Civilization

Chapter 303 303 - Keep Smiling (Nina Perspective)

Raising the hammer high above his head, as his eyes glitter in delight, Smile's grin reaches both his ears as a high-pitch cackle resounds in my ears. However, despite the situation, I smile back at him, giggling as well. Stopping his swing halfway as he notices my laughter, he gazes in my direction.

"Hehehe~ Laughing at your own demise. YOU are as crazy as I am!" - Smile

"No, no, no. I'm not laughing at the fact, that I'm about to die. I'm laughing at the fact that you are going to die." - Nina

"What-" - Smile

"Shift. Askvader!" - Devel

Appearing in front of Smile, slashing upward to the sky, Devel projects a bolt of lightning, narrowly missing Smile's head. Stepping forward, while Devel slashes downward, the bolt of lightning returns as another bolt of lightning projects out of Devel's sword, aiming at Smile's head. Noticing something was wrong, Smile disappears, reappearing a few meters away, only to see two lightning bolts curve toward him.

"Hahaha! Just THIS? Curving bolts of lightning?! HAHAHA! BLAST FROM A PAST!" - Smile

Swinging the giant crimson skull backward, the ruby eyes shine brightly, engulfing in red and orange flames. Like a set of rockets, the ruby eyes blast the hammer forward, reaching toward the curving lightning bolts, but to his dismay, they curve once more, wrapping above and below the hammer. It wasn't just 2 bolts of lightning either, Devel had slashed the air 3 more times during this moment, creating another 3 bolts of lightning.

Spinning around the hammer, the 5 lightning bolts aim for Smile's head, electrocuting him severely as they reach. Flicking my scarlet hair to the side, I hold out my hand, as it envelops in an orange, yellow and white flame.

"Holy Flame!" - Nina

Leaving my hand, a ball of holy flames gets sent to the hammer, aiming at the ruby eyes, as Sylvia dashes right past me. Coating her hands in the same flames, Sylvia rushed forward, smashing the ruby eyes, shattering them into smaller crystals. Screaming as the eyes break, Smile swings the hammer around precariously, grasping onto his left eye.

"Shadow Sneak. Act 3 - Void to the Moon." - Helioc

Slicing Smile's arms cleanly off, Helioc separates Smile from his weapon. Turning to Helioc, Smile lunges baring his teeth at Helioc's neck. Blocking the attack with his sword, Devel protects Helioc, kicking him away in the process. Jumping over Helioc, SanShiGo punches Smile, hitting the lower jaw. Coming back after getting hit, David sprints toward Smile, clotheslining the monster as he tramples past.

"Quickly! Smash the weapon into pieces! That's the main body!" - Nina

Licking her lips, as she heeds my advice, Sylvia continues to repeatedly punch the crimson skull, breaking it slowly as SanShiGo joins in the mayhem. Stopping Smiles bandage body from moving, Devel constantly slashes at it, cutting through the chest and legs multiple times.

"STOP! STOP! HEHEHEH~ STOP! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! HAHAHAHA! How? HOW!? HOW DID YOU KNOW?! HEHEHE!" - Smile

Stepping on Smile's bandaged face, and looking down at him. Stopping Devel's attack momentarily as I explain to the dying monster the question it has just asked.

"How did I know that this thing that I am stepping on isn't the real thing? Well, I was already slightly suspicious of you the moment we saw you. Think about it, a singular being in the middle of some sort of magic circle. Doesn't that just SCREAM, sus? Afterward, the way you battle was also kind of strange. You let us hit your 'body' over and over again, dealing damage at whatever rate we wanted to but none of that was shown.

Even after you revealed to us your separation ability, the damage we did to your 'body' was frankly insignificant. Then, you bought all of your different body parts back with the bandages, so hang on… You can separate and you can join back due to the bandages wrapped around you as if your whole body is just made of bandages. This means, how do we even kill you if you can just reattach yourself?

I started thinking, looking back from the first time we saw you until now, and I realize, it was all bait. This 'body' wasn't REALLY the main body. See, this whole time, there were moments when you released your 'weapon' leaving it on the ground, but never too far from the magic circle, in fact, there was a moment when you made sure to let go. Leaving the hammer at a certain range from the magic circle.

Now, anyone seeing this might think, oh, he just let go of his weapon, after all, his body is kind of a weapon already. The hammer was more of just an accessory. Wrong, you let go because it was about to leave the radius in which you can maybe exist? Or control the fake body. You control the bandages and, that can leave the radius of the magic circle but, I think there is also a larger radius where the bandages can reach, which is why you revealed to us that you could bring them back.

Looking at how far SanShiGo and Ian ran, I calculated that they were approximately the same distance away from the magic circle before the bandages reached them. That might be your range or maybe just a little further, regardless… It was just too convenient. However, that wasn't even the reason why I thought that your body wasn't the real one. " - Nina

Leaning forward, to the point that I was right next to its slightly torn ear, I whisper to Smile.

"You know that Ian is Mikki, don't you? Or while you might not know Mikki, you know that Ian is someone connected to Selino. When you said, that there were non-humans among us, you weren't looking at David who is a Djinn, but Ian or Mikki, who is actually a spider. You knew, and Mikki realized this during your small exchange. Neither of you was actively attacking the other, and Mikki glanced at the hammer during the exchange as well.

The only realize that a disguised spider would do anything like that is because you spoke to it during the small exchange. Obviously, I didn't hear it but it should be along the lines of confirming if Mikki worked for Selino or the Horde. Why? Because I'm sure you do as well or at least did. You don't match the Reaper's monsters, in fact, you more resemble Kronos or the Horde, but you are not undead or demonic, which leaves me to think you don't really serve the Reaper.

Maybe you were captured. Maybe you are nothing but a prisoner or a slave, forced to fight for the Reaper under some sort of contract. Regardless, you don't… Belong. Here. Maybe you asked for some assistance, trying to get out of this sad position. But know, there is only death. Killing you was a lot easier than I thought and you did part of my job for me, killing my competition. So, maybe I should thank you. Keep smiling~" - Nina

Unable to reply, Smile looks at me, motionless as I stand straight, smiling down at the monster. Smile's grin, fades away, showcasing an expression that wasn't happiness, glee, or laughter but the opposite. Sadness, horror, and fear, as his crimson skull, shatters after Sylvia's repeated beating. Bit by bit, the bandages that cover Smile's fake body, turn to ash, breaking away slowly until nothing was left, except for 4 small objects that were left behind.

"Did you know how to kill this monster earlier?" - Devel

Glancing up at Devel, I shake my head.

"No, I made a lot of what I said to him on the spot but some of it was true. Mixing some lies with the truth is what makes the lies so much stronger and believable." - Nina

"Heh. I'm glad I don't have you as my enemy." - Devel

"Oh, but we are. Just not right now." - Nina

"I'll deal with that later." - Devel

Walking toward us, SanShiGo reverts back to his previous appearance, while Helioc brushes the black soil off his clothes.

"Devel, don't kick me away again."- Helioc

"It was to save you, relax." - Devel

"SO! 4 items. 4 of us. Let our agreement before, I choose first, then Nina, Devel, and Helioc. Are we still keeping to that?" - SanShiGo

"Choose but you can't touch the item and find out its description. That was the agreement. Still, remember that part?" - Nina

"Of course! I didn't forget." - SanShiGo

Glancing down at the ground, I observe the 4 different items. A ruby crystal, a tiny black hammer, a crimson skull, and a skill book. Thinking about the possibilities of the different items, I assume the skill book relates to one of the skills Smile had, maybe its to do with telekinesis or a teleportation skill. The ruby crystal might be fire-element related, as I see a hint of flames inside of it.

The crimson skull and the black hammer were something I have no idea about, not even a thought of what they could be. Reaching down while I was still in mid-thought, SanShiGo grabs the skill book, picking it up while raising his eyebrows.

"Interesting… Well, Nina, your turn." - SanShiGo

Picking the safest of the 4 options, SanShiGo walks away with the skill book happily, leaving us 3 to decide. Sabrina makes her way to us, hugging me from behind as she looks at the 3 items.

"Pick the ruby crystal, Nina. It suits you the best." - Sabrina

"I don't know if it is the best one of the 3 though…" - Nina

"Doubt it matters. None of you know what the other item does anyways, so just pick whatever suits you the most. Which in my opinion is the crystal." - Sabrina

"Alright…" - Nina

Picking up the ruby crystal, the description of the item is displayed in front of me.

[Advanced Fire Crystal

A crystallized flame, filled with condensed fire element magic. If a person were to absorb the crystal they will gain an advanced fire-element-related skill as well as an additional 20 intelligence.]

Smiling at Sabrina, I hug her back as I slowly pull away from Devel and Helioc.

"Thanks, Sabrina! By the way, do you want it? You will get stronger if you use this." - Nina

"No can do! You earned it. I didn't do too much during this whole battle other than fire Magic Missile and Tiny Flames at the monster."- Sabrina

"Then, thank you. I'll take it." - Nina