My OP Minion System in the Apocalypse

Chapter 93 Friendship... In The Shallowest Victory?

"Rena Helleborus."

Before I could discuss more with Robbie, rope-like vines broke out of the ground, grabbing all of the people in the settlement, and holding them still. He then spoke to all of them with a loud yet uncomfortable voice.

"Um, you guys are all annoying... so I'm raiding you now."

"Did we really need that declaration?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just felt like saying it."

"Fine then..."

After that, lots of the villagers began screaming and yelling as they frantically tried to break free from his plants. However, the grip of the vines was incredibly strong, even the toughest-looking villagers didn't seem to stand a chance against them.

For a few moments, various combat-oriented systems were activated. Explosions, attacks, pulses, the villagers tried a variety of tactics. However, as the dust settled from their desperate last-ditch attacks, they were still all held in place.

Robbie was definitely quite strong.

"Alright, so are we going to loot them now?" he asked me.

"Um... I guess so, are we going to kill them first?"

"Eh... I don't really like killing people."

He didn't like killing people? I guess it was a privilege that only the strongest in this world get to hold onto. Well, I didn't really have any reason to go through and kill them all, I'm sure if we asked them to drop all of their items they'd happily oblige.

"I've got some plants which can suck the items out of their inventory," he added.

Well, that makes it even easier.

I felt a little useless just standing here, I definitely wasn't necessary for this raid.

However, just as I thought that the two of us were attacked from behind.

I quickly jumped around and drew [Mayuri-Luc-Ei].

The two of us confronted the attacker.

The attacker swung their weapon at me and I deflected it with [Mayuri-Luc-Ei]. There was a sudden break where all of us took a step back.

"Are you one of the soldiers of this village?" Robbie asked.

"Yes, why are you attacking us?" he asked in response.

"Um... why are we attacking... I guess you guys are just annoying."

The soldier suddenly got a lot more aggravated.

"You attack us for such a shallow reason?!"

"Well, I wasn't going to kill you guys, we just wanted to take your stuff."

In the soldier's hand, I saw a weapon which I recognised. It was one of the strongest Magical Weapons you could make—a [Reaper's Sabre]. It was quite an expensive sword to craft with quite an extravagant ability. If someone was to get cut by it, even the smallest scratch, they would be immobilised for several seconds. For someone without a combat system or allies, it would be the equivalent of death.

"Who are you guys?!" he screamed.

"I'm Robbie, fifth-ranked human."

"Fifth-ranked?!"

He was extremely surprised by the admission.

All of a sudden, Robbie seemed to recognise the man.

"Ah, you're eight-ranked Joel Grigsby, I remember you."

Joel didn't seem any happier after being recognised.

"Well, you're pretty annoying, so I don't mind killing you~" Robbie continued.

"You son of a..."

Joel immediately rushed at Robbie with his [Reaper's Sabre]. In response, Robbie drew his Demonic Weapon, [Nija-T'an-Mo]. Their two blades clashed, sending a piercing screech through the area. Joel's movements were incredibly fast, but Robbie was able to block all of them, however, it was clear that Robbie was being overwhelmed by Joel's swordsmanship.

"Rein Alchemilla."

Suddenly, a long, dense patch of bright green grass appeared underneath us. From what I could tell, it was an ability of Robbie's system. Without hesitation, Joel continued to attack him, charging at him with his [Reaper's Sabre]. Their swords clashed once again, however, Robbie was now easily blocking his attacks, with hardly any effort.

"How... why are you stronger now?"

"I'm not any stronger, it's more like I can read you better."

It was a little awkward looking at the two of them fighting. I couldn't really see an opening to rush in so I was just standing by the side.

Despite Robbie's advantage, Joel was still motivated, he still hadn't shown the abilities of his system, so it was all a mystery at the moment. I needn't wait too long, because a few moments later, Joel raised his left hand and stretched it toward Robbie.

"Explode!"

A huge explosion came out of the centre of his palm. I quickly jumped back to avoid it as best I could; dirt and grass were launched into the air as a shockwave spread the area. Robbie was within point-blank range of the explosion, however, as the dust settled, Robbie was only slightly injured. Some blood dripped from his arm as the plants in front of him retreated back into the ground.

"You managed to block that?!"

"It was a close call."

Robbie managed to block the explosion by summoning a dense bush of plants to soak up most of the damage. However, he wasn't completely unscathed after the attack.

Joel had a very distressed look on his face, but it seemed that he was hiding something.

All of a sudden, the ground exploded.

A huge amount of dirt, grass and vegetation split straight out of the earth. There was so much debris in the air that I could hardly breathe. My vision was completely blocked by the infinite amount of particles which were blown into the air.

Luckily, I seemed to be far enough away to not have taken any serious damage.

It took a pretty long time before all of the dust was finally cleared.

This time, Robbie appeared to have taken some more damage. Although, he wasn't dead.

"How... how did that now kill you?!" Joel shouted.

"You're a sly one, I'll give you that much~"

The two of them backed up as they regained their composure. Now that I could him more clearly, Robbie was bleeding pretty heavily out of his leg. I considered helping him, but the more I thought about it, the less I really wanted to involve myself. I didn't really have any obligation to Robbie and we were more or less the 'bad guys' here.

However, it seemed that Joel wasn't all too content with leaving me out of the action, because I noticed that there was a grenade right underneath me.

Shit.