Chapter 184: The Chase

– “Jarvis?!”

– “This timer shows the time for which the free characteristics will fully take effect. One free point of characteristics in an hour will be absorbed by the trait you have chosen and will become part of the characteristic…”

Ryuu froze for a moment, watching Yuko get to her feet and turn towards the door.

During this moment, he experienced a lot of unpleasant emotions, but there was no time for them, and therefore Ryuu took control of prana and directed it directly into his head, at the same time activating the ability of Arbitrary Meditation.

The world slowed down, or rather Ryuu’s thoughts flew at a mind-boggling speed.

Emotions went back several planes, leaving a mind as bare and cold as steel.

– “Why was the timer not mentioned at all in the training mode, Jarvis?” – Ryuu asked calmly and without emotion, as if he had become the same artificial intelligence as Jarvis

“Because it wasn’t part of the training regime, sir,” Jarvis replied just as calmly.

– “Why was it not included in the training mode?”

“Because that’s how the system was set up, sir.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this nuance in advance? You knew I was accumulating free stats points.”

“I couldn’t, sir.”

“Is that so?”

“I’ve been restricted in many actions before, sir. Don’t be surprised by this.”

– “As I understand it, my employer tried, nothing, I understand, there should always be a fly in the ointment. I don’t mind, but I don’t like the fact that I wasn’t informed. With this nuance, I will have to reconsider a lot of plans …” – Ryuu thought for a moment, and then asked his assistant a question – “Jarvis… Whose side are you on?”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand the question, sir.”

“I’m afraid you understand everything, but I’ll rephrase what I said… Jarvis, are you on my side or on God’s side?”

A second of ringing silence and Jarvis replied, “I am your assistant, Sir, but I am also an artificial intelligence created by the creator for your convenience, merged with the system. I’m a small part of the system, sir. I am not on your side and not on the side of the Creator. I’m on the side of the system. I don’t have the will like humans, sir,”

– “I see. Nothing, many people sin by lack of will, let alone artificial intelligence.” – Ryuu calmly replied – “… You are on the side of the system, and the system obeys the creator, so we can say you are on the side of the creator …”

– “I’m sorry…”

– “Nothing, I’m sorry, because from now on I can’t trust you. In general, I should have guessed it myself a long time ago, but, apparently, the illusions that I built for myself prevented me from understanding it.”

– “No need to apologize, sir. Perhaps the creator wanted this… a moment to teach you a lesson?”

– “Anything is possible.” – Ryuu replied, watching Yuko put on a leather armor –”…How could I get attached to you if I knew that the clan would be cut out? I specifically reminded myself of this, but apparently I didn’t understand the whole point myself… Maybe I was so affected by this childish body? You looked so pathetic when, following the first child, you lost the second, then the third… It was clear that you were ready to break down. What is commonplace for the women of the Partas clan, is a tragedy for you. Even though you’re trying to follow the rule: “The strongest survives, and the weak deserve to die.”, but nothing comes out. You shouldn’t have been born in this clan.” – Ryuu shook his head mentally – “I’m no better… He played like a boy, playing the role of a son. I thought I would just cheer you up, just not let you fall into the abyss of despair, but in the end I got close to you myself, even though I knew what this clan was waiting for.”

When Yuko was finally dressed, Ryuu quietly sneaked past her and went outside. There he took his hidden bow and quiver with arrows – “I have a couple of plans how to knock you out and deliver you straight to Esdes unnoticed. It will be insanely difficult, especially with my characteristics and other little things, but it is possible with my bonuses from skills, huge experience and the Eyes of the Emperor with the Imperial Zone… But I’ll let you decide your own fate. I may be a manipulative asshole, but I have not yet descended to abductions and imposing my will on a loved one. Besides, I don’t love you, and if I save you, I will put on my shoulders the responsibility for this act and your life in general.”

Yuko came out of the house and was surprised that Ryuu had already run away – Well done, even now he listened to me right away. She smiled and ran towards the clash of swords and furious screams

Meanwhile, Ryuu, unnoticed by everyone, moved along the roofs of houses, through thickets and trees, imperceptibly watching Yuko.

– “There are more interesting women in this world, so why worry about someone who will definitely not play a special role in your life?” – Ryuu asked himself, looking for answers

Taking a convenient and inconspicuous position near the battlefield, he began to follow the battle of Yuko.

Taking out his bow, Ryuu began to imperceptibly shoot off not particularly strong invaders, whose loss would not be much noticed in the heat of battle.

Naturally, no matter how inconspicuous Ryuu was, the clansmen and invaders saw exactly from which direction the arrows were flying, so he had to constantly change positions.

…

Time passed. Although the battle was coming to its logical end, it was only getting hotter.

Cornered, being in an absolute minority, the representatives of the Partas clan did not try to retreat or escape, as normal people would have done, no, they furiously ran forward, taking with them the warriors of the northern tribes. It seemed that the blood of their clansmen gave them enough strength and rage to fight to the last breath.

Ryuu was still quietly trying to shoot the invaders, but the remaining warriors at the end of the battle were strong and it was much more difficult to kill them with his characteristics from a simple bow. And the arrows were running out.

Finally, the last man, who was the leader of the Partas clan, he is the biological father of Ryuu and Esdes, fell.

There were only women who still tried to resist, children and the elderly.

The strongest women, who were too difficult to take alive, were immediately killed, and the rest were knocked down, twisted and tied up for the amusement of the remaining warriors.

The old men were immediately killed, there was no need for them now at all, as for the children who remained in the village, they were waiting, in general, for the fate of the same bound women and there was no difference whether you were a boy or a girl.

Whoever led these warriors to the Partas clan was determined to exterminate it, so no one should have survived. He just also knew how important it was for his soldiers to relax after the battle, and therefore, before completely exterminating the clan, the warriors would have a little fun with the survivors.

This was the moment Ryuu was waiting for.

Yuko fought to the very end and survived, before taking many lives of opponents, but as a result, now she was lying tied up with a stick in her teeth. She wanted to commit suicide, but luck was not on her side at that moment and she failed to do it.

Four warriors, grinning and laughing excitedly, began to tear her clothes. Tears sprang from the woman’s eyes, because she knew more than well what was waiting for her now.

Meanwhile, Ryuu calmly took out an arrow – “Like the good son you thought I was, I will fulfill my last filial duty and personally send you on your last journey…”

A second and an arrow, whistling in flight, pierced Yuko’s temple, giving her an instant and unexpected death, which she, at the moment, so much desired.

Naturally, this attracted attention.

– There. – said a formidable tall man with a spear in his hands, pointing his finger at a tree a hundred meters away, which was near the forest itself – A great shot. Preferably take him alive, I want to punish the one who increased our losses almost twice. He shot our budding recruits, this cannot be forgiven.

A bunch of soldiers jumped up and ran furiously towards Ryu.

Ryuu himself quickly focused on the man to find out a little information about him and ran away.

───────•••───────

Sid Hashim

Age: 42 years old

Gender: Male

Strength – 145

Dexterity – 124

Perception – 55

Endurance – 90

Mind – 44

───────•••───────

– “Menacing.” – Ryuu said calmly to himself, running away. With the help of prana, he lightened his body and strengthened his legs in order to develop good speed and break away from his pursuers. In fact, he used the technique of bodily shimmering “Shunshin”, but he severely limited it so as not to strain the body too much and not run out of steam too quickly. – “He is physically stronger than Kage and even Maito Daya, but due to the fact that the latter possess the chakra, they will eventually be much stronger. It’s amazing what the local flora and the meat of dangerous animals do with the human body. This is the perfect world for Maito Dai and Guy, it’s a pity it’s too cruel for such kind people like them.”

…

For ten minutes Ryuu was running away from his pursuers and when he thought that they had already lost him, the pursuers made themselves felt.

Ryuu was sitting on a log and pointwise treated the most damaged muscles to save prana, but then he abruptly had to remove his head from the path of a flying arrow.

He didn’t turn off the Emperor’s Eyes and the Imperial Zone, so he quickly noticed this attack.

Ryuu quickly looked in the direction from where the arrow flew, there was a man with a large bow and a characteristic armor, which indicated that he belonged to the invaders, a hundred and fifty meters away.

Ryuu wondered how he was caught up. It wasn’t that his speed was great, in fact, he knew for sure that it was less than the speed of these elite warriors. What he really hoped for was his small size, stealth skill and a lot of experience, which should allow him to throw his pursuers off the tail. “How did they track me down? I didn’t leave any traces or even smells, with the help of one small technique.”

He was already talking about it while running away, it was not worth sitting and waiting for another arrow, much less reinforcements.

Meanwhile, the archer who fired the arrow said in amazement – A child…

–Did you catch up with him, Captain?” – seven more soldiers ran up – Well, you run…

– A child. – the archer repeated again, frowning heavily, who was the captain of the squad – the shooter turned out to be a child of five years old. – he said and broke off in pursuit of Ryuu

The soldiers looked at each other in shock and ran after the captain. – Are you serious?

– Yes. The gambling hunt is canceled, we must kill him. We have to do this otherwise this monster will grow into a big problem for us in the future.

– What about the order? Alive…

– I’ll figure it out. If we manage to take him alive, fine, but the primary task now, at all costs, is to destroy this child.

“I see, Captain.