Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 496: Shattered Mirror
After settling Alina and the others down, and making sure they had successfully rejoined the Infected and the guerrilla fighter, Steven casually made up an excuse and slipped away on his own.
Truth be told, he really wanted to stay—comfort Alina a bit, and, naturally, enjoy some well-earned "benefits" along the way.
But in the end, Steven felt that if certain matters weren't taken care of, it would just keep nagging at him.
He had a very clear understanding of his own personality.
He was not a magnanimous person. Calling him petty wouldn't even be wrong. If someone messed with him, he rarely waited for some dramatic revenge arc, most of the time, he settled things on the spot.
So when it came to Rusalka—a being who, no matter how you looked at it, had targeted Alina and even tried to take her life—Steven genuinely couldn't think of a single reason to let her off.
Earlier, because Alina's fate was directly involved, he couldn't interfere freely.
But now? Everything had been resolved. The "quest" was settled. He had regained full freedom of action.
At that point, why wouldn't he go and smash a wandering elite mob like her?
As for her calling herself a god… that mattered even less to Steven.
Gods—Feranmut, to be precise—were exactly what he specialized in killing. Otherwise, where else did Yamato's energy come from? He was still waiting to feed more divine authority into it so he could help the Abyssal Hunters strip away the Seaborn parts from their bodies.
So, despite eagerly anticipating the rewards Talulah and Alina would surely give him later, Steven still chose to leave the Infected group under the excuse of "having something to take care of," following the minimap instead as he searched for Rusalka's trail.
Walking alone across the silent snowfield, the only sound in the Minecrafter ears was the howling of the wind.
The only thing in his vision was the endless snowfall, blanketing the land in white.
Without the minimap mod, he would've gotten lost in minutes. Thankfully, thanks to it, not only was he not losing track of his target, he even had the spare brainpower to think about how exactly he should deal with her once he caught up.
"What are you even thinking about?"
"Just take me and rush in there, chop her up a few dozen times, mince her into meat paste, and be done with it!"
Yamato, held tightly in Steven's hand, had already recovered a decent amount of energy and could once again speak to him directly. She sounded downright excited, urging him to hurry up and start the fight.
If there was anyone who was the most thrilled about encountering Rusalka, it was undoubtedly Yamato.
To her, a walking god was nothing more than a walking chunk of nourishment, a buffet for her own growth. How could she not be excited?
And on top of that, this chunk of nourishment was hostile to her master.
That just meant she was practically a free meal.
"That does make sense," Steven mused, rubbing his chin.
"But do you actually have the confidence to cut through her defenses?"
After thinking it over, he realized that relying on a bunch of messy mod abilities didn't necessarily guarantee a clean victory.
On top of that, Rusalka seemed more like a manifestation or avatar rather than a full true body.
If that was the case, then relying on pure force wasn't out of the question.
All things considered, following Yamato's suggestion—charging straight in and hacking away—might actually be the best option available to him right now.
As for how to cut her down, or whether she had some weird, troublesome abilities…
Well, he'd figure that out after he started swinging.
Standing around hesitating wasn't going to solve anything.
"…Now that you put it that way, I'm actually not entirely sure either," Yamato admitted after a pause.
"After all, this would be my first time cutting a so-called god. How about feeding me a Red Alloy Ingot to power me up first?"
Enma, after all, had inherited part of her master personality. At a moment like this, she wasn't arrogant enough to overestimate herself, so she straightforwardly began asking her master for materials to strengthen her body.
And she knew very well that her master wouldn't refuse her at a time like this.
Just as she expected, Steven barely hesitated at all. He directly converted the majority of his remaining EMC points into a Red Alloy Ingot, then decisively fused it with the Yamato in his hand.
Upgrading his weapon? That was something Steven was more than happy to do.
Good resources were meant to be spent where they mattered most—on the blade. That principle was unquestionable. As a warrior, if you got rich and didn't upgrade your weapon, then what was the point of making money in the first place?
So even though a single Red Alloy Ingot nearly emptied his reserves, Steven still didn't hesitate for a second.
After fusing with the Red Alloy Ingot, Yamato didn't undergo any dramatic visual changes.
The only difference was a faint, blood-vessel-like red pattern that appeared along the center of the blade.
It wasn't until Steven wrapped his hand around the hilt that he truly felt the change—the weight transmitted through the grip felt like he was holding a slab of iron weighing a thousand pounds.
"Feeling stronger now?" Steven asked.
"Absolutely," Yamato replied energetically.
"If you told me right now that we're going to chop down Notch, I'd follow you without hesitation."
For a weapon, there was nothing more satisfying than an upgrade. And just imagining that once her master crushed Rusalka, she'd get another boost from it made Yamato's anticipation surge even higher.
Steven shifted his gaze forward toward the swamp that had quietly appeared before him.
In the Ursus tundra, where temperatures routinely dropped dozens of degrees below zero, the existence of a swamp was already bizarre enough.
But the moment Steven saw the red dot representing Rusalka sitting squarely at the center of it, everything suddenly made sense.
A pseudo boss having their own personal domain was normal.
Without hesitation, Steven equipped a pair of Boots enchanted with Frost Walker. He had absolutely no interest in stepping knee-deep into muck with every step, especially when the swamp's sludge kept bubbling up like boiling porridge, releasing nauseating bubbles that gave him the vivid impression of something far more disgusting being cooked.
Slowly, Steven walked toward the heart of the swamp.
He made no effort to conceal himself. He simply strode forward openly, looking just like a clueless tourist who had wandered into the wrong place.
The closer he got to the center, the more desolate the surroundings became.
There were no trees. No grass. Above the swamp, there wasn't even the faintest chirp of birds or insects.
All that remained was the constant sound of mud churning, as if something beneath the swamp was writhing and squirming, stirring the sludge from below.
And the deeper he went, the more the mud itself changed.
What had once been black gradually turned into an ashen gray, as though even the microorganisms within it had long since died, exuding an unmistakable stench of death.
The scattered remains of various strange creatures, half-buried in the sludge, only confirmed this fact—silent warnings of the danger lurking within the swamp.
By this point, there wasn't a single patch of solid ground left, let alone somewhere he could properly plant his feet.
Yet in this place, steeped in filth and deathly silence, a young girl's song suddenly rang out.
The voice was soft and tender, like a maiden's lovestruck murmur—an irresistibly alluring bait that tugged at the listener's curiosity.
Steven followed the source of the song, and before long, he found her at the very center of the swamp.
Like someone bathing, the girl had submerged her lower body in the murky waters.
The song flowed from her lips, perfectly matching her almost flawless, bewitchingly beautiful appearance—and her bare upper body.
When she noticed a stranger's arrival, a trace of curiosity surfaced on the girl's face. But the moment her gaze fell upon the long blade at his waist, that curiosity shifted into understanding.
She had already been intrigued by the weapon Talulah had wielded earlier.
Now that she saw it here, it was clear that this was the true owner that Draco had mentioned, the one she supposedly ought to be thankful she hadn't met.
How impatient, she thought.
She had barely returned, and he had already rushed over to settle things with her.
"You've come here to—"
"—Cut the chatter," Steven interrupted bluntly, like a player mashing the skip button before a boss fight.
"I heard you were looking for me. Now I'm here. I'll give you five seconds to put some clothes on and get ready. I'm here to kill you."
He had no interest in opening dialogue or dramatic introductions. Right now, all he wanted was to clean things up quickly and go back to his girlfriend.
Without hesitation, he drew Yamato from its sheath.
Steven's gaze settled on the girl, who froze for a brief moment after being cut off mid-sentence. Above her head, glowing in ominous red letters, was the name:
[Avatar of the Dead Waters – Rusalka]
Yep, this was his target.
"You are being incredibly rude—"
"—Time's up."
The Minecrafter cut her off again, flatly announcing the number.
He had no intention of waiting any longer. He'd already given her a warning. If she insisted on dragging out the conversation, then she had no one to blame but herself for losing the initiative.
Before his words could even finish echoing, the blade moved.
A streak of sword light tore through the air—the silver-white blade seemed capable of cleaving everything in existence, carving a brilliant line through space itself.
In the next instant, space appeared to distort.
And Steven was already behind Rusalka, as if he had teleported.
Rusalka, who had just been frowning, preparing to reprimand this stranger for his impatience and lack of basic courtesy, turned around instinctively, only for confusion to give way to shock.
Then, like a shattered mirror, the entire space fractured along that blinding line of light.
And together with it, Rusalka's body split apart, collapsing as the world itself seemed to break.
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Steven did Vergil I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING move.
https://youtu.be/d-ggzGbsEWE?si=PMj4xZ7i0Ly0z_TN&t=29
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M