Chapter 43: The Ripper’s Identity

The Ripper.

Sobek had only heard rumors about that title circulating through the black market. It belonged to a faceless killer that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and begun dominating the competition.

There were stories of entire groups of armed men being found dead without a single survivor able to describe their attacker, wealthy clients being murdered inside supposedly secure residences, and the mutilation of the worst criminals who’ve made the black market their hiding den.

There were no confirmed photographs, nor any reliable description. So no one could agree on what the killer actually looked like. Some superstitious idiots even believed the title belonged to something that wasn’t human at all.

The stories became so exaggerated that the Ripper eventually began to feel more like an urban legend than an actual person.

For a long time, Sobek had actually admired the figure behind the name. But now that he knew the supposed legend was this crazy woman standing before him, he felt something like disappointment.

He had assumed the name belonged to someone operating on an entirely different level of the black market, and judging by what he had witnessed, that part had been correct. It was only the personality attached to the legend that had turned out to be completely different from what he imagined.

Then again, admiration was the last thing he should have been feeling.

Sobek swallowed, a cold sweat trickling down his back while his eyes remained fixed on the woman.

’I’m going to die here, aren’t I?’

The brief exchange they had just shared was enough to make the difference between them painfully obvious. Whatever Ripley was, she was far beyond him.

The gap between them was so enormous, the realization of it sent a shiver down his spine. He looked at the corpses scattered throughout the corridor and suddenly imagined himself among them, another nameless body left behind by a madwoman’s game.

Why was someone like this here?

He felt panic rising in his chest and immediately forced himself to breathe. Panicking right now would accomplish nothing except making his death come faster. He needed an opening, and if he couldn’t overpower her, then he needed to create enough distance to run.

The problem was that she kept disappearing from his sight. At first, he had assumed it was teleportation, but the more he thought about it, the less sense that made.

If Ripley could actually teleport, there would have been no reason for her to dodge his attacks the way she did. There was also the slight movement he occasionally caught just before she vanished, a distortion in his perception that suggested she wasn’t disappearing at all.

She was simply moving too quickly for his eyes.

That was somehow way worse than just teleportation.

Sobek clenched his teeth as he tightened his grip on the handle of his weapon, then lunged. Wasting time overthinking about such things won’t help him in the slightest. He needed to act!

The whip exploded forward with a sharp crack, its length cutting through the corridor toward Ripley’s position before she could reach whatever was in that bag.

This method of attack was the one thing Sobek could rely on.

His Patron Spirit was a Nile crocodile, a Beast renowned for its crushing strength and ability to tear through flesh with ease. He had spent more than 10 years developing his own technique with the weapon, learning exactly how much force to put behind every swing, how to manipulate its trajectory and how to make its movements difficult to anticipate.

It became an extension of his own arm used to punish unruly slaves and kill anyone who looked at him the wrong way. A normal opponent would have been shredded by the first, second or third attack.

However, this woman wasn’t normal.

Like before, she had disappeared from sight. Sobek quickly employed a new strategy to deal with this. He had already accepted that he couldn’t keep up with her, so instead of trying to follow her movements, he was going to anticipate where she would appear.

His heart sank... no matter how much he tried, he was wrong every time!

That was until he noticed a silhouette in front of him. It was Ripley, but what he saw made his eyes pop out.

She was kneeling in a bizarre posture. Her body was bent forward at an absurd angle, her pale eyes staring directly into his and her mouth was hanging open with her tongue extended as though she was waiting for something to be placed inside.

"Come on, whip it out already"

"Ehh?!"

Sobek tried to retreat to his rear, but he was too late. Ripley suddenly sprang upward, her movement was so fast that he barely registered it before a handgun was pointed directly at his face.

Her eyes were devoid of warmth as they stared into Sobek’s, which shrank in fear. His body tensed, his mind screaming at him to move quickly!

But the barrel was too close to his face. There was no time to dodge!

"I don’t like being teased"

She said coldly and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Something exploded from the barrel. What Sobek expected to be a merciless bullet about to blow his brains out, it was instead colorful pieces of paper scattered across his face.

When he opened his eyes he saw.... Confetti?

Sobek stood there in stunned silence, looking over the pieces of paper clinging to his hair and clothes. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who was surprised. The woman was equally stunned too.

She stared at him, then at the handgun. She inspected it for a second before her scarred lips curved into a nervous smile.

"Oopsie, I pulled out the wrong one. That’s embarrassing"

Seeing Sobek’s shocked face, she suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter while pointing at him.

"Pft hahahaha! Look at your face! You look like you wet yourself!"

Sobek’s face turned red with fury as his whip snapped forward to attack her again.

"I will not be mocked by some crazy bitch!"

In the face of Nile Crocodile Sobek’s furious whip attacks, Jack Ripley effortlessly avoided each strike with ease while skipping back. She continued to laugh at him.

"Oh, don’t be like that, man. You gotta admit that was pretty funny. But never mind that. I can see you’re much more interested in something else."

She twisted sideways, letting the weapon pass harmlessly beside her body.

"If you want to tie me up and let out your kinks that badly, you can ask me politely. I promise to help. I’m very kind, you know"

"Shut up!"