Gacha System in a Game-Like World

"’It is... my fault,’ Kratos thought as he blamed himself.

His feet barely touched the web as he descended through the forest, with Tony’s limp body cradled securely in his right arm. If one saw this, it would be unbelievable to believe that someone with such a small frame body could easily carry a weight like Tony in one hand.

In his left hand, he gripped a single sword. The other blade has already been returned to its scabbard behind his back.

As he descended slowly, silent tears slid down his face, falling down his cheek onto Tony’s bloodstained clothes before disappearing into the wind.

Unbeknownst to Kratos, Tony’s eyelids were yet to completely close. So, Tony saw those tears even if through blurred vision. Before eventually, his eyes shut close.

"It really is my fault..." Kratos muttered faintly this time, his jaw clenched as he continued to blame himself.

If only he had forced Tony to rest after clearing the cave all by himself. If only he hadn’t been so careless. If only he never wished to have fun in this dangerous battle with his "little brother." If only he had watched him instead of believing Tony would be fine.

Maybe, just maybe Tony would still be standing, kicking, and very healthy.

Each thought stabbed deeper into Kratos’ chest than any wound as he had them.

Meanwhile, the arachnids saw this as an opportunity and were very eager with their attacks.

SHHHK!

A razor-thin web spear shot downward. Before it could even travel five meters from the arachnid’s maw—

Chi.

A scythe-like streak was sent forward as Kratos casually swung his sword, splitting the web into two loose strands.

Seeing that web nets seemed to be ineffective against the silver-white-haired fellow, the creatures changed methods and began to shoot azure spheres at him.

However, one swipe was always what it took before the poisonous projectile was cleaved apart, their energies scattering harmlessly into the air.

Every attack, no matter how it came, always vanished beneath that indifferent slash. Kratos didn’t even seem to look upward once, as his gaze was focused on the hole through Tony’s chest.

Moments later, his boots finally touched the forest floor. Regaining his composure, he hurried toward the place where he had kept their backpack and dropped to one knee.

"Please don’t leave me," Kratos said, as for the first time, one could notice his fingers trembling.

He ripped open the pack with those trembling fingers before finding the small first-aid kit they had purchased before entering the tutorial grounds.

It had been the last thing they bought and was a little expensive. But for some reason, Tony had encouraged that they buy it since the potion accelerates the healing process of injuries.

A healing potion.

Kratos just hoped it would be the same for this hole in Tony’s chest. Thankfully, it was the bare web nets that had pierced through, not the one reinforced with poison.

He uncorked the bottle with shaking hands before carefully pouring the glowing liquid over the hole piercing Tony’s chest.

The wound hissed softly as vapor came out from it. Then, he immediately wrapped it with fresh enchanted bandages.

"Please, little brother..." he pleaded again, as if Tony’s life solely depended on him to survive.

Well, they somehow did.

As Kratos continued treating the wound, memories began to surface one after another in his mind.

He once never had a home or a group of people he could regard as family. All he could remember was that he had been abandoned.

How had he grown? The fragments of memories flashing in his mind didn’t clarify it. But they shifted to clearly show a mountain of corpses, rivers of blood, and him as a very young child sitting alone on the top of countless skulls with his hand holding onto one sword pierced into the mountain of skulls.

Even as a child, he had power. He was always victorious in the battles; he never knew why they existed. But he was ultimately lonely.

He had always fought alone, survived alone, and lived alone. Until, after his existence had somehow been extinguished from this world, the young man lying before him had given him another existence.

Even though it came through another body, a small and young body...

Kratos slowly closed his eyes.

Tony had even accepted him as a big brother, becoming that family he never had, no matter his wishes. Eradicating loneliness from his life.

Hence, whoever comes in the way to disrupt the dream he had always wanted would have to pass through his very life to achieve their aim.

Kratos’s eyes opened again. White light spread across them, fluttering in the wind as flames.

"There is only one way..."

Another white light erupted from his body.

BOOM!

A dense divine aura exploded outward, the pressure descending upon the forest like a truly divine being had fallen from heaven.

The earth beneath his feet cracked. Every tree, even as large as they were, trembled violently under its wake. Some approaching web spears shattered completely in the air and disintegrated before reaching him.

Even the countless arachnids froze instinctively.

Yes, they had sensed an overpowering aura from this being from the start, but they never expected him to be hiding a much stronger version of it.

What they didn’t know was that Kratos had been cautious to prevent their running away. But even Kratos still blamed himself for such a foolish decision that had produced the current unfortunate result.

Now, however, the reason Kratos had been cautious for played amidst the monsters. They suddenly knew fear.

Gently laying Tony against the trunk of the tree, beside their backpack, he unsheathed his second sword and rose to his feet.

SHIING!

He turned back and saw the young man with closed eyes and a hazy breathing pulse... and sighed.

’He should be safe while all these ended.’

Returning his gaze toward the countless arachnids filling the forest canopy, he swiped his steel blades against each other.

SHIING! SHIING!

The arachnids began to retreat. The monster below them wasn’t what they had prepared to overwhelm with their numbers.

Unfortunately for them, thinking of retreating at this moment would be a bad decision, not to talk of actually doing it.

"There is only one way..." Kratos repeated and lifted both swords.

[Severance.]

He activated this skill and swung his swords. One descended diagonally, while the other rose in the reverse direction.

Two brilliant white crescents crossed through the forest. As a result—

CRAAAAAAAAACK!

Gigantic trees stretching hundreds of meters into the sky split cleanly apart, following that order in a straight line until they vanished into the distance. Unlucky arachnids in that path were immediately sent to their ancestors in peace. The colossal webs suspended between the trees also snapped apart.

An entire section of forest collapsed simultaneously as the remaining lucky, enormous arachnids riding those webs lost their footing.

Their screeches filled the air as they plummeted helplessly toward the forest floor alongside shattered branches and collapsing trunks, landing on their stomachs.

Dust exploded skyward. The ground shook without end under the weight of these creatures.

In the blink of an eye, the forest was leveled under two swipes of Kratos’ sword.

Then—

[Saint’s Step.]

Kratos’ figure disappeared without a second delay, closing the vast distance between them instantly.