Solo Player Arvin

"I may have a way," Arvin said.

"What do you mean?" Velma asked. Previously Lopt has confessed that he didn't have any way to contact Bakemono. So now what did he mean when he say that he might have a way.

"I mean that you and Bakemono could make a deal," Arvin said.

"How?" Velma asked.

"Well, it is true that I don't have any way to contact him. That means that I cannot contact him. But that doesn't mean that he could not contact me." Arvin said.

"He can contact you?" Velma asked.

"Yes. Every 10 days Bakemono contacts me. So I can talk to him about your situation and maybe then you could make a deal with him." Arvin said.

"That is great!" Velma said. Arvin initially thought that he would have to convince her that there is some sort of magic on his body that lets Bakemono contact him. But seeing that she not only questioned him but believed him, showed that she is a naive girl after all. So now all that was left was to make sure that he made a deal with a lower price.

Arvin was thinking about killing the girl. But then he remembered his days as an orphan. And no matter how cruel he was, he didn't want anyone to live alone like he use to do back on earth. That is why he figured that maybe this time he should obtain a piece without killing the original owner. Maybe this would affect his karma and would be beneficial for him in the future.

"I know. So before I contact him, I want to tell you something. And it is important so listen carefully." Arvin said. 

"What?" Velma said.

"See… Bakemono has been good to me till now. But that doesn't change the fact that he is a henchman working for The Merchant. So he would try to get the best deal of the merchandise. If you try to cheat him or something then you will die." Arvin said.

"I know that already," Velma said.

"Then you should also understand this that if I tell him about your jade piece then he may try to snatch it from you but hook or by crook. So make sure that you set a price for the jade piece such that Bakemono would agree on it in an instant." Arvin said.

"So you mean to say that I should tell him the price that is not that great but also not that bad?" Velma asked.

"Correct. You should understand this man is out for jade pieces. And if I tell him that you possess one then surely he would try to make a deal with you because the request came from me. But you have to be lenient while dealing with him." Arvin said.

"So you trying to say if the deal backfires Bakemono could snatch the stone forcibly?" Velma asked.

"Yes. That is why I thought that I should warn you first." Arvin said.

"How sure are you that you can convince him to make deal with me first? I mean can you say for sure that as soon as you told him about me then he would not just kill me and take the pieces?" Velma asked.

"I am 100% sure that he will not harm you," Arvin said.

"Hmm… Now if I think about it… Alright, let's do it." Velma said.

"You wanna go through with it?" Arvin asked.

"Yes. I don't want to go to the Aurora or the Grahmin clan to possess the stone. So Bakemono is the only person left that I don't have enmity against. So I would rather have him have the pieces." Velma said.

"Alright then… I would ask him to visit you. So how much are you willing to take for  you to give your piece away?" Arvin asked.

"Pieces," Velma said.

"Excuse me?" Arvin asked.

"I have two pieces of the key with me," Velma said.

As soon as Arvin heard that she had two pieces with her right now his mind short-circuited. And why wouldn't it be? After all, he had two pieces with him right now. While the remaining two pieces are with Velma. Didn't that actually mean that now he had all the pieces in his possession now? That meant that the El Dorado was finally in his grasp now.

Arvin started getting excited, but then he calmed himself down. Velma had one piece, that he was sure of. After all, she herself showed it to him on the top of the hill. But that didn't mean that she possessed the second piece as well. Maybe she had hidden that piece somewhere safe. So he could not just kill her and grab the pieces right now. First, he needed to know the location of both the pieces. Then only he would take any action…

"You have two pieces with you? Man, that is surprising." Arvin said surprised.

"Yeah. From our intel, Bakemono posses two pieces already. So that means that if he gets his hands on these pieces then that would essentially mean that he would all the pieces to combine to form the key to the sacred temple." Velma said.

"Alright then, so what you have in your mind? How would you like to trade with Bakemono?" Arvin asked,

"What do you mean?" Velma asked.

"I mean do you want to trade here or is there someplace where you want the trade to happen? Or you have something special planned?" Arvin asked.

"Well, I have both the pieces with me right now. So it didn't matter where you make the trade." Velma said.

"Alright then. Now we just have to wait for him to contact me. Then we could do the trade." Arvin said.

Now as he had confirmed that both the pieces are here with them, Arvin planned to kill them off tonight. He has no reason to wait for the other morning. So Arvin looked around and saw that Tamaria was sleeping inside the tent. And Velma was with him at the moment. He thought that these girls are weak right now. And this was the time to strike. 

"I would now retire in my tent. So excuse me." Arvin said. 

And then when he got up and was going from the back of Velma. And he got towards her back, he took the ax from his inventory and shoved it on the face of Velma from the back. As the ax pierced through her skull it split opened and her brain material started falling out of it. 

As Arvin gave the painless death to Velma he heard a noise from the tents…

He saw that Tamaria came out of her tents and was looking at him directly. Her sister's body was lying right beside the fire with her skull split open. And she had a mixture of terrified and shocked looks on her face.

"FUCK!" Arvin cursed.

He wanted to give Tamaria a painless death with magic. He didn't want her to see any of this. But she saw this anyway. Arvin had to kill her anyway so it didn't matter much…

Arvin then started walking towards Tamaria. As she saw that Arvin was coming for her she started running away from the camp. She was very weak at that moment. So she was not that fast. Arvin could easily catch up to her. 

While running Tamaria took a ring that she was wearing as a necklace. That necklace was in fact a spatial artifact. As she took out the ring she wore it in her hands. As she wore it, she took out what looked like to be a green color stone. But if someone would have looked closely then they could have seen that this stone was a very delicate carving of runes all over the stone.

Tamaria started pumping some mana into the stone. This made the stone glow. And of course, this was left unnoticed by Arvin. He summoned his ax and send it flying towards the Tamaria. That ax easily reached Tamaria's ring hand and dismembered it.

With one hand cut off, Tamaria screamed with pain but no voice came out of her mouth. Arvin walked slowly towards her and saw her struggling and screaming with pain. He felt bad that he have to kill this kid to reach his goals. But then he close his heart to her suffering and started walking towards her to finish the job.

As Arvin got closed to Tamaria, he was going to swing his ax down on her, but then at that exact moment, Tamaria took a handful of sand and threw it at the face of Arvin…

AAhhh

Arvin became blinded by that sand. This was only for a moment, but it was all that she needed. Tamaria then got up and went towards the stone. She pumped some mana into the stone which started making it glow.

Arvin felt that mana, although still blind, he threw his ax towards the source of the mana. But till the time the ax reached Tamaria, it was too late. 

Tamaria successfully pumped some mana into the stone which in return teleported her to another location.