Chapter 49: The Loaded Dice

The acid melted the metal in four seconds, and the cuffs fell to the floor. Serah rubbed her red wrists.

He kicked Tobias’s cell door. The lock broke, and the door swung open.

Tobias looked up with weak eyes. "Told you," the old man whispered. "The deep zones don’t forgive mistakes, boy." Then he passed out.

Alvian carried Tobias on his shoulder and held out his hand to Serah.

She took it.

They walked back up through the mansion. The remaining B-Rank guards stepped aside and did not attack. They saw what happened to the Duke and did not want to die.

He walked out of the estate through the broken gate and into the sunlight, carrying the old man and holding Serah’s hand.

The street was full of people watching. Rich residents had watched the giant mansion fall in just twenty minutes. People filmed everything with small camera tools, and the videos would spread online soon.

Alvian Vance, an E-Rank Clearwater fighter and Tournament Champion, had just killed a Duke in front of everyone.

Nobody tried to stop him or arrest him. The crowd moved out of his way as he walked.

He walked three blocks and left Tobias with a doctor who did not ask questions. Serah walked next to him, holding his hand. Neither of them talked.

On the third block, Alvian stopped.

He checked his Gambler’s Delay pool: 1,880 base EXP.

Then he checked the item Fate’s Loaded Dice in his inventory.

[Fate’s Loaded Dice: Armed. Will trigger on next roll release.]

Guaranteed Epic rank. Minimum 1,000x. Maximum 5,000x.

At 1,000x, he would get 1,880,000 EXP. At 5,000x, he would get 9,400,000 EXP!

His Flesh Limit at VIT 68 could safely take 4,500 EXP. The Emergency Protocol would handle the extra power. He planned to put stat points into VIT first, then Essence, then STR, AGI, and INT. He would gain ten stat points every second during the EXP explosion. His body would either adjust or break.

He had risked his life on the System before. He set the spin in motion. The wheel would turn, and the Fate’s Loaded Dice would disappear to give him one guaranteed lucky roll.

Serah looked at him. She did not know what he was looking at, but she saw his face.

"Alvian?" she asked.

He let go of her hand.

"Spin."

[DING!]

[Gambler’s Delay release command received.]

[Fate’s Loaded Dice found in inventory.]

[Combining with Gambler’s Delay release...]

[Chance numbers are changing.]

[Estimated wait time: 14 seconds.]

Fourteen seconds.

Fourteen seconds in a fight was a long time. He had seen men die in less than one.

Serah grabbed his arm. "What’s happening? Your eyes just—"

"Get back," Alvian said. "Now."

He pushed her behind a dumpster in the alley. Tobias was sitting against a doorway, barely awake. His arm was gone at the shoulder, and blood was leaking through his messy bandage. The old man was too hurt to move.

"Stay down. Both of you."

Serah opened her mouth to argue. Then she saw his face. Whatever she saw there killed her argument right away.

Alvian turned toward the street.

’Fourteen seconds. The Loaded Dice is still working. The reward pool isn’t closed yet. If more enemies show up and I kill them, the base EXP gets added back to the pool.’

The thought had barely formed when his Danger Sense screamed.

Boots. Dozens of them. Heavy steps hitting the stone road together from the direction of the Magnus Estate. The sound was getting louder fast.

’Army formation. Matching steps. At least thirty pairs.’

[DING!]

[Alert: Three A-Rank bodyguards (Lance, Barrier, Tracker) have died from deep Clearwater wounds.]

[Death time: 6 minutes ago (Lance guard: bleeding out fast from a cut artery), 4 minutes ago (Barrier guard: lungs dissolving in fluid), 3 minutes ago (Tracker: lost too much blood).]

[Their spatial rings have turned on emergency distress signals.]

[Magnus Estate army response: MOVING.]

The three bodyguards he had left alive back in the yard. They had not made it. The Clearwater acid had kept working after he walked away, eating tissue from the inside out. The Lance guard’s shoulder wound had torn open a main blood pipe. The Barrier guard’s broken shield had pushed sharp pieces into his lungs. The Tracker had simply bled out face-down in the grass.

He had killed them. He just had not stayed long enough to see it happen.

[Their deaths are added back to your Gambler’s Delay pool.]

[Pool update: 1,880 + 6,000 (3 A-Rank kills at 2,000 each) = 7,880 base EXP.]

[Note: The System reminds the Host that leaving enemies alive is not the same as leaving them unhurt. Clearwater does not forgive.]

Fifty soldiers turned the corner.

They flooded into the alley mouth. Magic-tech armor shone under the noon sun. Guns up. Tight formation. Paid killers in matching clothes, each one Level 25 to 30. Behind them came five bigger fighters moving with the strong steps of elites — Level 35, B-Rank Talents active and glowing.

At their front walked a woman with a scar across her shaved head and a buzzing energy sword at her hip. Her eyes found Alvian right away.

"Warrick Selby," Serah whispered from behind the dumpster. "The Duke’s army leader. Level 38. She never loses."

’She is about to,’ Alvian thought.

The Fate’s Loaded Dice was still working. Eleven seconds left. The pool was still open. Every kill from this point on would be added before the wheel spun.

Warrick Selby raised her sword.

"Target found. E-Rank Clearwater. Kill on sight."

Fifty guns aimed down the narrow space. The alley was only about six meters wide. Nowhere to jump away. Nowhere to hide. A trap made of stone walls.

Alvian ran straight at them.

The first line fired together. The alley filled with loud noise and bright light. Shockwave rounds, Essence beams, heavy bullets — fifty shots hitting the same spot all at once in a tight space.

He took the heavy shockwaves like weak punches from a tired kid. The heavy bullets hit his Clearwater Coating and melted into grey dust before touching his skin. The Essence beams stung. Two hit his chest. One cut across his forehead. Blood ran down his face.

[Incoming damage: 12 HP total.]

[HP: 109 → 97.]