Strong Force

Beep, beep, beep!

Alarms rang in the mall's control room.

Several holographic screens showed several scenes from different floors, but now the biggest screen showed the skeleton-bodied centipede wreaking havoc with its springy skeleton legs.

The door slammed open, and Ron trotted inside with a deep frown.

"What the hell is going on?"

Following him, Muriel also stepped inside the room with a bunch of documents in her hands. There were other handlers also gathered in the room—all like her, female Originals.

"Sir, it seems like there has been Adult Centipede Skeleton hiding who knows how long under the second floor's Dark Town!" One of the people in the room exclaimed.

Ron looked at the large screen with wide eyes. "God Almighty, are there any players nearby?"

"Yes, a player had most likely interrupted the Adult Centipede Skeleton's evolution slumber!"

The screen shifted, showing a black-haired player standing near the centipede with a shield and sword in hand.

Muriel's eyes widened in shock, and she turned back to her notes.

'He went after Baby Centipede Skeleton, but it was actually a mature version...' Her heart started racing. 'H-he is in trouble.'

"Cursed." Ron looked at one of the people who operated the control room. "Message the Council of Mercenaries. I'll have to take action."

"Y-you can't possibly interrupt with the tutorial!" One person argued. "T-this is something that those players have to deal with. Mercenaries have to deal with difficult situations all the time; this is nothing different!"

"It is different when a fully mature Adult Centipede Skeleton can destroy the hierarchy of the dungeon!" Ron shouted angrily. "This doesn't only affect the tutorial. This can affect everyone below floor 20, and who knows how many mercenaries will die if this threat isn't taken care of!"

"Ugh..." The control room workers groaned as they couldn't find words to refute Ron.

"I'll go. The Council of Mercenaries can punish me if they wish so." Ron turned around to leave the control room.

At that moment, a loud shout interrupted him.

"That player is attacking it!"

Ron spun his head around, and his eyes widened in shock.

"What is this fool doing?"

"Ron, you'll have to hurry!" Muriel shouted.

"Argh..." Ron stomped out of the room and leaped down from the third floor straight to the bottom floor.

Crack—as he crashed on the bottom of the mall, the ground cracked and shattered beneath him.

At that moment, silver armor with large shoulder pads, embroidered with the crest of a serpent coiled around a crescent moon, hugged his muscular frame, and on his back, a large shield with the same crest was strapped.

At Ron's hand, a large sword manifested out of nowhere, and he held it with a tight grip.

"..." Ron's face was then covered by a silver serpent helmet, and without further ado, he stepped through the glowing door.

...

"Aaargghh!" Adam held the shield in front of him as the Centipede Skeleton's long legs smashed into him.

With a loud groan, he was sent flying through the air and then crashed back-first through the roof of a nearly-crumbled building.

"Ptui!" He coughed up blood and saw his vision turn dark for a split second.

[-35 HP]

[HP: 15/50]

"Ahahahaha..." Adam laughed weakly and stood up. He then opened his inventory and stuffed his mouth with food, slowly filling his health.

While in the mall, he left most of his cafeteria meals half-eaten as he put the rest in his inventory for backup food in case he ended up in a fight, which was a high possibility.

"Coinfeeders truly are weak..." Adam looked at himself through the broken window shard, as if he were talking to himself. "How weak..."

Crash—at that moment, the Centipede Skeleton's leg pierced through the ground outside the building. It seemed like the Centipede knew that he was inside the building and wanted to finish him off.

'Centipede Skeleton's are blind, but their sense of smell is exceptional.'

Adam stood up and then saw the roof peeling off like faded paint and saw the Centipede Skeleton's hollow-looking eyesockets staring right at him.

[Adam - HP: 30/50]

"Sigh..." Adam tightened the straps around his shield and put it in front of him as protection. "Come on, you ugly fuck..."

At that moment, the Centipede Skeleton's legs shot forward at him like a harpoon and smashed straight into the shield.

As the sparks flew, the impact sent Adam flying backwards while the silver shield shattered into pieces.

He crashed through a wall that was already on the brink of collapse and rolled on the ground for a few meters before coming to a stop near a torn-apart couch.

He then rolled to his side and stood up with wobbly legs.

Then, he removed the straps of his broken shield, let it drop to the ground, and looked towards the Centipede Skeleton with a bloodied gaze.

[Adam - HP: 9/50]

'Dean, I truly respect you.' Adam stood straight, looking straight at the Centipede Skeleton with a weary gaze. 'You stood your ground against a more mature Adult Centipede Skeleton as Coinfeeder, and didn't show any fear.'

'I won't let you down.' Adam vowed inwardly and pointed the shortsword at the skeleton creature in front of him.

The Centipede Skeleton raised one of its hundred legs and thrust it towards Adam like a lightning bolt.

"Raaah!" Adam leaped over the skeleton leg—it missed him just a little bit—and then shouted. "Strong Force!"

Strong Force—it was a skill from his previous life that helped him survive many ordeals and was one of the strongest skills he owned.

However, without the skill scroll and having not learned it, he couldn't use it.

But, at this desperate moment, he still shouted it out for extra motivation.

The Centipede Skeleton, who hadn't been able to see a single thing during its life, now saw a glimpse of something.

It was a faded image of Adam, but a more muscular and mightier version.

Its senses alerted it of something dangerous.

The shortsword shredded through the air and sliced through the Centipede Skeleton's leg.

As half of the leg was cut off, the Centipede Skeleton let out strange humming sounds and recoiled slightly in pain before crashing into one of the buildings.

And then the Centipede Skeleton began to slither across the ground, using its remaining legs to escape the area. It didn't care if there were buildings in the way; it simply went through it all.

Adam crashed on the ground and clutched his chest in pain.

"Why... did it leave?" He asked through a painful grunt. He felt like there was something sharp sticking to his waist.

At that moment, Adam's honed senses could tell him that something was approaching.

He turned to look toward the air and saw a person leaping over the buildings and landing gracefully on the rooftop.

It was a figure donning silver armor with a silver serpent helmet and a large shield on the back.

"Huh..." Ron removed his helmet and watched as the enormous Centipede slither away like a frightened rabbit. "The hell?"

As he turned back to Adam, he saw a skeleton leg, cleanly cut off by a sword, but it was still moving slightly, as if it were also trying to escape.

"Adam, what happened in here?" Ron asked with round eyes, but he had a very clear idea but had a hard time believing it.

"D-doesn't matter..." Adam stood up while holding his waist. "It's getting away. Shouldn't you go after it?"

"Right..." Ron nodded and leaped off the roof, heading in the same direction where the Centipede Skeleton escaped. "We'll discuss this later!"

"What a pain..." Adam shook his head and limped back to the crumbled building, then picked up the broken pieces of his shield.

It's durability was at 0%, and therefore it was unrecoverable.

However, he still put them in his inventory and started heading back to the Safe Area. He didn't expect anyone to defeat the boss today, and he knew he wasn't in any shape to fight.