Hitman With A Badass System-Novel

Michael grabbed the edges and slowly climbed up the mountain, with Vedora giving him moral support from the air. Some rocks were wet and slippery, while some were rough and easy to hold onto. When Michael looked over his shoulder, everything on the ground looked eerily small. If climbing wasn't hard enough, the air was filled with ash that hindered Michael's sight. The higher he climbed the mountain, the stronger the wind breezed past him. It almost knocked him down every step of the way. After climbing for almost five hours, Michael's hands went numb. Michael willed the APD to pump him with a healing potion. Another hour passed as Michael climbed quite higher and finally saw a rock formation sticking out of the mountain large enough for him to sit down.

"CAREFUL!"

Suddenly, Michael's hand slipped as he hung on the edge with one hand. Vedora flew closer to Michael. If it weren't for gravity, Vedora would have tried to fly to the top carrying him with their claws. Gravity in the demons grave defied the usual physical laws. It didn't affect Michael when he was climbing. Instead, it only affected him when he tried to fly. Cain was afraid that if they tried to carry him to the top, gravity would pull them both down to the ground. At that time, all of Michael's hard world would go down the drain.

"Argh," Michael growled as he slowly adjusted his grip and climbed higher. Finally, after great effort, Michael reached the platform. He slowly pulled himself up and sat on the edge. Michael breathed heavily. When he raised his head, his heart sank. The top of the mountain looked just as far as when he was at the bottom. There was still a long way to go to reach the top.

Sitting on the platform, Michael was able to see most of the demons grave. While he was riding the monster, he didn't clearly see how many Salamandepedes were roaming the meadows. But now, he could see them all.  Hundreds of them raised their heads and hissed in the distance. As if the Salamandepedes weren't enough, he noticed giant bats and a colossal size bull in the distance. Even from miles away, the bull looked gigantic. The bull was easily the size of a six-story building. No monsters dared to get near the bull while it grazed the grass peacefully.

"Man, I hope we don't have to fight that monster," said Sarba. He gasped in shock at the sheer size of the bull.

"Who knows? We might have to,"

Michael's words stunned Sarba.

"This place tests everything in me. This mountain is just one of the many tests I have to go through," said Michael. He was certain that this place was testing him. Despite the cultivation gap between him and the monsters, he couldn't destroy them easily as he was used to. Not that Michael was weak or nerfed by the demons grave, but the monsters defied the typical laws of cultivation. Even a Fusion stage monster was strong enough to fight a Half Immortal because of their attributes. It was as though the demon's grave had tempered them and made them evolve somehow. These monsters showed signs of intelligence. A monster with intelligence was far more dangerous than one with no intelligence at the same cultivation stage. With the right strategy, even a weak monster could defeat a stronger opponent.

For a few minutes, Michael just gazed at the realm before him. He collected his thoughts, calming his mind and soul. Eventually, Michael resumed climbing up the mountain with Vedora flying beside him.

"Grab here,"

"This rock looks strong,"

Vedora flew ahead of Michael and found sturdy rocks and edges for Michael to hold onto. They continued climbing the mountain for another hour and then, Vedora noticed something peculiar on the mountain's surface.

"Look here," Sabra hovered in the air, pointing at a small rock formation that was sticking out of the mountain with a dot of red paint on it. Soon, they found another ledge with a red dot. One by one, Vedora found several rock formations that could be used as more than just holds. Before Vedora could inform Michael about their find, he fired his grappling hook onto the hold with a red dot. Surprisingly, the grappling hook coiled around the rock and let Michael pull himself higher. Since the place seemed not to have been affected by the past Dark Lord's time resetting array, Michael had a feeling his past self might have left something to help him on his way. Besides, he felt like he had climbed the mountain before. It was definitely his past self who climbed this mount and left these hook points.

"Did my past self really predict I would climb this mountain again?" Michael questioned himself. With the hook points on the mountain's surface, Michael was able to climb faster and faster. But he didn't blindly trust the rock formations as they might have loosened with time. Therefore, Michael studied the hook points with his eyes before firing the grappling hook. Luckily, none of the hook points betrayed him, resulting in a very painful fall. Yet even with the grappling hook, climbing the mountain took Michael hours. By the time he reached halfway to the top, the place had darkened. With not enough light, Michael didn't dare to continue climbing. Coupled with volcanic ash in the air, Michael could barely see Vedora let alone the hook points. So he decided to find a platform to rest until the light returned to the place.

Right before the last light disappeared, Michael found a platform just big enough for him to sit on. His legs were hanging down along with one hand. The rock barely had enough space for him. But he was not in the position to be picky. Instead of trying to rest upon Michael's shoulder, Vedora chose to hover in the air. The last thing Vedora wanted was for the rock platform to break down when they sat on Michael.

"Do you think someone else had climbed the mountain before us?" asked Sarba.

"What kind of stupid question is this? Of course someone had climbed this before us. I don't know if someone had climbed to the top, but someone definitely tried. This place has been here for five thousand years. That's a lot of years," Ayag rolled her eyes. Michael had to agree with Ayag. Although the demons grave was treacherous to even Immortals, one must be a fool to think the Great Eight clans didn't dare to unveil the secrets of this realm. But he wasn't sure how farther they ventured.

"What must have happened here? The woman said this place was one of my past self's mistakes," Michael slowly spoke, looking at the realm around him. Through the volcanic ash, he saw silhouettes of mountain chains, the bull in the distance, and even a flat land that resembled a lake. He could only imagine the terrors lurking in these places.

Suddenly, the mountain trembled. Michael almost bolted to his feet. But the tremor soon stopped. It felt like the volcano inside the mountain was raging to erupt. Gradually, the tremor died down as the mountain returned to its peaceful state.

"People are gonna freak out when they hear we entered the demons grave and survived," said Sarba.

"Imagine what the guardians would think. They are going to spin some story and make us the village of it," Ayag rolled her eyes. Vedora used to not care about what was happening in the world after they heard their kind was wiped out from the universe. However, they slowly realized Ghost, Gaya, and Nightmare were their family despite everything. After feeling the familial bond with them, Vedora felt they were part of Ghost's life. They cared about the  Order and hated everyone who stood against them. Besides, they were intelligent enough to see who the real enemy of the world is.

"Well, no matter what you do, there will always be someone to point their fingers and criticize you," said Michael. He leaned back on the mountain and gave Vedora a piece of advice about life.

"Thing is, you cannot satisfy everyone. If you live your life thinking about what others might think, you won't even satisfy yourself. Never look back and regret. Look back and smile at what you have done. Live like that," said Michael with a heavy heart. If what the mysterious woman said was true, his past self had little too many regrets in his life. Even when he saw his past self talk to him in an ethereal form, Michael noticed a strong sense of regret and grief in his eyes. The past Dark Lord might have fooled the world but not Michael. After all, his past self was him. Michael wanted Vedora to have no regrets in their lives.

"Why are you suddenly being so gloomy?" asked Sarba as Michael smiled, hiding his emotions well.

"This place is one of my regrets, Vedora,"

"It's not," Sarba shook his head.

"The Dark Lord who lived five thousand years ago is not you," said Sarba.

"He's literally the same person who used time array to travel through time," said Ayag.

"There is no point in dwelling in the past. Whatever mistake my past self made, I have to own it and rectify it,"

Cain nodded, agreeing with Michael. Then, he spoke what was in his mind.

"Your past self didn't seem like the one to make mistakes. He might have wanted this place to exist, for you perhaps,"

Cain's words made sense to Michael as they always did. Even if his past self made a mistake, he could have fixed it with the system. But since he chose not to, Michael knew there might be a reason behind his reasoning. For the time being, Michael had to climb the mountain and get his hands on the three items needed to forge the pair of dark swords. Without the swords, his battle potential was being suppressed.

"I think this place is strong enough. Get some sleep while you can. We will reach the top tomorrow. You need to rest," Michael said to Vedora. Soon, Vedora flew to Michael, landing on his lap. They slowly curled up into a ball and closed their eyes. Meanwhile, Michael couldn't close his eyes. This place had an unknown effect on him. His mind kept replaying the mysterious woman's words.