Soulless Players

Chapter 9: Plan D

As the fire crackled and danced around, Philip stood motionless, seemingly thinking. Only the movements of his pupils were active, examining the group of men standing near the headwaters river.

While Philip was frozen and surrounded by the fiery forest, the men were also attentively eyeing him, preparing for Philip's next course of action. Their focus was at maximum. With the river near them, creating a safe haven to fend off the fire, the men could fully concentrate on capturing Philip.

Unlike them, Philip was at a dead stop. He was already exhausted. Coupled with the fire swaying and touching him, Philip was also in constant pain and unconsciously let out a hiss.

Additionally, his skin, which should have been healed already after taking a sip, was slowly melting back again.

Philip gripped the bottle of medicine more tightly. He had to or else he would not control himself from taking another drink.

'I need to save this. My plan involves jumping all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. Without this medicine, what awaits me is either instant death or slowly dying due to broken bones.'

Philip could only look at the edge of the river with regret. He was too close to the waterfall already. If only he discovered the miraculous effect of medicine much earlier, he could have fled and survived by now.

A blow of wind suddenly brushed, and a single speck of dust and debris managed to hinder Philip's sight. The dust disturbed his vision and was about to rub his eyes, however, an arrow quickly shot toward him.

Philip's instinct detected this and ducked sideways. After that, while rubbing his eyes, Philip glanced at the arrow lodged in the ground. Then simultaneously looked back at the suspect holding a bow in his hands.

Looking at the man more closely, Philip caught the sight of the man's arms and legs trembling.

And upon noticing this scared appearance of the man, Philip was slightly dumbfounded at first, but after realizing something, he smirked in disdain.

'This must also be their first time seeing a miraculous sight,' thought Philip.

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Like Philip, the men had also never experienced anything supernatural in their life. And seeing Philip's leg healed at a frightening speed before them truly made their worldview undergo a total shift.

'The world seems not as normal as what we think it is.' The men pondered.

The group of men might have looked calm at the surface, but in truth, deep inside, they were all anxious. After knowing that Philip might have owned an otherworldly power, they realized that the difficulty of their mission had increased at an unbelievable rate.

Before accepting the mission, they were all informed that their target was not normal. And knowing this, they never became sloppy at their job and readied themselves for the unexpected. However, never in their life did they imagine that the unexpected would come to this degree.

They were just normal people! How would they fight someone extraordinary?

While they were all having an internal battle, Philip quickly recovered from the stupor. He had taken the drug earlier and had time to steady his mental state. In addition, to begin with, his whole being was never ordinary. A medicine that could heal injuries at an unbelievable pace was more common and mediocre compared to him.

'I have to take this to my advantage.' he thought, making a new plan.

Philip stood on the ground with a renewed countenance, his physique was still the same but his aura had undergone a complete transformation.

It was more confident, experienced, and hallowed.

"Do you know why your boss is trying to catch me?" Philip narrowed his eyes and lied boldly, "It is because I can procure a medicine that can cure any disease!"

After saying that, Philip clutched his hands together, with the bottle in between them. He slightly bow his head, so that his eyes were hidden under his hair.

Then after setting the atmosphere, along with his head rising, he lifted the bottle up in the air and declared, "And if I'll be given more time, I can even resurrect the dead!"

His eyes were filled with holiness and conviction. It was like he was a messenger of a god, with a purpose of healing the weak and the oppressed.

All the men's eyes widened, and their legs became noodles, surprised by his revelation. Some trembled in delight, and their eyes, which were vigilant before, were now showing an expectant look and hope.

The current era of the world strongly believed in Gods. It was expected for them to react greatly upon seeing Philip acting saintly.

Philip saw their small actions and pushed his bluff even more, "Pledge your allegiance and follow me from now on, With the almighty God looking down at us, I'll vow for you to receive his divine help."

He then moved forward towards them, leaving the red forest behind him. The men raised their bows, alert, but none of them aimed. They all just waited for Philip's next action.

Philip walked continually, unbothered by their on-guard stances. Once he stood on the wet and rocky ground and the heat never touched him anymore, then he opened the bottle and took a another sip from it.

Under the watchful eyes of men, Philip's body, which was filled with horrendous and mutilated burns, recovered and transformed back to its original appearance. And the holy image Philip tried to project was once again amplified.

Seeing the magical scene the second time, the men were in awe once again. If the first time they thought their eyes were just playing with them, then the second time brought them back to reality and compelled them to acknowledge it.

Watching his bluff work, Philip closed the lid and placed the bottle in front of him, "Now, who wants to join me in my travels towards faith?"

Philip smiled as gracefully as ever then continued, "The one who offers and proves their loyalty to me first will receive this bottle."

"Now, I'll repeat again. Why not walk with me instead and glorify the might of our Lord?"

After Philip's remark, the sky suddenly flashed and the ground shook slightly. And the men who appeared conflicted at first moved to demonstrate their commitment to Philip.

***

From the distance, as Steve's eyes glowed, he focused his sight north, seemingly looking at something under his golden pupils.

And when the sky turned yellow and grumbled, Steve could not finally control himself to let out a frown.

Because in his vision, he saw numerous golden humanoid figures, of different sizes and brightness, clashing against each other.

Additionally, a short figure, shining not as bright as others, stood silently in the center, as if waiting for them to conclude their dispute.

Steve knew what the meaning behind this scene was, however, he was still left bewildered.

'How come my men were fighting?' Steve angrily thought and then realized, 'Maybe Philip has finally used his power…'

He focused his sight on the small humanoid figure. A little later, he saw an item, shaped like a bottle, glowing very luminous in his hands.

'Is that his powers? But powers don't glow… so that means it's an item.'

He shut his eyes for a few seconds, deep in thought. Sometime later, he then opened his eyes, but instead of gold, his eyes now turned black and normal.

'He must have fooled them for whatever reason,' reasoned Steve internally.

Upon knowing, Steve fiddled his fingers impatiently. His understanding regarding Philip had increased again.

'First, he is a main character that is heavily linked with the government's intelligence unit."

Like Philip, Steve's life was also somewhat similar to his past life. Having been reborn to a rich family with lots of manpower on hand was to be expected if rebirth was based on the previous life of a book character.

'Second, he's a shrewd and experienced fighter.'

Steve proved this when Philip eradicated the unit without much effort by himself. In addition, having survived till now against his manpower meant Philip was truly a combatant main character.

'Lastly, he's a great actor... no it's more of a troublesome and mischievous trickster.'

Steve frowned. With all of these pieces of information, he was still having a hard time figuring out Philip's occupation or life in the past.

'I lack imagination,' moaned Steve.

In the past, he had never touched a fictional book in his life. It was not his forte to guess what kind of power or lives his enemies had.

Of course, he had also made an effort. After knowing how to read, he then bought and read numerous novels from this world.

However, the novelists and writers in this world still lack creativity as only Gods and Folklore have existed till now.

It was not enough to fill up his knowledge in this field.

Steve heaved a sigh once again. He was forced to execute his three plans. And none of them succeded. He was only left with one remaining and Steve was hesitant about using this one.

He then looked at his back and saw a man in his robes playing with a bloody ax in his hands.

Recalling the time he used his golden vision to him, Steve quivered nervously. He never desired to associate with this dangerous man. However, he was forced to do as he needed his power.

'Plan D it is…'