and get others' attention, Danemy adjusted his hands and used the spear as a lever to lightly lower the player and slip them onto the ground. He used the rock slab to keep the player in balance as he did this.

Walking across the area, they saw two more players who were veering close to the wall in the search for security, and Danemy made fast work of these.

It was best to kill as many opponents from inside the wall as possible, before leaving. Once they left, they would be noticed and might have to fight multiple players at once, so it was useful to have less opponents to deal with.

However, there were still a few players loitering the area, and they tried to pick the most rewarding target to start with. The obvious choice was a group of five [Erasure] players who were under level 50, walking right next to the corner between cliffsides.

Crucis sprung out of the wall towards this group, and the others followed beside him.

Running into a player at the edge of the group, he made a [Slash] from close range that was hastily parried, but then used the hilt of his sword to bluntly strike the enemy's face.

This destabilised the enemy's block, and he easily brought his sword down to slash through the player's neck.

He immediately used [Dodge Step], to avoid another player's approaching slash. Glancing around quickly, he saw that Starfighter and Danemy had also taken out an opponent each, leaving only two opponents left. Since these low-level players had probably only just arrived, they were much less experienced with this event and with movement in this area. Taken by surprise, they were falling swiftly.

However, a player named [Kitamin] had taken a disliking to Crucis, and followed up his previous attempt with an aggressive [Lunge] forwards. Crucis saw that his opponent was off-balance, so after parrying this wide he immediately stepped forwards with a [Lunge] of his own. Kitamin was practically falling forwards onto the sword, and died swiftly.

Danemy and Starfighter easily finished off the remaining player, and Crucis listened to this fight calmly.

The buzzing, cold sound of the Divine Weapons was becoming familiar.

Two players were fleeing, on seeing the fighting, but, with high Agility, Crucis and Danemy caught up with them and struck them down easily. Since the players were fleeing, they barely even turned around to fight before they were killed.

A group of three more [Erasure] players rushed forwards to avenge their fallen comrades.

Crucis easily parried a loose blow towards his head, and crouched down to trip up his charging assailant before stabbing them fatally across the back.

Another player approached him, using an [Overhead slash], but Crucis parried this to the right before striding forwards to [Slash] straight through the opponent's face, which fell apart in seconds.

This group of three had also been slain. Seemingly, [Erasure] had a lot of players who were at this level, but probably had less higher-level players than [Stranded]. Both major Guilds were approximately the same size, but most smaller players popping up now were from [Erasure].

Looking around, Crucis saw that there weren't many players left nearby. However, he caught one level 57 player darting out from behind a cave-like ring of rocks, and pursued them.

Soon, the player sensed him nearby, and decided to turn around and fight. Crucis noticed that she was a young girl, who looked barely in her teens, and had black hair that had been incompletely dyed pink. Her name was [Anfite], and she held her sword with spunk but not so much technique. Her Guild was [SPICS], a name which was amusing but which he didn't remember seeing before.

It seemed that someone else had spent a lot on her account, judging from her expensive, gold-striped pink-and-blue outfit and gold bracelets. And perhaps carried her through dungeons. That wouldn't be surprising, since he had heard of a few parents bending the rules to let their children play VR games with expensive accounts, and the game company was generally willing to turn a blind eye if it was making them some early revenue. Although she was clearly inexperienced, she was still unpredictable because she might also have boosts from costly paywall items and skills. It was quite possible that she wasn't alone here, either.

Despite her age, she stared at him with determination. "I'll take you down easy, you'll regret this," she muttered.

Crucis slowed down as he approached, in order to get his footwork in place.

She parried his [Overhead slash], then counter-attacked with a surprisingly prompt [Lunge]. He used [Dodge Step], easily moving back out of range of her short arm, and waited for the others to catch up.

Starfighter and Danemy reached quickly, but Starfighter's heavy blow was parried away. Danemy had to reach his spear's shaft down awkwardly to fend off a [Slash] just above his hips, surprised by the short height of his opponent. He backed off slightly to adjust, and Crucis surged forwards in his stead.

However, after parrying an attack from Anfite, he noticed his team-mates looking with alarm back at the rocks which she had run out from.

He heard loud, high-pitched chattering from behind the rocks, like a fog of obnoxious crickets.

"Don't you dare!" came a loud female voice, as the chatter quieted.

In a few seconds, two level 75 players leaped out from behind the rocks, and rushed angrily towards the fight. They were both in the Guild [SPICS], like Anfite, and raised their weapons passionately to defend this Guildmate. Crucis gestured to Starfighter and Danemy to back away and fight these approaching players, while he quickly dealt with Anfite.

Both approaching players moved at the same pace, matching step for step. One was a straight-faced, brown-haired male named [Lodestar], who stared with a grave, determined expression at the fight. He was accompanied by a Japanese-looking, black-haired female with worried eyes strained red, named [Faek].

Danemy rushed towards her, and she squared up to him. She drew out two stilettos, thin needle-like daggers which had turned white during this event, and held them out in her shaking, wan hands. "Annie, are you okay?" she shouted. "Can you tell us that you're okay?"

"Yeah, let's show these guys!" Anfite shouted shrilly, suddenly enthusiastic.

She faced down Crucis, whose blade was pointing at her neck, but seemed unafraid. "These guys will destroy you, you don't even have a chance!"

"You overrate them," Crucis commented dryly.

Gritting her teeth, she attacked with an [Overhead slash] followed by a [Lunge], but Crucis easily parried both of these these wide, enthusiastic strikes. In a moment, she was forced to jag her sword back desperately as she just about managed to deflect Crucis' counter-attack away from her head and neck. The strike careened to the side and slashed off her left forearm, causing her to bend over and groan in pain.

Her shoulders began to droop, and her back hunched over slightly. She grimaced, but her eyes were still childishly determined.

"You're scared of me, aren't you?" she said, trying to keep her own confidence up.

"Huh, are you psychic?" Crucis replied, unimpressed.

Impatient to join the rest of the fight, Crucis surged forwards with a straight [Slash], which Anfite desperately blocked. His sword buzzed close to her face, and her teeth began to chatter. After [Uncrossing of Blades], he immediately followed with another, diagonal [Slash] towards her ribs.

She frailly attempted to defend against it, but it was a feint.

He immediately converted it into a smooth [Lunge], and his sword ran through her throat.

She fell, and dropped her sword, but seemed to still be alive despite the gaping throat wound. However, she was rapidly bleeding out and choking, so Crucis left her to kick and writhe on the ground as he turned away to deal with the others.

He heard the sound of a intense clash close by, and looked to see that Faek had gained the advantage in her fight.

She charged towards Danemy, and he had to use [Dodge Step] and [Agile Step] in quick succession to get away from her dagger charge.

Crucis rushed in to help. He disrupted Faek's pursuit of Danemy with a firm [Slash], which she was forced to parry. While she was caught off-balance somewhat, she still surged forwards at him with her other dagger, and he used [Dodge Step] to avoid its stab.

As the two faced each other, hovering just out of combat range, Danemy walked over to help Starfighter, who was also having a difficult time.

Angered at seeing her partner getting teamed up on, and adamant to help, she rushed hastily forwards attempting to end the battle with Crucis.

He had his sword raised, and quickly stepped forwards for a strong [Overhead slash], which Faek's stiletto leapt up to parry near the shoulder.

However, her thin dagger wilted slightly under the strike, and left him plenty of space for a follow-through. He angled his sword towards her neck and struck with a fierce [Lunge], which punctured straight through her neck.

Since she was attempting to rush forwards and strike him with her second stiletto, she ended up impaling herself on his blade, and melted meekly to the ground as she died mid-charge. Her mangled throat smeared blood over the sand, which filled the wound as she pressed against it.

Glancing back, he saw that Anfite had also died, from her similar wound.

Meanwhile, Lodestar was still holding off his two lower-level opponents, though only barely. Although his attacks were fierce, he had to keep his distance to avoid being vulnerable, and Starfighter hence hovered at a distance while daring Lodestar forward. Danemy found it difficult to get an attack in, with little space between the nearby rock and the wall, but kept his spear pointed forwards in order to force Lodestar back.

Crucis drifted calmly towards the fight.

As he approached, Lodestar quickly dodged away from the other two and made a beeline towards Crucis, looking to avoid getting pulled into a 3v1 fight.

However, Crucis used [Drift] immediately to dodge to the left, then stepped forwards to use this new angle of attack for a [Slash]. This attack was primarily an attempt to delay his opponent, while the others caught up. Lodestar parried, then attempted a counter-attack, twisting his wrists slightly to target Crucis straight on after the sudden change of angle. Knowing that he had to cut the fight down to two opponents quickly, Lodestar leaned heavily forwards into the attack.

Crucis parried this at an angle, deflecting Lodestar's sword to Crucis' right, then used [Agile Step] to drift behind Lodestar's right shoulder. Danemy leapt into the fight at close range, and Lodestar had to parry his strike and shove him away. As Lodestar tried to swivel his sword to the back, Crucis easily turned on his heels and beheaded Lodestar with a back-of-the-hand [Slash].

"They were a nuisance," Danemy said, as Starfighter helped tend to a long wound Danemy's arm had taken during the fight.

"Pests and briars. I can't say I'm a fan," Crucis chipped in.

"Yeah. By the way, the couple seemed really protective of that young'un. Do you think they were family, or only Guildmates?" Starfighter asked.

"Does it matter? They fought together on the opposite side. That's the only relationship of theirs that concerns us," Crucis replied. "They could literally be the Holy Family, and it would mean nothing. Anyway, have we cleared the area?"

"I saw one guy sneak behind the rocks to our right when this fight started, I think he might still be there," Danemy said.

"Alright, let's get him. Then you can show us the cave you mentioned."

"Gotcha. Yeah, that's close by."

The remaining player barely put up a fight, and Danemy killed him before the others could even get a hit in.

After clearing this zone, the group began moving deeper into the valley, following Danemy as he guided them towards a cave.

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