Might as Well - Chapter 403 (Patreon)

Sam flew through the air, the cavern being blasted with an explosion of light as the small explosives he had scattered continued to explode, blinding everyone and everything around him. His advantage was that he knew when the explosions would happen and that his Mana Sense was developed enough to sense everyone around him.

Granted, based on the strength of the enemy players, one void spell would have been enough, and he wouldn’t have needed to come up with an elaborate plan, but using void came with its own pretty obvious issues…

His sword bit into the second Blood Army player, who had enough time to gurgle a little before Sam wrenched his sword out and ducked under a blind strike from another player who was wielding an enormous double-headed greataxe.

Sadly for them, while it missed him, it didn’t miss his comrade.

“Shit! I killed Mark!”

“Stop swinging your fucking weapon around randomly, you idiot!”

Smiling slightly, Sam transitioned into a roll, which was cut short by the aforementioned great-axe-wielding idiot, and thrust his sword upward, effectively silencing the man for the duration of the battle.

‘That’s three…’ he thought, as he continued to move, more explosions going off around him.

There was no sound from them, but the blinding light was enough.

“For fuck’s sake! Someone stop them!”

“Can’t see shit, Captain!”

The next person he targeted was standing with his back to the wall, gripping a deadly-looking mace, swinging it in front of him continuously and just yelling incoherently.

Sam raised his hand and blasted the wall next to him with a small ball of wind. The guy reacted instantly, rolling away and slamming his mace into the wall, sending stone chips flying everywhere.

But it was enough for Sam.

As the guy came to a stop a few yards away, Sam was already there, his sword going through the guy, enhanced by wind, pinning him to the wall, as his sword was sharp enough to cut through stone too. Then he let go of his sword momentarily, charged his fist with shadows, shaping it into a crude katar, and proceeded to deliver a beatdown on the armored foe.

By the time the body began to turn into rainbow pixels, he had pulled his sword from the wall and was running toward his next target, even as several spells slammed into the place where he had been.

It appeared his enemies had become accustomed to the constant light explosions.

“We will get you, you asshole!” one of them exclaimed, swinging a greatsword around with equally great enthusiasm.

Sam just smiled.

Instead of attacking, he raised a hand and released a nova of wind, blasting everything and everyone around him. This caused every one of his enemies to cry out and slightly turn or cover their faces, which, in turn, allowed him to summon his trusty clones.

This time, instead of quantity, he went for quality.

Four clones appeared around him at the cardinal directions, all of them pumped full of mana, while his own body became invisible. Three of the clones followed along, leaving one lone clone in the middle to continue the fight.

Sam then simply turned toward the entrance to this smaller cavern and rushed through it, letting the Blood Army players think the fight was still going on.

Though, on the way out, he dropped a few more flash bangs just for the funsies.

“Have fun, guys…” he muttered to himself with a chuckle.

Leaving behind the idiots, Sam had once again come to a crossroads.

He had several options.

Based on what the enemy players were saying, the Blood Army had left this small cave system untouched to lure unsuspecting players in and ambush them when they emerged.

Focusing his mind, he spread his mana through the many twisting corridors of this natural phenomenon, but found nothing. There was no small corridor leading to the top of the mountain or maybe down into an underground river.

Technically, he could have used his control over earth and his amazing mana reserves to carve a new route for himself, but he didn’t think he had enough time for that…

Looking down at his slightly scuffed bracelet on his arm, Sam grimaced. He didn’t really want to do it, but there was always the option of just pushing the BIG BOOM button and running very fast.

But honestly, he felt it would be a bit overkill in this situation. Plus, he couldn’t help but feel that if he caused a giant explosion, people would instantly finger him as Solar, the cause behind said explosion.

“Is this what suffering from success feels like?” he mused to himself while charging toward the exit.

Within seconds, with his Mana Sense spilling into the overworld, he could feel the small army waiting for him. The small army that contained several individuals whose mana and power towered over everyone else, arrayed in such a way that taking them out in the same way would be impossible unless you had some really large area-effect spells and the power to deliver them.

Smart.

Won’t help them, because Sam knew the biggest axiom of warfare.

Never do what your enemy expects you to do.

Granted, most people by now knew to expect the unexpected from Solar. But he was not Solar right now. No… He was Maximilian Lupin the Seventh, the master thief and expert infiltrator. They would expect a desperate escape with some daring tricks.

Which, granted, he would be doing, but not in the way they expected.

Because, for one, he wanted to make it funny, and two, he wanted to fuck with them.

Focusing once again on his Mana Sense, he found the very edge of the enemy’s probing searches and scans and stopped.

Opening his inventory, he pulled out a handful of mana chips, which he idly started to fill with his mana as he browsed the jam-packed inventory for something he remembered putting away for a later time.

One of those ‘just in case’ items.

A few seconds later, he grinned. “Ah-ha! Found you, you little rascal!”

He then pulled out a small pair of conches. It was nothing more than a novelty item. Speak into one end, and the other would play it. The distance wasn’t great, and there was no way to set alarms or anything like that, so it wasn’t a great tool for communication.

[Conch of Sound: A pair of conches belonging to a pair of hermit crabs. They are intricately linked, allowing one to hear the sound coming from the other conch through the mystical power of the sea.]

But on the upside, it was an item that didn’t use mana. It just… worked.

Which was perfect for this situation.

Sam summoned a clone, which coalesced from the shadows around him, staring blankly at him with the crafted face of Maximilian Lupin, and placed his palm on the clone’s body and began pumping mana into it.

Enough that it would hopefully be mistaken for a real player who had some skills that hid them from scanners. Then, when that was done, he took one of the conches. Surrounding his hand that held the item with mana, he slowly pushed it into the clone’s head, the magically created body parting around his hand like putty, before drawing a gentle mana line between the clone’s mouth and the conch.

Raising the other conch, he spoke into it. “I like trains.”

The clone opened its mouth and repeated, “I like trains.”

There was a little bit of echo to the sound, but it was enough for Sam. Grinning like a loon, he focused on his bracer and allowed it to fully settle into swallowing his mana and presence, erasing him from any scans and searches.

“Alright, time for a grand last stand!” he declared joyfully. He pushed the clone on his back. “Go!”

The clone began to walk, and he slapped a small metal plate carved with runes into a slot on his armor and vanished from all senses before following the clone closely.

The moment the clone stepped into the area of the enemy’s search, Sam could feel them start to move and get all excited.

As he walked, he raised the conch to his mouth and waited with anticipation.

Reaching a bit farther away from the exit, Sam finally began to speak, letting the sound come out of the clone. “Hey! I’m coming out! I’m a thief, not a fighter! So just… don’t shoot!”

There was a momentary and deafening silence from the other side.

Apparently, nobody expected to hear that.

Finally, after almost half a minute of silence, a familiar deep voice called out.

“Come out with your hands up! If we see weapons or any magic, you’re dead!” she called out.

Sam prodded the clone forward and followed it in the shadows. “Coming!” he called out, and the clone repeated.

The two of them, one clone and one invisible person, stepped out onto the mountainside to the sight of a small army of players all pointing various weapons and contraptions at the cave entrance, with the woman with the deep voice and impressive hairdo standing at the forefront and staring at the clone with her arms crossed in front of her.

Sam instantly turned left and began walking away, keeping an eye on them to make sure nobody saw him. Thankfully, his runes worked for now…

“Well, here I’m!” he called out through the clone. “Never let it be said that Maximilian Lupin the Seventh is not gracious in defeat!”

“What do you want?” the woman asked. “You entered Blood Army territory and destroyed valuable property. We can’t just let you go…”

Sam smiled to himself as he carefully navigated the rocky surface, making sure not to create any noise or movement.

“Well, I’m just a hired gun. Offer me something more valuable than my employer, and you got yourself a deal,” he said through the clone. “Maximilian Lupin the Seventh is nothing but bribable.”

“Right…” the woman drawled, clearly trying to process the events. “That’s why you killed the teams after you and destroyed those who went into the cave system.”

Sam shrugged, and he saw the clone do the same. “That was before I saw this massive and clearly powerful army arrayed against me. You can’t blame a bloke for trying, right?”

“I mean we can…”

Sam reached a small outcropping and began to climb, talking as he ascended the stone pile.

“Pity… and here I was ready to offer the name of my employer if the deal was good enough,” the clone stated, its hand still up, standing in the middle of the clearing in front of the cave entrance, surrounded by progressively antsy players.

“Or we could camp you until you give it up willingly…” the woman said with a dangerous smile. “This is Blood Army territory. If we want, you’ll never leave here…”

Sam chuckled, the sound repeated through the conch as he finished his ascension. “Mighty fine proposal, but you see, I could just delete this character and start again. Would take a bit of time, but the memories are here in my brain and my employer is very generous…”

There were several gasps in the crowd as they heard how easily he would have deleted his character. To most people, unless the character was ultra-gimped, it wouldn’t even occur to them.

The woman leading the negotiation was also visibly taken aback. “What?”

Sam giggled to himself as he jumped down the side of the mountain from rock to rock until he was at the bottom. Focusing on his connection to the clone, he watched the woman and grinned.

“Didn’t expect that, huh? Well, Maximilian Lupin the Seventh is nothing but surprising!” he declared, and the clone did so too, with one of his hands raised in the air, pointing at nothing.

“Will you fucking stop that?” the woman snarled.

Sam had the clone nod. “Well, Maximilian Lupin the Seventh is nothing but accommodating to the ladies!”

“Argfghhrllmargle…” the woman incomprehensibly growled, and Sam had to cover the conch to prevent his giggle from reaching his audience. And while he was driving them up the wall, he was heading away from them posthaste.

“What should we do?” one of the people near the woman suddenly asked.

The woman regained control over herself and grinned viciously. “Well, if Maximilian Lupin the Seventh is such an accommodating soul, then I don’t think he would mind being our guest for a while.” There was a dramatic pause before she continued. “Kill him.”

Immediately, arrows, weapons, spells, and other projectiles slammed into the clone, destroying it almost instantly.

Sam looked down at the conch in his hand, which turned into dust, carried away by the wind, and shrugged.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted…”

Lucky jumped out of the shadows. Sam gave him a pat on his head, and the duo was off to greener pastures while the Blood Army began tearing apart the mountain behind them.