Chapter - 17 - Devil's Trap [4]

"Haa... huuu..."

Joshua was breathing heavily in the middle of a circle made by the people laying on the floor. They were in a triangle shaped open area in between buildings. His whole body was covered in blood and scars from the fight he just went through. Wiping the blood on his face with the back of his hand, he walked away as he made sure he didn't accidentally step on the bodies. Unlike the first time when seven people attacked him, he didn't use [Resilient Mind] to avoid killing people again, making the fight even harder.

Regardless of the fact that he was always a target for mistreatment, he never in his life did something like that against another human. He didn't think much of it when killing Midnight -he was the one who extracted its heart even though it seems like the system counted it as someone else-. After all, the only thing he could think at the moment was getting out of the march. Forget being inside, whenever he was near that building, he felt like he was drowning as breathing became harder.

That's why, he didn't feel anything amiss even after killing a living being other than the disgusting feeling when he cut through its flesh.

But now that he did the same action to a being without having any excuse, he wanted to postpone this 'killing' action as much as possible. He knew it was very irresponsible of him to fall back after all he has done but what else could he do? He had no choice when it came to beasts and monsters but at the very least, he didn't want to kill a human yet.

So, during the fight against the six, he tried his best to focus on the attack pattern of the enemies and controlled his needles accordingly. Unlike the last time when he only had his survival in his mind, he directed his needles more proficiently. He made sure the needles pierced their limbs and immobilized them.

Once Joshua got near the slate buildings nearby, he checked his phone again, only to see three other messages from 'Kaitlynn'. Closing his eyes, Joshua took a very deep breath to calm himself.

When he checked the chat room, he noticed that they were the exact same messages 'she' sent before. Not wanting to repeat the same process again, Joshua closed the chat room and opened the map to find some kind of transportation nearby.

While he was walking as the navigation guided him, he felt a gaze stinging on his back as he turned immediately. Normally, he would've wasted some time pinpointing the exact location of the other party but after fighting against people -who were only legal adults-, his body could keep up with him to some extent now.

"Reveal yourselves."

His words came out arrogantly but with how mentally exhausted he was, Joshua wanted to get this over with as quick as possible. Thankfully, the other party also seemed to be wanting to finish this as quickly as possible as five people- no, children, came out of the shadows surrounding the alley. Looking at them, Joshua cursed his luck once more. His opponents were assassins, the trickiest to deal with at night-time.

--𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘩

Before he noticed, one of the girls waved her dagger at him.

[*]

"Huup..."

Letting out a low sigh, Joshua supported himself by the wall.

Even after ignoring the messages Kaitlynn sent, people kept on attacking him whenever he tried to leave the alley he was called to. After repeating the same process over and over again, Joshua noticed a few clues that might help him solve this puzzle.

First of all, the number of storeys a building had and people that attacked him decreased by one every fight.

Second of all, his opponents got younger. For example, in the first fight when he went against a group of people in his early twenties, the three people that came last time were around his age.

Third of all, even though people like the old man and the kid in the balcony from the first fight would react when they got near them, no one would come and take a look at the commotion at all.

Last of all, the moment he went to the location sent to him or ignored it, the other party would attack, meaning that Kaitlynn definitely had some kind of connection to this occurrence.

Leaning on the wall, Joshua tried to leave the alley. If his guess was correct, then the fight that was waiting for him should be the last one. The reason he thought so was because Kaitlynn stated she and her 'grandmother' lived together.

'It sounds stupid when I think about it like this but still...'

Obviously, there wasn't any clue to confirm his guess. He could be completely wrong.

Dragging his body that was barely standing, Joshua checked the chat room again. He was exhausted to the point that he could hardly see the screen in front of him. He squinted his eyes and looked at the new messages from Kaitlynn that were under various locations he ignored.

[Kaitlynn: You did a better job than I thought you would!]

[Kaitlynn: Alright, shall we meet for real now?]

Joshua waited for a while for her to send a location as he gazed at the three people around him. A bulky young man with a baby face, who was the tank that blocked most of Joshua's attacks, had his head buried in the wall.

Joshua tried attacking him with his needles which he could control as one of his limbs' now but the guy's skin was too thick for the needles to injure. It didn't change even after Joshua coated them with his mana. In the end, he covered his hand with fire magic and threw a punch with all the strength he could muster, leaving him in that state.

Joshua turned his face from the guy and looked at the girl and boy duo on the floor. Their faces were nearly identical with their long beige hair. Unlike the bulky guy who was nothing more than a meat shield with low agility, these two were really talented. If it was left to Joshua, he wanted to recruit them at all costs without a care about the fact they were the one who attacked him.

The two were both swordsmen. The girl used a rapier as she evaded his attacks and hopped around like a really athletic rabbit. Unlike her, the boy used a greatsword which was too heavy for his small body to carry. His foot-work made up for it but it was quite apparent that he needed to change his weapon. Even Joshua, who had no idea about swords and stuff -he didn't learn the manuals yet, after all- could tell that.

When Joshua turned his face back to the phone in his hands, he felt his vision darken.

'Heck.. I pushed myself too much...'

Joshua tried to bite his bloodful mouth but even that couldn't save him now. He was just about to give himself to sleep's arms when he felt something touch his face. Before he could turn properly, a sack covered his vision fully as the ropes tightened around his neck. With no strength to fight back, Joshua fainted as the person behind supported his body.

Seeing Joshua motionless, the person took out a yellow orb from his pocket. The person activated injected his mana into the orb as it dissolved slowly. Once a yellow gas-like liquid was formed out of thin air, the person walked into it with Joshua hanging on his(?) shoulder like a potato sack.

While passing through the [Artificial Portal], one could feel a weird substance came in contact with their body before disappearing fully. Replacing it was a cold feeling that would make one feel like their stomach was churning.