This Didn't Count as Killing Without Cause

It was an enormous scythe as tall as a person, just like the Grim Reaper's scythes that so often appeared in movies and TV shows.

Pitch-black, razor-sharp, and brimming with danger.

Just before the sleazy man's body struck the blade, he transformed into an enormous worm. He collided with the scythe, then bounced away with remarkable elasticity.

Holding the scythe's shaft, Zhao Xun raised an eyebrow slightly. "So this is your special ability..."

He rotated the scythe, pointing its tip downward, and thrust hard at the worm's body.

The tip slid across the worm's slick skin without piercing it.

The worm wriggled rapidly, trying to slip out of the scythe's attack range.

Zhao Xun saw through his intentions at once and immediately planted a foot on his body.

The slippery fluid coating his sole made it difficult to hold the worm firmly in place.

"I see." Rather than panicking, Zhao Xun smiled. "Your special ability is pretty interesting. The mucus secreted by your skin gives you considerable protection against sharp blades."

The worm's own defenses might not have been particularly strong, but the protective mucus made blades slide off easily. That made landing a hit difficult and greatly reduced the damage inflicted.

Still, that didn't mean he was completely immune to injury.

Zhao Xun glanced down at his mucus-covered shoe sole. It was undamaged.

Then he looked at the weeds on the ground that had been smeared with mucus. Their blades had been crushed every which way, but they were still green, with no signs of withering.

Apparently, the mucus was neither corrosive nor poisonous.

Then there was nothing to worry about.

Zhao Xun lay on top of the worm, pinning him beneath his body weight. At the same time, he wrapped his left arm around the worm's body to restrict his movements as much as possible.

Realizing things were going badly, the worm quickly transformed back into the sleazy man, hoping to regain his limbs so he could fight back.

At that same instant, Zhao Xun adjusted the ring on his right index finger, making its spike emerge.

He clenched his right fist and, the instant the sleazy man regained human form, punched at his head with tremendous speed.

Noticing Zhao Xun's subtle movement, the sleazy man instinctively tried to raise his arm to block. But the moment he lifted it slightly, an indescribable sense of urgency seized him.

In the next instant, he transformed into a worm again.

Zhao Xun's fist slid across the worm's skin. Slick mucus coated his fist, leaving even his ring wet and sticky.

The worm's skin remained unharmed. The thick mucus had protected his body securely.

Zhao Xun's expression didn't change. He showed no frustration at his failed attack.

After his punch slid off, he bent his arm and brought his fist against the worm's body again.

This time, however, he slowly pressed his fist against him from extremely close range.

With slippery mucus like this, the farther away an attack started and the faster it moved, the more easily it slipped off.

A slow thrust like this, by contrast, was more likely to pierce the skin.

The worm realized something was wrong as Zhao Xun's fist approached. He tried to transform back into a human, but a human face only appeared briefly on his head before reverting to a worm's face.

Zhao Xun was delighted. "Looks like you can't keep transforming in quick succession. That makes things even easier for me."

As he spoke, the spike on his hand sank slowly and steadily into the worm's head.

The worm kept writhing and struggling desperately, but it was all in vain.

He felt a pain in his head. Before he could react any further, he began struggling to breathe.

Zhao Xun stood up and looked down at the worm twisting and rolling frantically on the ground.

He had used Sculpture to draw all of the sleazy man's attention precisely to create an opportunity to get close to him.

Now that he had gotten close, he would naturally waste no time killing his opponent, giving him no chance to use any more trump cards.

Whether his opponent had any trump cards left or not, they were worthless if he couldn't use them.

At last, the sleazy man's body slowly changed from a worm back into a human.

His face had turned somewhat ashen. His mouth gaped open, whether to scream or suck in air, Zhao Xun couldn't tell. One hand clutched his own throat while the other reached toward Zhao Xun, trying to grab his trouser leg.

Zhao Xun took a small step to the side, remaining just in front of the sleazy man. The man could still see him and even brush his trousers with his fingertips, but no matter what he did, he couldn't get hold of him.

Zhao Xun lowered his gaze, savoring the sight of the sleazy man's dying struggles, and felt a faint agitation stir in his heart again.

It was even stronger than last time.

He lightly touched his chest and murmured to himself, "If I don't kill him, I can't complete my mission. This doesn't count as killing without cause."

A few seconds later, the sleazy man foamed at the mouth and stopped moving entirely.

Zhao Xun glanced at the mucus on his palm, then at the pitch-black Grim Reaper's scythe beside him. In the end, he abandoned the idea of changing his special ability.

The sleazy man's special ability looked interesting, but its weaknesses were obvious.

Once transformed into a worm, he had little offensive capability and couldn't escape quickly either. Although sharp weapons had trouble hurting him, poison like Zhao Xun's would still kill him.

It wasn't as useful as the Grim Reaper's scythe he had created with [Blade Transformation].

Besides, he preferred offense to defense.

Unfortunately, [Blade Transformation] could only produce ordinary non-firearm weapons, without enhancements such as magic resistance or magical attacks.

Otherwise, the ability would have been even better.

Zhao Xun inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. After repeating this several times, he finally began to settle the agitation in his heart.

Only then did he turn to look at Sculpture.

Sculpture had already rolled over to Ruby. Once the sleazy man died, the rope binding Sculpture fell away on its own.

Sculpture immediately got up from the ground and freed Ruby from her bonds.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xun walked over and picked up the long rope.

A pop-up appeared before him.

[Lively Long Rope]

Although it is a long rope, it is exceptionally lively and restless. Its body is supple yet resilient, making it very difficult to cut, and it possesses tremendous binding strength. As long as it stays within ten meters of its owner, any prey it binds can forget about escaping.

Zhao Xun looked satisfied.

Apparently, special items could be stolen.

He went back over to the sleazy man and searched his body.

He found no other special items that triggered a pop-up.

Logically, the sleazy man should have had at least one more special item. But even after Zhao Xun stripped him naked and tore open his jacket to check the lining, he found nothing else.

Zhao Xun narrowed his eyes slightly.

That could only mean the sleazy man had put that special item into a system Storage Slot.

In other words, when a player died, items in the system Storage Slots wouldn't drop, and other people couldn't take them.

They would simply go to waste.

What a pity.

Zhao Xun bundled up the long rope and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

Whatever the case, he had still gained something.

Not a loss.