Chapter 703: Deserving of death, wasting the player killer
In the original story, Kuradeel poisoned the water of the expedition Kirito joined. He almost killed Kirito who couldn’t defend himself until Asuna came and saved the day.
However, the scenario played out a bit differently this time. Since Wu Yan isn’t in KoB, this meant Kuradeel couldn’t use his influence to spike Wu Yan’s drink or food. Their relationship is also extremely hostile, why would he ever drink or eat anything near Kuradeel.
Instead, Kuradeel had to take out his paralysis powder to complement the paralysis skill he learned during his time in the PKer guild, Laughing Coffin. Kuradeel didn’t think he would fail with such meticulous preparations.
But, reality is cruel...
Looking at the Heaven Gazer that pierced him, he mustered up his remaining strength to look at Wu Yan even as Kuradeel’s HP started falling drastically.
“H-why...”
“You must be wondering why I am unaffected by the abnormal status?”
Wu Yan pursed his lips, he stabbed the sword deeper into Kuradeel’s body. Grunting, Kuradeel stepped back only for Wu Yan to continue pushing him back.
“Too bad for you, I don’t like the restrictions put on this virtual body of mine...”
He made sure to twist the sword a bit so Kuradeel can feel the cold steel digging around inside him. He pushed away Kuradeel who was wailing in pain.
“I busted my back to overcome paralysis, the only abnormal status that can stop someone in this game. Not only am I familiar with the paralysis skill and its applications, I learned how to detox even when I already obtained a very high abnormal status resistance.”
“Unfortunately for you, you came at a very bad time...”
This was the change caused by the Beast King Incident. The beast king used his gravitational powers to suppress Wu Yan. If System didn’t give him a way-out in the form of Yukari who was summoned in a very special circumstance, then Wu Yan would be stuck watching the loves of his life get murdered one by one.
From that point on, Wu Yan absolutely hated abnormal statuses. The sense of frustration got to him more than the effect itself. Soon after coming to this world, Wu Yan set out to overcome Paralysis.
Motivated by his past experience, Wu Yan’s paralysis resistance and poison resistance were raised to an insane level. It’s not 100% resistance but it was enough to lower the effect duration to a substantial degree. The paralysis lasted only a few seconds on Wu Yan.
Wu Yan pretended he couldn’t move just so Kuradeel would drop his guard. He wanted Kuradeel to turn into an orange player, killing an orange player won’t turn him into a red player (PKer).
Today, Lady Luck turned her back on Kuradeel.
“Argh...”
As Wu Yan forced him back with the sword, Kuradeel retreated in pain. Like an inmate about to be executed, his eyes filled with lust for life and terror of death.
Inside SAO, the sense of pain is significantly dulled. However, a player can still feel pain. When faced with damage that would kill a real person, the pain, even when dulled is not one for the faint of heart.
Wu Yan sneered.
“Oh, you want to know something? I already know who you are from the start!”
“Wh-what...”
“You’re an ex-guild member of Laughing Coffin, the trash even among the trashy cohorts of that crappy guild...”
Wu Yan turned around and he cast Kuradeel a sideways glance.
“You made me wait quite a while...”
“Y-you...”
Grabbing the sword, he looked at Wu Yan with immense dread.
“Di-did you plan this from the start...”
Wu Yan grinned.
“What do you think?...”
“No... Spare me please...”
Kuradeel yelled.
“I don’t want to die!”
The temperature dropped when Wu Yan’s eyes shone with a cold glint.
“Live by the sword die by the sword, I need to thank you for striking first. I mean, when you turned orange...”
Wu Yan pulled Heaven Gazer out and the blade immediately glowed with skill light.
“You’ve already lost all hope of keeping an intact corpse.”
“Noooo!”
Heaven Gazer plunged into Kuradeel’s body once more.
Skewered like an oversized chunk of meat. Kuradeel felt a creepy sense of numb cold grabbing his limbs. He saw his HP falling below the red zone, having lost all hope, he laughed like a maniac.
“You... murderer...”
“Murderer?”
Wu Yan scoffed, he pulled Heaven Gazer out.
“I am only butchering a son of a bitch...”
“You... bastard...”
Kuradeel’s vision turned blurry. With the Heaven Gazer out of his body, the guy slowly slumped down. When he hit the ground, his body shattered into data fragments.
Kuradeel is dead.
“Tsk...”
Brandishing his sword, Wu Yan stored Heaven Gazer away. He sighed while looking at the flying crystals.
“Should have chosen a better day to die, buddy. I am getting married tomorrow and you just had to come and make my hands dirty. At least, the foes I killed were worthy adversaries, you’re just an ant that’s slightly stronger than the rest in a game...”
“Fortunately, blood isn’t a thing in this world, that would really dampen my mood...”
Wu Yan mused as he shook his head. He dusted his hands and he resumed his journey back home.
Killing Kuradeel is just an interlude...
Aincrad 55th floor, Granzam, KoB HQ...
Heathcliff is organizing and sorting the documents on his desk.
With Asuna’s resignation, the administrative task of the clearing raids fell upon Heathcliff. Now, he’s picking things up.
Before the 75th floor, the tasks were minimal, which changed after most players arrived on the 75th floor.
It will take quite some time before he can take a break.
A prompt appeared while Heathcliff was busy doing paperwork.
Heathcliff stopped as he scrutinized the message on that prompt. His eyes turned steely when he digested the information on it.
“Kick Kuradeel out of the KoB, make sure the public knows about his past in the Laughing Coffin.”
After firing off that mail, Heathcliff closed his interface. If Wu Yan was here, he would surely curse Heathcliff.
His actions hinted that he knew about Kuradeel’s past in the Laughing Coffin all along.
Heathcliff mumbled while looking at the ceiling...
“Wu Yan...”