Hitman with a Badass System

Michael quickly dashed toward the shore and landed comfortably on solid land. Even after landing, he vaguely saw the skeletons lurking deep within the swamp. These demon skeletons would wait for another one to drown. Their next victim might arrive next month or year, but they would wait because they had all the time in the world. An equally creepy forest surrounded the murky swamp. Dark and misty forest. The only way forward was through the forest. Unfortunately, gravity was still too strong for him to fly.

"Should we go into the forest?" asked Sarba, but Michael shook his head.

"Stay with me," said Michael. Once they had entered the forest, there was a high possibility for them to get lost. Even worse, they could get into trouble with another monster. Until he could cross the forest, he wanted Vedora to be with him. Vedora nodded before landing back on his shoulder. A bone-chilling breeze brushed past him. It was like something calling for him into the forest. Michael ignored these strange feelings.

The trees in the forest were malady-brown. Grains of poison begrimed the bark and gleamed like witch dust.  The decaying air and stifling atmosphere provided the perfect abode for those who worshiped the darkness rather than the light. In the dense shadows, spiders clutched their snare strings. Their webs shimmered like meshed steel dipped in silver. Eyes aflame with hunger, they hoped to dine on weak prey and slurp on hot blood. The deeper Michael went into the forest, the darker it became. Everything in the forest seemed primordial. If this demons grave was indeed his mistake, as the woman said, this place must be at least five thousand years old. It was the only explanation for the primordial trees. Their sprawling limbs guarded the darkness, blotting out any sunlight. Their bark was mottled and splotched as if the bubbled soup had been frozen in time on its surface. A pungent tang oozed from every sentient being in the forest. Bewailing sounds ghosted through the trees. Whether it was from the predator or prey, only the forest could tell. It was truly a place to make one's veins freeze over. Everything considered edible in another forest was nauseating here. It left Vedora with the same sickening taste of their own blood. It was a forest to be avoided.

Michael navigated through the labyrinth of a forest, trying to find a way out. His black armor turned murky and green because of the moths and mud in the swamp. He ignored the blood-sucking leeches littering the ground and hoped they weren't on him. As he was walking through the forest, he suddenly heard a muffled thud noise. It sounded contrary to all creepie nature sounds. Michael quickly raised his hand as the mark three grappling hook shot out of his wrist and coiled around the branch above him. Since gravity was too strong, Vedora grabbed Michael by his collar and added an extra boost to the grappling hook. Finally, he reached the top. Thanks to the trees being so cluttered, Michael was able to walk on one branch to reach the other.

He crouched and strolled without making a sound. Despite being Immortal, Michael did not act so brashly. There would always be someone stronger than him until he reached the absolute top. The thudding sound continued to echo through the forest rhythmically. He followed the sound that sounded louder and louder. Eventually, the forest opened up to a circular area void of any trees. The surrounding trees were neatly pruned to prevent someone from looking at the place from above. The thick canopy covered the place, only letting a few rays of light through.

To Michael's shock, he saw a portal gate and several people armed to the teeth, digging the ground with some kind of contraption. It looked like a giant spoon that created a thud sound everything it dug into the ground. These men were adorned in light blue armor with angel-like wings made of sharp blades. Michael couldn't see their faces through their masks. With the golden spear in their arms and the wings, they somehow reminded Michael of angels. What surprised him more was he had seen them before. They looked exactly like the one who invaded the Nether realm. Dular had to stop bringing undead from the Nether Realm with the portal open because of these people.

"They are the same men who harvested the undead in the Nether realm," Cain whispered to Michael while Sarba and Ayag remained completely silent. They didn't dare to make a sound that might draw the attention of these armored soldiers. The angels of the Skyhall, that's who they were. Unfortunately, Michael did not know. He had a closer relationship with them than he actually knew. Diana, his mother, was one of them. In fact, she led a powerful group of Angels.

"Look," Sarba whispered as Michael noticed the angels digging a black casket from the ground. The contraption dug the ground deep enough to reveal what seemed to be a burial site. One by one, the angels dragged the caskets out and threw them into the portal behind them. At that moment, Michael counted eleven angels. Surprisingly, they were all at the Fusion stage. This piqued Michael's curiosity. A run-of-the-mill organization wouldn't use Fusion Stage cultivators for grunt work. Since there was no insignia or anything that could be used to reveal their organization, Michael had to move closer. He took out a Spyder from the system storage and let it crawl toward the angels.

"I hate this place. It gives me chills,"

"For me, it's the smell. The place smells like dead,"

Michael began to hear the angels as the spyder crawled closer to them.

"I am glad this is the last grave site,"

Michael frowned. If this was the last grave site, it certainly meant these people were digging up more sites. Whatever was inside the caskets, these people might have hundreds or even thousands of them. No matter what, he wanted to take a look inside the casket. However, alerting these soldiers didn't sit well with Michael. His instincts told him not to kill them, although he could slaughter them quite easily.  But easy didn't mean he should do it.

"Silence. Why do I feel like we are being watched?" Suddenly, an angel turned around in Michael's direction. Michael quickly moved behind the bark to hide. The angels slowly walked toward Michael. Their instincts and perception really surprised Michael. He kept a safe distance from them, yet they somehow managed to sense him. Even though he didn't want to fight them, he would have no choice but to fight if they found him. Michael prepared himself for a battle when an angel raised his voice.

"Hey, we are ordered to return!"

The angels who were on their way to the tree Michael was on halted their steps.

"He is asking for us," The voice had a tinge of fear and panic. Luckily for Michael, whoever called them was far more terrifying to make them wait than to find him. Finally, the angels turned back and returned to the portal. At first, one of the angels flicked their wrists as the giant spoon-like digging machine flew straight into the portal. Then, they tossed the caskets behind the machine.

Afterward, the angels themselves flew into the portal, disappearing from the forest. By the time Michael decided to move his body, the place was empty. The angels didn't bother to close the hole they dug, which worked in Michael's favor. He leaped from branch to branch and eventually landed on the palace where the portal was a few moments ago.

The hole was picked clean. As far as Michael could see, there were no caskets left behind. He looked around the place for a few moments to see if they had left behind something that could be used to unveil their identities. Unfortunately, Michael's search bore no fruit. After a brief moment of looking around, Michael returned to the front of the hole they had dug. This hole was at least eight feet wide and fifteen feet deep.

"You can't jump down there," said Ayag. She was right. Gravity was too strong for Michael to fly upward again. It was weird and strange, but he could do nothing about it. Hence, he decided to drop one of his drones back into the hole. The drone slowly hovered down into the dark hole. They patiently waited outside to get a glimpse of anything but mud. A few minutes later, when Michael was about to conclude that the angels had grabbed all the caskets, Michael noticed the edge of a casket sticking out of the mud.

"Found something," Michael said to Vedora.

"A casket?" asked Ayag as Michael nodded.

"Since you can't jump down and carry it on your back, let us go down there," Sarba suggested. Having no other choice, Michael agreed. After he nodded, Vedora leaped into the hole from his shoulder. They dived down until they reached the drone. Despite their small physical stature, they were blessed with enough raw power to carry the casket in their legs. But first, they had to dig out the casket.

"Little help here," Ayag shouted. Their claws weren't sharp enough to dig, so Michael shot dark beams out of his eyes to dig out the casket.

Vedora flew aside, avoiding the dark beams. The mud turned ashes around the casket.

"Careful. Don't hit the casket," said Sarba.

Soon, the casket began to shake. Vedora tightly held the casket by its edge and pulled it out of the mud.

"Fuck. It's heavy," Ayag cussed. The casket was surprisingly heavier than she initially expected. She wondered what the heck was inside. Eventually, Vedora brought the casket back and dropped it with a loud thud. The casket cracked in several places. It was apparent the casket was ancient. But still, Michael was able to see several runes engraved in the casket.

He inspected the casket thoroughly. When he activated his X-ray vision, he saw a silhouette of a humanoid being inside. Michael was about to open the casket when he heard twigs and dried leaves breaking behind him. Someone was behind him. Instead of panicking, Michael slowly turned around.