Chapter 4: Plans failed and remade.
A ray of golden light descended! Bringing with it a sense of dawn.
It swept around Ciel, annihilating the monsters that surrounded him. The monsters cried out in agony as they melted away in the golden light. Yellowish pus sizzling from their innards. The golden light shone brighter and brighter, melting the ice on the surrounding buildings. Water dripped, but quickly melted and evaporated, leaving behind a white misty atmosphere.
The ground trembled and cracked beneath the ray. Pillars of snow-white smoke rose into the sky, nearly blocking the pale gray moonlight.
The golden light then vanished, accompanied by the golden light of dawn, and in its wake, the muffled cries of monsters filled the air.
Ciel slowly lifted his head and looked around. He saw countless disfigured monsters, some missing arms and legs, others scorched to death with yellowish pus oozing from their skin. Some had their faces partially burned, exposing the bone structure of their internal organs.
Their cries filled the air, with some still demonstrating resistance, but given their physical condition, they could only lie down in agony.
Ceil stood up, lightheaded, sweat pools dripping down his body. Slowly approaching the closest incapacitated monster. As he approached the monster, his eyes were hollow, and he exhaled white.
Perhaps sensing something, the creature screamed violently, shaking and trembling its body, which was now little more than a burnt torso. It pulled its long hands back, attempting to distance itself from ciel, who was slowly approaching.
When ciel got to the monster, he gripped his dagger tightly, pulled his arms back, and delivered a piercing strike to the creature's head!
Yellowish blood splattered everywhere, and in the following second, the familiar female voice announced,
{You have eliminated a subject of the King.}
Ciel stared at the creature's corpse, his vision blurring as he raised his head to look at the sky, dark clouds shimmering in the pale moonlight.
'Three seconds rest, then I kill the rest.' Ciel reasoned.
There were countless incapacitated monsters all around him, and each one was a living boast for him once the scene was completed. This is because the web assigns a reader's rank based on the scene and how they completed it. And Ciel was eager to gain as much merit as possible.
He regained consciousness a few moments later and looked around; monsters were encircling him.
Gripping his dagger tightly, he went on a killing spree, or merit farm. The monsters were no longer frightening, and all they could do was watch Ciel tear them apart.
After stabbing the final monster, Ciel looked around for the rest of the party and King.
Most likely, the King and his party were fighting on a different block. However, ciel could feel the tremors spreading through the stones and ice shards, as well as the adventurers' muffled screams. An angry scream could occasionally be heard, indicating that the bald-headed man was, sadly, still alive.
Looking in the direction where he thought the party was still fighting, ciel considered joining the group in the hopes of improving his chances of survival.
However, after another round of below, Ciel shook his head and considered.
'They did good but I can't risk my life for any reason whatsoever. And what's the point, they all died in the novel, so even if they are a little more realier, the same outcome wouldn't affect anything.'
But then, just as he was about to turn around to find a good hiding place, his body shone with a golden radiance, and, like clockwork, a memory containing knowledge of the scene flooded his mind.
He had forgotten that one of the priest's powers was the ability to summon members of his parties. Ciel had forgotten about it because he did not believe the ability would work on him; after all, he was just an extra inserted into the scene by the web.
'This messed-up, imbalanced scene!'
His body vanished within the golden light, and the next second his vision blurred, and there before him stood the king, his large hand hurling down toward him! Ciel had less than a second to react, so he dunked to the left, colliding with a snowball.
The long hand slammed into the ground, spewing debris and white smoke into the air. Ciel turned quickly to see the priest standing just a few steps away.
Was I summoned as bait? Like a meat shield?' Ciel began to wonder if the web had altered the characters' personalities, because as things stood, the betrayer priest had begun to exhibit disloyalty.
Ciel now realized why the priest had saved him: to summon him as a meat shield.
Ciel blinked, removing the few snowflakes that had obscured his vision. In any case, the unexpected summoning had cleared his dizziness, and his mind had returned to normal.
Ciel took a deep breath before grabbing his dagger. He was about to face off with a monster. And not just any monster, but the terrifyingly powerful King! Who in this case was the boss of the scene. His chances of survival were about as slim as a child battling a boulder. However, his decision was not made arrogantly, but rather after much introspection and consideration.
He realized that if all of the adventurers died, the king's attention would be drawn solely to him. And in a place that was essentially its home territory, finding ceil would be extremely simple. However, if he used the adventurers' strength, he would not only receive a higher reward from the Web, but also gain valuable experience from the situation.
It was a deliberate choice, but it was also a terrible one.
Looking ahead, the king was in combat with the baldhead. The barbarically dressed man and the monster exchanged blows, their bodies trembling from the fistfight. The lady of the party was busy preparing something, her hands glowing with an ethereal green light. The priest, on the other hand, was a few meters away from the fight; he stood alert and appeared to be waiting for the right moment to dip.
'This is an impossible task.' ciel commented inwards, pensively observing the king--the fight between the two was heating up by the minute.
But, aside from that, Ciel observed, impressed by the abilities demonstrated. As someone who has always desired power, he was taken aback by the blows they exchanged. During a fight with a subject, ciel felt as if his body had been struck by a bolder, but now the baldhead was keeping up, even appearing to outclass the king.
'Why don't you just be a lad and finish him off.' ciel mused, sincerely rooting for the baldhead.
If he could defeat the king, the scene would be entirely cleared.
However, Ciel was well aware that this was unlikely.
'So, how does one go about killing the king?
He lacked any unique abilities, and the web was not kind enough to bestow a useful boon upon him. And he could not overpower it with the sheer number of people; it was a clear-cut killing situation.
Sighing at the impossible situation, ciel cast his gaze away from the battle ahead, past the lady who appeared to be preparing something he could not care less about, and finally to the priest, who appeared to be a few meters away.
'Do you move whenever I look away?' Ciel paused, perplexed by the comical scene.
But what should he have expected? The novel Heretic King was neither popular nor well-written; in fact, Ceil almost abandoned it after a few chapters.
It was absolutely awful.
As he watched the priest ahead, his entire body shone with a green aura!
When he saw this, he almost dunked; it was instinctive, triggered by the sight of light shining on his body. But then he felt the pain and fatigue that had plagued him fade away, as if washed away by a peaceful river.
'This? This is healing..'
Ceil quickly turned to look at the adventurers, all of whom were glowing with the same green light, with the exception of the female.
"Oh, yes, she was a healer!"
That immediately triggered an idea in his mind. Clearly, he could not kill the king alone; even in the best-case scenario, he would be crushed instantly. Instead, he planned to seek assistance from the adventurers. This had always been his initial plan; he just lacked the resources to carry it out.
But now, with the collective healing of everyone, even the priest who probably was looking for the nearest exit- he could now use the pieces that the scene had provided.
'So am gonna use the power of unity!' Ciel paused as he thought about this.
'Ah that's a little too cringy.'
He was in the midst of planning the details when the baldhead landed a loud punch on the monster, knocking it down a few meters. Everything now hinged on how long the hairless barbarian could live.
"Why the hell is nobody helping?!" The baldhead cried out. His body was beaten, and blood dripped from multiple wounds on his face and legs. Overall, it was a miracle he was alive.
'Hmm, maybe this won't work. But seriously, how long is an hour? Ciel felt as if time was moving slowly.
Regardless of his thoughts, Ciel gripped his nerves, turned around, and dashed toward the priest.
As ciel approached the priest, he noticed the man's wide-open eyes and quivering lips as he mumbled something. Ciel, however, had no time for what he was saying.
"Sir." He spoke with a deliberate respectful tone, "I have a plan that requires your assistance. A powerful priest like you could really help."
The priest, terrified, muttered, "What the hell do you know?!" as he looked at ciel with puzzlement. "What kind of plan would you have if you did not have any powers?"
The priest then directed his gaze away from Ciel and toward the monster.
Baldhead miraculously remained alive. He and the monster remained in the punching context. However, his body was severely bruised, and despite the healing he had received only a few minutes before, he had already been badly beaten. Despite his best efforts, the King's fur and body were simply too thick and strong, and his powerful punches were more of an annoyance than a legitimate threat.
'Seriously? Am trying to save myself here.' Ciel gave an internal grunt.
The healer, as far as ciel could tell, was kneeling down with her hands clasped. She was a healer and thus lacked combat skills, but damn, she had no intention of joining the battle.
So, to summarize, he desperately needed that baldhead to last.
'Try to last longer.'
And to the priest he said:
"But you are important. If you don't help, then we might all just drop dead already. "But I believe you want to help, after all, you saved me from those monsters..."
"Nooo. I just wanted to prevent the monsters from attacking us." The priest responded honestly and with some hesitation.
'Well, I suppose not.
Ciel shook his head and muttered something beneath his breath.
"Even though you aren't real, just know I never never wanted to do this."
At that moment, a piercing strike struck the priest's stomach! Blood dripped from his abdomen.
Confused by the sudden situation, the priest looked down, only to discover a silver dagger deep in his stomach. He raised his head to see Ciel's icy cold stare at him.
"I am very sorry. but if you can't help, I can only take your core."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone