The Employee

Caltrus poofed into a cloud of purple mist, quickly filling the room, and giving the place a purplish hue.

The sound of several footsteps marching in echoed throughout the room shortly after.

"Ignite!" Edric shouted, activating the 『Employee Card』. With that, a small section of the smoke around him went up in magenta flames, before quickly growing at a dangerous rate. 

For a moment, it seemed like a wildfire would erupt.

Several bolts of blue energy zipped through the air an instant later. Edric ducked to the floor, dodging most of them by mere inches. However one of them hit their mark, grazing his left shoulder.

It felt like acid poison had seared a hole right through him. Which was odd, as the energy did nothing but leave a small scratch on his scales.

A second barrage of blue energy bolts came shortly after.

He tried his best to stand, however, the pain from his ankle and shoulder were like shackles, making his movements sluggish.

Just when it seemed he would receive the brunt of the damage, a rough gangster-like voice spoke out to him.

"Is there anything I can do for you boss?"

He looked up and found a well-dressed muscular creature looking down at him. It seemed they were the same species, however, where he had magenta scales, this creature's were dull brown.

"That suit..." Edric whispered in awe, for a moment forgetting the energy bolts that were still being fired at him. The creature was acting like a shield, soaking up the damage without so much as a wince of pain.

However, Edric couldn't care less about all that right now. He was more engrossed in the four-button French suit that the creature was wearing. It wasn't anything high quality like the ones he once owned, however it was clearly a remnant from Earth.

"Boss?" the creature asked.

At this point, the firing had stopped, and the hooded figures stared at Edric and his employee in utter confusion.

"You're... the employee?" Edric uttered in disbelief after a moment.

~I'm able to summon something this powerful?~ he thought to himself in growing excitement.

This was true power, a brief taste of what he would be able to achieve once he was a demi-god. Any regrets he once had about being reincarnated were now gone. Money alone would never be able to buy him this ability.

"Kill them all," he ordered with a smile.

He realized that by ordering this creature to kill his pursuers he was going to ruin the clean hero image he had cultivated with Afina. However, he was way past that.

The creature nodded its head at his command, and stood up straight, its 3-meter gargantuan frame dwarfing everything around it.

For a moment, it gave a serious expression, and flexed its muscles, so much so that it seemed like its suit would rip at the seams.

"Boss, as CEO you should be aware that orders that fall out of my job description are unethical and unreasonable," the creature replied, whilst flexing its right arm as if it were a bodybuilder.

~What exactly is going on here?~ Edric thought to himself. His excitement dying down for a moment. He was beginning to think that this creature was defective in some way, or perhaps had a syndrome of the... lower position.

~That's possible right?~ he thought to himself.

"Kill it!" one of the cloaked figures shouted, apparently having recovered from their initial shock. At this point, the purple mist had completely dispersed.

Two of the cloaked figures broke out from the main group and rushed towards the employee from the sides. They moved in a very odd manner, almost as if they were dancing as they ran.

"Dance of the thief!" the cloaked figures shouted in unison, right as they were about to reach the employee.

With that, they turned to black smoke and disappeared from view.

~More magic?~ Edric thought to himself, before slowly getting to his feet. The other cloaked figures just stared in silence, it seemed that they were out of 'bullets'.

Edric felt a small gust of wind coming from the back of his neck, and he instinctively moved his hand to feel it.

An instant later, a knife clashed with the back of his hand, causing little but an itch.

"It's another monster!" his attacker shouted from behind him. But before he could turn to see them, they vanished.

~Hmm, so they can't injure me without those crossbows,~ Edric thought to himself, before pulling out one of the reaper scythes tied to his back. It seemed several of them had fallen during his escape attempt earlier, however there were still a few left.

~With me and Mr down syndrome bodybuilder over there, we should be able to take them,~ he thought to himself. Now confident that they were no special threat without their crossbows.

He felt another gust of wind approaching, this time from the front. He clenched his reaper scythe a little tighter, ready to reap the life of whichever cloaked figure made the mistake of attacking him.

However, he quickly realized that the attack wasn't aimed at him.

"Watch ou-" he was about to shout. 

But it was too late. Both cloaked figures had their daggers dug into the employee's neck. 

"Boss, these conditions are unsafe for a builder," the employee remarked blankly, before flexing its triceb. The cloaked figures visibly strained to push the daggers deeper into the employee's neck. However, it was clear that its scales were just as strong as Edric's.

"Sadly, I will have to report these conditions to the conglomerate system," the employee added, before lifting one of the cloaked figures into the air by the neck.

"Until next time boss."

The employee gave a little smirk before unleashing a succession of four lightning-quick punches into the cloaked figure's gut.

The sound of bone snapping echoed through the room, and the figure fell to the ground limp and lifeless.

With a bow, the employee turned to smoke.

『10 System Currency have been deducted to compensate affected employees for psychological damages.』

"That little shit," Edric complained, as the smoke floated away.