29 Prey or Predator? I

Felix was deep in thought as he sat with his back against the door of the room they were hiding in.

'I cannot fight them head-on, my only choice is to sneak behind them with 'Earth Swimming' and 'Silent Steps' and defeat them in a single strike.'

He considered his advantages and weakness, then narrowed it down to the fighting skills that could be of use to him at the moment.

'Something like one punch kill, but I have a knife with me so that eliminates any hand-to-hand combat skills also taking into account my bony and weak right hand...'

There were not many skills he could think of using a knife that deals on one strike. But he still imagined and replayed all his knowledge and finally decided on a skill that could be used pretty usefully.

'System, create this skill...'

[Processing the skill's power scale....grading the skill....estimating the possible points required.....skill successfully moduled.]

[Ding!]

[Skill Name: Ratio Technique

Description:

The user can divide his target with ten lines and forcibly create a weak spot at the ratio point of seven to three. Striking at the weak spot generated, it can cause massive damage. This skill can be used on living as well as non-living objects.

Cost: 60 skill points]

[Does the host wish to use 60 skill points and create the skill 'Ratio Technique'?]

Felix frowned when he saw that it was asking for 60 skill points to create the skill. Then he remembered how useful this skill was as it could be helpful for him even in the long run and thus agreed with creating it.

'That guy Nan*mi could defeat enemies much stronger than him using this skill and it also doesn't require much strength. So it's perfect for me right now.'

Taking a deep breath, he thought of many other scenarios the skill could help him and commanded in his mind.

'Create this skill.'

[Ding!]

[Successfully created a new skill.]

Felix opened his eyes and looked at Noah who was blankly looking at the ceiling, and then activated his new skill.

In his vision, there were suddenly grid lines of ten divisions on several parts of Noah's body. It was on his arms, legs, biceps, torso, and many other parts that he focused on.

One of the lines from among the ten divisions glowed red which showed the weakest point of that part.

'So, that's how this skill works...It looks the same as in the anime and is pretty helpful for making a single strike attack.'

He nodded and slowly stood up alerting the kids.

"Everyone, stay hidden and don't move from here. I'll go out and check if they have gone or still looking for us."

The kids widened their eyes in surprise and tried forbidding him to do that, but before they could voice out their concerns, he opened the door and closed it tightly.

"Sorry guys, but I'll have to do this."

He locked the door as he heard a few bangs from inside the room but ignored it. Taking out the knife from behind his back, he walked to the stairs.

'Let's do it.'

Clenching his fists, Felix activated his skill 'Silent Steps' and sneakily moved downstairs. There seems to be no one on the third floor yet so he quickly ran toward the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Hehe, you kids are pretty fast, already hiding on the second floor huh?"

Hearing the raspy voice coming from the second floor, he hid near the stairs and slowly peeked out from the third floor.

He could see a lanky man wearing black robes moving about the rooms searching for them.

'There seems to be only one of them on the second floor, I better hurry up and defeat him before the others come.'

'System, what rank is he?'

[The human ahead is of Rank 1.]

Hearing that the man was of Rank 1, Felix took a deep breath and rid himself of all confusing thoughts.

He was again taking a life of a human. Last time, it was the pervert guy who wanted to take his cherry and now it was someone who was after him and his friends.

He was not allowed to make any mistakes as that would cost him the lives of the six of them. Considering the intruders were from the enemy guild, their fate would be anywhere near good.

'Focus..., it will be a single strike at the weak point without alerting the others.'

Peeking out from the stair, he saw that the man was entering a different room. Making sure his skill was activated, Felix hurriedly moved out and sneaked near the room standing at its door.

The lanky man seemed to be checking around the room opening the cabinets and barrels with his back toward the door.

It was the perfect chance for him to attack so he did not waste any time more and gripped his knife hard.

Activating his new skill 'Ratio Techniques', grid lines appeared on the intruder as a red line stood out at its neck.

Felix took quick steps and ran inside the room without alerting his target.

The moment he got behind him, he focused on the red point and stabbed the place with everything he got.

"Squelch~"

The knife plunged into the man's neck with a sickening squelch, accompanied by a sharp, tearing sound of bones.

After stabbing him, Felix took a few steps back as the lanky guy slowly turned around with a knife stuck in his neck. He tried to voice out something from his mouth but failed to do so.

"Aaa...uue...yuu"

Suddenly his eyes turned upwards and the man fell on his knees before laying on the floor unconscious.

Felix pressed his hands on his mouth and held back something that was threatening to come out of his throat.

It was the second time he took a life, and considering that the first time was something he did to keep his innocence and this time his life, he calmed down.

'It's okay...I'm being forced to do this. I don't have any other choice.'

He relaxed and tried giving himself a reason for killing the man but his crazy red eyes told a different story.

Slowly approaching the corpse of the lanky man, Felix gripped the knife and took it out as a fleshy sound came from his actions.

He cleaned the blood of the knife on the man's clothes and came near the door to check outside.

Fortunately, no one came upstairs so he had time to plan for taking out the remaining intruders.

Felix left the body and closed the door of the room before again sneaking toward the stairs that led to the third floor and hiding there.

'Time for the others to come upstairs.'

He smiled like a devil thinking it was him that was playing hide and seek with them going as far as taking their lives without a second thought.

The silver-haired boy waited on the stairs for his next prey to come without realizing that a pair of otherworldly eyes were staring at him with growing interest.