5 1.5

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Ross did not even pretend he wanted to help us, as he said, "Your friends put up quite the fight, but the power granted to me by the rock has made me triumph. Now, it's your turn."

My heart skipped a beat when I heard he had killed my friends, but sending a glance at my watch, Travis' name was still green, meaning he was probably talking about the second group.

All they got from me was a sliver of thought however as I was more worried about my own situation.

Sticking closer to Becky, I spoke with a quivering voice that betrayed my fear, "We won't be able to run away from him, our only chance is to fight him…"

I was mid sentence when Ross suddenly rushed at me. I hurriedly pulled up my arms, but next thing I knew I felt his fist connect with my side with the force of a truck, knocking the wind out of me as I dropped my arms.

Ross followed with a powerful right hook at the side of my head, and the pain barely registered as I was sent to the ground, my body becoming powerless.

I hardly even remained conscious, my vision flickering and my ears left with an uncomfortable ringing. As I regained some amount of control over my body, I felt something hit my legs, and looking up I saw Becky had fallen, probably smacked to the ground just as I had been.

Ross was now sitting on top of her, his hands grasping her head firmly. Knowing that if I did nothing, she not only would die, but I would soon follow, I propelled myself toward Ross with a roar, as he looked at me with surprise.

Before he could put up his arms to defend himself, I grabbed the back of his skull, and slammed my knee into his face as hard as I could.

I heard a sickening crunch as Ross groaned in pain as he was forced back, while I landed unsteadily because I tried not to step on Becky.

I did not reach out to help her as I held no doubt Ross would simply watch me help her.

The latter let go of his nose, revealing that it was broken, and very bloody. I might have felt sick seeing this much blood, but I couldn't find it in me to feel bad.

Raising my hands in a poor imitation of a boxer's stance that made Ross snort, the older man ran at me, going for a tackle. Knowing I wouldn't dodge it, I went for a knee strike, which connected with his jaw.

Because he was tackling me, the blow was strong enough to make my knee seriously hurt, but Ross had taken even more damage as although he managed to knock me over with his tackle, his body slumped over for a moment from the strike.

I wasn't in the best state myself as my back slammed into the ground, but I recovered faster than Ross did as I got on top of him, locking my legs on his side as I started pummeling him down.

I felt adrenaline surge within me as my pain faded away, but it wasn't enough. Even as I struck him repeatedly, my strength proved not to be enough as he punched me in the liver, sending a jolt of pain through my body that acted like an electrical current, shocking my body to a stop.

Ross clocked me in the face, pushing me off of him as I struggled to breath. Meanwhile, Ross's disfigured face came back into my sight as he kicked me in the side, making me cry in pain, before he straddled me.

As his hands moved around my head, I grew desperate, punching and scratching him, trying to get him off, but he seemed immune to the pain now as I felt the iron-like grip on my head strengthen.

"Fuuuuck!"

But as despair overtook me and I felt like my skull was about to be broken, crying in pain and panic, the grip on my head suddenly disappeared.

Above me, Ross now had a small pair of scissors into his right eye, and the feeling of pain had apparently returned to him as he screamed, his hands shaking around the pair of scissors.

But he was still on top of me, and as I tried to once again punch his eye, he grabbed me by the wrist. His grasp was so strong I knew I had no chance to free myself.

I swung my left arm, and once again hit the scissors, but that wasn't enough. They were too small, and did not reach the brain.

I did not even see Ross move as I felt like a brick had hit my left shoulder. I was once again struck by terrible pain, and I could no longer feel my left arm.

My brain felt like it had turned into mush as I no longer felt much of anything, other than pain and despair.

But my reptilian brain, or my unconscious, or whatever unknown part of me wasn't defeated yet.

Not even registering it myself, I used the last weapon still available to me, and bit into Ross' neck.

The average grip strength of an adult male is around 32 kg, or 72 lbs. For me, because I'm slightly below average, I'm probably around 50 lbs, or 22 kg.

As for the average bite strength of an adult male, it was around 70 kg, or 154 lbs. That's more than double, and with how desperate I am, I'm pretty sure I went beyond that.

The taste of blood overwhelmed my taste buds as I couldn't stop some of it from going down my throat. Not that I really tried, as I bite as hard as I possibly could.

All I could hear was a stringent ringing, and I could feel Ross trying to get me off of him, but his strength was much lesser than before, and it only became weaker by the second.

Then, I jerked my head back, ripping a large part of his neck off. There was his carotid somewhere in there.

Spitting it out with disgust, I looked at Ross, who looked back in shock, holding his throat, unable to stop the blood from pissing out.

A second passed, and he fell over.

[Life Limit broken! Rewarded 500 Points, Immunization increased by 20 points, Cell Vitality increased by 30 points!]

[Protection target killed! You have lost 1000 points!]

Pushing Ross' corpse off of me, I sat there, feeling lost.

I had been bored of my life, because nothing exciting ever happened to me. But… but I never wanted any of this shit!

Unable to hold myself, I started sobbing, my mouth still full of blood. Ross' blood.

I didn't like to cry, especially not in front of other people, but as I felt Becky's hand on my back, I felt comfort, instead of shame.

I continued crying for a good couple of minutes, before eventually calming down.

Trying to wipe some of the blood off of my mouth, I muttered, "Thank you for saving me."

Becky leaned her head against my back, chuckling dryly, "Thank you… and sorry you had to do that."

Shaking my head, I struggled back to my feet, struggled because my body hurt and my left arm was unresponsive. Probably broken.

One good thing I guess is that I did not fall into the negative with my points, so I wouldn't be erased by the end of this mission…

Helping Becky to get up too, it took a lot out of me to let go of her hand. It wasn't anything sexual, I just… fuck.

Holding the tears in, I met Becky's gaze, which was understanding. Or was it simply me who wanted it to be so?

At this point I don't care.

Looking around, I said, "Come on, we need to move."

But as I looked down at my watch, I was stupefied when I realized that all the names had turned red, except for Becky's.