They Called Me Trash? Now I'll Hack Their World

Chapter 217: Rolling Thunder!

The acrid smell of burnt stone and explosive powder still hung thick in the air as the cavern erupted into a blur of flashing steel.

I didn’t have time to think.

And parried a vicious downward strike from the lead assassin, the sheer force of his blow driving my boots an inch into the gravel.

But I wasn’t just using standard thunder anymore.

As his dagger scraped against Oathstorm, violent, jagged arcs of pure black lightning aggressively snapped from my blade.

The dark electricity didn’t just shock him... it acted like a corrosive acid, instantly eating into the reinforced leather of his gauntlet.

He cursed, violently ripping his arm back.

Before he could stabilize his footing, I edited balance. The assassin stumbled, his center of gravity completely completely failing him.

I stepped into his guard, swinging Oathstorm in a brutal horizontal arc.

CLANG!

A second assassin materialized from the smoke, crossing his twin daggers to block my strike.

Damn it, I cursed internally, grinding my teeth as I pushed back against the crossed blades. These bastards are tough.

To my right, a feral, chest-rattling roar shook the cavern.

Scarlet launched herself off a jagged boulder, a blur of vibrant red hair and deadly intent.

She collided with the third assassin, her claws tearing through his mana shield like paper.

He tried to bring his dagger up, but Scarlet was relentless. She pinned his weapon arm to the wall and drove her other hand straight into his throat.

Blood sprayed, coating the cavern stone. The assassin choked, his body going limp as Scarlet ripped her claws free.

But as Scarlet landed in a crouch beside me, my heart skipped a beat.

The emerald glow of her eyes was flickering.

But what terrified me were her arms. Crawling up her pale skin, originating from the shallow cuts she had taken earlier, were thick, bulging black veins.

The miasma. The potions I gave her had only suppressed the corruption, and the intense physical exertion of the fight was forcing it back into her bloodstream.

Shit, I cursed internally, my stomach plummeting. Her corruption is starting to take over. She’s running out of time.

"Scarlet, fall back!" I ordered, knocking an incoming dagger away and grabbing her by the shoulder to pull her behind me.

"I’m fine!" she hissed, though her chest heaved with ragged, unnatural breaths. She swayed slightly on her feet, clutching her head as a spasm of pain racked her body.

"I can still fight."

"You’re going to drop dead if that miasma hits your heart," I snapped, keeping my eyes locked on the remaining shadows.

"Stay close to me."

The other surviving assassins slowly fanned out, their boots crunching on the loose gravel.

They didn’t look panicked about losing one of their own. In fact, as the smoke cleared, the lead assassin pulled back his hood, revealing a scarred, pale face twisted into a deeply arrogant grin.

"Well, well," the leader chuckled, lazily twirling a dagger between his fingers. "You kids are not bad. Taking down Number Five in the first exchange? Color me impressed."

"Save the praise," I spat, tightening my two-handed grip on Oathstorm. The dark lightning violently sparked around the steel, eager to be unleashed.

"Where are the rest of my people?"

The leader tilted his head, feigning ignorance. "Who knows? The dungeon is a big, dark place. Though, if they ran into the boss’s cleanup crew, they’ll be probably already in pieces."

The dark thunder in my core violently spiked, reacting to my surging rage.

Scarlet let out a low, vibrating growl, baring her fangs at them.

"I’ll rip your tongue out."

"Big words for a demi-human who’s about to rot from the inside out," another assassin mocked from the flank, pointing his blade at the black veins crawling up Scarlet’s neck.

"Look at her. She’s already dying. And you..." He pointed the tip of his dagger at me.

"Your little lightning trick is flashy, but you’re burning through your mana core. You can’t keep this up."

He wasn’t entirely wrong. The Dark Lightning was terrifyingly strong, but it was incredibly volatile and drained my MP twice as fast as my regular affinity. I needed to end this in one massive strike.

"Scarlet," I whispered, keeping my eyes perfectly locked on the leader. "When I move, cover your eyes."

"What?" she breathed.

"Just do it."

I didn’t wait for them to initiate the next clash. I flooded my legs with mana, pushing my agility to its absolute breaking point and surged forward, aiming right for the dead center of their formation.

"Kill him!" the leader barked.

All four assassins lunged at me simultaneously, a flawless, inescapable net of poisoned steel descending from every angle.

I didn’t try to block or dodge. I slammed my boot into the ground and channeled every remaining drop of dark thunder into Oathstorm’s blade.

"Rolling Thunder!"

BOOOOM!

A deafening, concussive boom violently shook the cavern as the black lightning violently erupted from Oathstorm’s blade.

It arced through the thick air, seeking out the four assassins like a swarm of ravenous vipers.

Three of them didn’t even have time to scream. The corrosive, volatile electricity tore right through their mana shields, instantly frying their nervous systems and turning their cloaks to ash. They hit the ground as charred, smoking husks.

The leader, however, managed to twist backward just in time, sacrificing his daggers to absorb the brunt of the blast.

He hit the dirt skidding, his eyes wide with absolute terror as he realized his entire squad was wiped out in a single breath.

He scrambled to his feet, abandoning his weapons, and bolted for the shadows.

But a blur of vibrant red hair cut him off.

Scarlet didn’t give him a chance to beg. She descended on him from the flank, her claws extending in a lethal arc.

With a sickening crunch, she severed his spine, ending the fight in absolute silence.

The moment the last assassin dropped, the dark lightning receded into my core, and my legs completely gave out.

I hit the stone floor hard, dropping right onto my butt, my chest heaving with ragged, agonizing gasps.

My vision blurred around the edges.

I’m out of mana.

My head’s spinning wildly. That last attack drained me fully. The dark affinity is way too greedy.

Across the cavern, Scarlet leaned heavily against the jagged stone wall, sliding down until she was sitting in the dirt.

Her breathing was just as harsh as mine, and the dark, corrupted veins on her arms were pulsing dangerously against her pale skin.

With shaking hands, I swiped my storage ring and pulled out a blue mana vial, uncorked it with my teeth, and chugged the bitter liquid down.

Then checked my inventory interface.

I clicked my tongue in deep frustration. That was the last one we had.

I forced myself back onto my feet, my muscles screaming in protest, and crossed the cavern to Scarlet. I pulled a small, pale-green vial from my ring and pressed it into her trembling hand.

"Take this," I instructed, my voice hoarse. "I don’t have the exact compound for the corruption right now... but this will temporarily stabilize your heart rate and slow the corruption down."

Scarlet took the vial, popping the cork and downing it in one smooth motion. She grimaced at the taste, but the dark veins on her neck almost immediately stopped spreading.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, letting out a weak, snarky exhale.

"Well, we would have plenty of the right compound if someone hadn’t been so eager to get rich and sold the rest of the high-grade vials."

I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

"I’ll make you a fresh batch later, I promise. Right now, let’s just find the others and get the hell out of here."

Scarlet nodded, pushing herself off the wall. She closed her eyes, her fox ears twitching as her nose flared, sniffing the dusty, sulfur-choked air.

"I catch the scent of blood," Scarlet murmured, her eyes snapping open. She pointed a clawed finger toward a massive pile of collapsed boulders on the far side of the cavern.

"Let’s go."

We hurried over to the cave-in.

But debris had covered the entire space.

[Target: Boulders -> Modify Property: Mass = 0.1 lbs]

I grabbed the massive, jagged slabs of limestone with one hand and effortlessly tossed them over my shoulder like they were made of styrofoam. In seconds, I had cleared a narrow pathway through the rubble.

We stepped through the gap, entering a wide, dimly lit subterranean chamber.

The first thing I saw was Garf and Mira. The two were covered in dust and fresh blood, but they were alive, currently kneeling on the ground and systematically looting the corpses of three dead assassins.

Mira looked up at the sound of our footsteps. She flashed a grin, waving a bloodstained arrow at us. "Ah, you kiddos are here! Good to see you in one piece."

I didn’t answer her. My entire focus bypassed the veterans and locked onto the small figure standing a few feet away.

Tessa.

She was standing perfectly still over the body of a dead figure.

She wasn’t looting. She was frozen, her shoulders hunched, staring down at her own blood-soaked hands. She was clutching a small, tarnished silver locket so tightly her knuckles were white.

A sharp, heavy ache blossomed in the pit of my stomach. The sheer, overwhelming relief of seeing her alive was instantly drowned out by the haunting, traumatized set of her shoulders.

I took a slow step forward, my boots crunching softly on the gravel. "Tessa?"

She violently flinched, her entire body jerking as if she had been struck.

Slowly, agonizingly, she turned her head.

Her face was pale, streaked with a mixture of dirt, sweat, and tears. Her eyes were wide.

She looked at me, her lips parting slightly. "...Jin?"

The word was a broken whisper. But the moment her eyes fully registered that I was standing there, the fragile shell around her completely shattered.

She violently threw the bloody locket into the dark, and broke into a desperate sprint.

She collided with me, burying her face into my chest and throwing her arms around my neck in a vice-like grip.

"Thank God," she sobbed, her whole body trembling violently against mine. "Thank God you’re safe..."

I completely froze. My arms hovered awkwardly in the air, my brain short-circuiting at the sudden, overwhelming physical contact.

For a second, I just stood there like a statue. But feeling her shake, feeling the desperate, frantic thud of her heartbeat against my ribs, my instincts finally kicked in.

I slowly lowered my arms, wrapping them firmly around her back, pulling her close and resting my chin near the top of her head.

And let out a long, shaky sigh, the adrenaline finally leaving my system.

"I’m glad you’re okay—"

But I didn’t get to finish the sentence.

Tessa suddenly pulled back, her hands sliding from my neck to frame my face. Her eyes were still shining with unshed tears, her breathing ragged.

Before I could even blink, she pulled me down and pressed her lips fiercely against mine.