Shrugging helplessly Dinesh raised a hand to the sky The rest nodded even Tykes The Ghosthound was relentless and intense but he also was sometimes strangely whimsical and became fixated on strange notions The flip side of that that his work ethic and broad range of skills that allowed him to generally succeed at these strange whims
They had chosen their path when they followed him out of Donnyton The past 6 months had been a brutal series of conflicts moving to the largest groupings of monsters they could find and fighting them Because of that they had hit the ground running in the reconfigured Earth Sure only Dinesh and Tykes could fight against the monsters here alone and even then it was just to a standstill but they could hold their own
Dinesh wouldn’t mind if they took a break here for a while
When Hank arrived before Ezekiel the man was sitting up sipping on a glass of water that the cook’s wife had left next to his bedside To his surprise there was none of the man’s usual bluster in his face just a deep bitterness
“You slept well I see ” Hank drawled crouching down next to the man They were a fair distance away from the thorny house and all of the people from Zone 32 had entered into it giving Hank some confidence that they wouldn’t be overheard Although human capability was determined largely by stats now instead of innate physical gifts there were still some predictable measures that could be used to protect the secrecy of their conversation
Ezekiel chuckled “Well enough “
Then the other man fell silent looking at Hank with very strange eyes Hank said nothing gazing back at him Of course there was a part of him that wanted to be angry that wanted to rant and complain and another larger part of him that wanted answers But it was clear that this was a strange occurrence that had influenced the mood of Ezekiel a man who in their brief period of interaction seemed completely unflappable
As Hank expected Ezekiel broke the staring contest first leaning back and looking up at the sky
“I’ve never seen a sky this blue ” Ezekiel said softly “My ex wife would have loved it She always was fascinated with the sky As if the future was above us slowly drifting down and settling over us all “
“You have a family ” Hank would permit him a short digression but ultimately he would not let the matter of that wild attack go without an explanation of some kind
Ezekiel grimaced “I did Well just by a fucked up coincidence my Father in Law was in Zone 1 when the System arrived That wily snake will be the last person in this world to breathe his last I have no idea how my ex wife could have survived the System but my son “
Ezekiel paused He closed his eyes “We barely even talked He was 21 and I hadn’t even bought him a drink He was across the country going to school at Rowlands “
“Smark kid ” Hank said shortly his expression easing somewhat
“Yea but he was a little lost Just couldn’t find it in him to commit to things or he would be something truly great Maybe maybe that’s my fault ” Ezekiel paused Then he sat back up and looked at Hank “I’m a selfish person I’ve always known that And that’s why that’s why I am what I am
“My Class ” he continued “Is very special a Named Class Which means it is a bit more powerful but I also was injected with instincts associated with the Class My Class is Beelzebub the Taker The personification of Gluttony And earlier I was hungry I hadn’t eaten in a long time “
Hank frowned “We had lunch only an hour prior How “
“Not food ” Shaking his head Ezekiel seemed extremely pained “Lives When I kill I take a single Skill from the people I Consume their highest leveled Skill Which is why the Skills I can use are so varied And while I’m hungry I lose one stat point a day as I waste away Some inner part of my withers if I don’t constantly feed “
This was more than Hank had been expecting He sat back on his heels “Why are you telling me this “
Sure this was the information that Hank had looked for although he hadn’t predicted its shape at all But there was a lot of information included in this explanation that wasn’t exactly pertinent He was being told for a reason
Chuckling Ezekiel said “So you understand why it’s necessary that I kill no matter how much I don’t want to This is just the way things are “
“Are you a fucking idiot “
Ezekiel blinked up at Hank
Hank continued “I don’t mind if you are a shitty person but at least own up to it Why is it other people’s fault your selfishness brought you here Don’t punish an innocent for where your choices brought you “
Eyes blazing Ezekiel straightened and glared at Hank “How was I supposed to know this would result “
“You weren’t what you were supposed to do is bear your own burden ” Hank said feeling extremely strange as he spoke Not because he didn’t believe what he was saying but because while he was speaking he could clearly hear his father’s voice speaking the exact same words “A man’s worth cannot be seen in the amount of weight he bears but in the percentage of his own burdens he pushes onto other people You sir are not selfish you are a coward “
Ezekiel bared his teeth His hands clenched into fists
Hank just looked at the slight man
“Ah fuck you ” Ezekiel said laying back down with an abrupt thump
Chapter 499
The air was hot here and heavy Hank very clearly felt the shape of his tongue in his mouth as he attempted to shape the words
“I won’t deny that killing may become necessary ” Hank said slowly This was a mission for his country and he had to accomplish it regardless of the misshapen tools he was given That was his burden to bear “But if I find out you killed someone just to feed your Class the next person to die will be you “
“That would be a relief ” Ezekiel breathed Before Hank could formulate a reply a loud shout cut across the rocky area with such force that the ground seemed to rumble in commiseration It was an expression that was so powerful that it was more natural force than anything else And when Hank heard the words his eyes widened
“GOD FUCKING DAMMIT “
“GOD FUCKING DAMMIT ” Randidly bellowed his eyes blazing He slammed his foot into the ground and everything trembled That just made Randidly more annoyed even the land here in the borderlands was annoyingly resilient “THAT FUCKING OGRE “
“Limp dick limp dick ” Neveah sang in a soft voice skipping next to him imitating the Ogre after it realized that Randidly even when utilizing Inspiration could only slay one of its three heads at once The fucking thing was delighted Each head was scared that they would be the eliminated one but the loser would regenerate within 12 hours which was shorter than the cooldown for Inspiration It was an especially frustrating conclusion after an almost 20 hour slog through armies of lesser ogres only to find that for all Randidly’s gifts he didn’t have quite enough offense to burn through the Ogre’s defenses both Skill related and purely physical
He supposed that the Level 70 wasn’t just for show But that didn’t make it any easier to stomach
Randidly wanted to beat up on someone to expend some of the wild helplessness he felt He tossed Acri to the side and his living plant spear snapped out of its rigid shape to scurry away Similarly Randidly reached back and grabbed sulfur his amorphous lava plant armor that he wore underneath his bone cloak The plant already understood and flowed around Randidly into a ball to be cast off After relieving himself of his burdens his eyes were sharp as he turned to Neveah
Hurriedly she shook her bonehead side to side and dashed off “I promise to play catch with Tykes He waits for me “
The image of Tykes’ face when Neveah forced the man to play catch with her did fill Randidly with enough good cheer to chuckle When she learned of the practice of throwing a ball back and force to bond from Randidly she was delighted and immediately approached Tykes curious about the ritual Tykes was initially dismissive How could she handle his dense metal ball that he spent every night reinforcing and pounding together