Basement

Kairos' eyebrow twitched.

Currently, his body was letting out strong waves of heat. However, it was a little comforting because of the coldness in the freezer.

Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.

"...Rank limitations, huh?"

He originally thought that spending all these points wouldn't be a big issue. That he could just increase his strength whenever he felt like it. However, it turns out that his rank wasn't enough.

Increasing his rank would mean that he would longer get extra points from challenge kills. However, it would obviously increase his strength.

Though the only problem was that Kairos did not know how to increase his rank.

...Well, actually he was pretty sure it was related to the red sun. After all, the monsters that had been exposed to the red sun were considered a rank higher than him. However, Kairos really didn't want anything to do with that.

There had to be some other way, right?

Kairos shook his head, then figured he might as well increase his willpower while he was here.

[Willpower 2.3 -> 4.0 | Points 16.2 -> 14.5]

He felt a strong heat emanate from his mind before gradually disappearing. Once the place was beginning to feel a little cold, Kairos left. Pretty much immediately, he began tearing open the various packages within the store and began eating whatever.

So long as it didn't require any preparation to be edible, Kairos would just eat it.

After a while, packaging littered the floor below him, but there was no longer the feeling of gnawing hunger. Kairos looked over to his old wound, the gash he received from the monster before.

It had essentially healed completely, only leaving a thin red line where it once was. He remembered it was still relatively bad before this. Kairos thought about it and realized that increasing his endurance could be a pseudo way of healing.

It definitely wasn't the best option, but it could come in handy during emergency situations.

Eventually, Chase walked over, then looked at all the wrappings scattered across the floor.

"You really uh, let yourself go."

Kairos sighed.

"A little bit, I guess."

Chase narrowed his eyes slightly.

"It seems you evolved and got a little hungry. Almost like you've kept a lot of points on you before."

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"I just haven't eaten for a long time. That was part of the reason I insisted on going here. Because I was just really hungry."

Chase did not speak for a moment.

"Alright."

He turned around.

"Anyways, I have also eaten a little bit and it seems the others have packed up a bit. It seems you all have no plans of staying here."

Kairos sighed.

"You saw what happened to the last person that tried to hold down the grocery store."

Chase laughed.

"Yeah, we were the ones that did it after all."

He sighed.

"I suppose that's part of why you ate so much. It's a pity to leave so much behind."

Kairos shrugged his shoulders.

"Let's go then. We still have to deal with the crazy woman."

Chase laughed.

"Perhaps she has cooled down by now."

The two regrouped with Harold and Sydney before making it outside once more. There was quite a commotion outside.

"Hey, stop moving so much!"

"You let go of me!"

Tori was still holding onto Nicole with a metal pipe in one hand. However, it definitely wasn't easy to do so because of Nicole's intense struggle.

The two of them were stumbling back and forth, almost like they were doing some strange kind of dance. Some might call it abstract.

Kairos blinked a few times.

"Um, are you guys ok?"

Nicole reached out towards the group.

"Help me! This crazy lady is holding onto me!"

Tori was sweating slightly as she tried to hold on to Nicole.

"Stop moving around so much! It's called being a hostage, alright? If you don't comply I will hit you with this pipe!"

Nicole did not even try to be more passive after she heard that. In fact, she began struggling even harder.

"I don't want to be a hostage!"

She looked towards the others.

"Don't worry about me! Just take care of this crazy lady!"

Tori seemed to be on the verge of crying.

"We can do this peacefully, alright? Peacefully!"

Nicole screamed.

"I refuse!"

Kairos turned to Chase.

"So..."

Chase turned back.

"I guess we just have to try and negotiate?"

Harold and Sydney both had frowns on their faces, not liking how their daughter was being treated. However, they also didn't say anything because they were afraid that Tori might do something.

Though to Kairos and Chase, they doubted she would do anything because she seemed to be banking it all on Nicole as a hostage.

Chase let out a soft sigh.

"Pretty flower, you must realize you can't hold onto her forever."

Tori grit her teeth.

"I... I can join your team!"

Nicole seemed flabbergasted.

"No! There's no way we are taking you!"

Tori seemed a little distraught.

"But..."

Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You really couldn't think of any other terms while we were gone? How about this, we will stand very far away from you, but you let go of Nicole while within our sight. Then, you can go free without any repercussions."

Tori's lip twitched.

"...Then can I have my katana back?"

Kairos blinked a few times.

"You still have to be reasonable, alright?"

Tori frowned.

"I need the katana!"

Chase chuckled.

"And why do you wish for the katana so badly?"

Tori did not speak for a few seconds like she was struggling internally.

"...I just want it, ok?"

Kairos raised an eyebrow.

"Can you not survive without it?"

Tori clicked her tongue.

"I can live without it, but it just means a lot to me! I didn't realize how much I missed it until you took it away from me."

Kairos' eyebrow twitched.

"Hasn't it only been a few minutes?"

Tori's eyes were slightly bloodshot.

"They were a long few minutes to me!"

Kairos took a deep breath.

He was pretty sure Tori wasn't lying, and if she was, then she was a good liar. But at that point, it was better to not drop the katana in the first place and say that she needed it to survive for some reason.

Kairos let out a soft sigh.

"Then how about we leave your katana far away from you, while we stand at the opposite end. And from there, you let Nicole go."

Tori's mouth opened and closed.

"So... no teaming up?"

Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It seems pretty much everyone here doesn't want to be on the same team as you."

Tori looked down and paused. Then, she suddenly perked up again.

"I... I know where something special is."

Kairos blinked a few times.

"Something... special?"

Tori nodded.

"I don't know exactly what it is, but it appears valuable and guarded well. It was actually the place I was planning on going to later, but never had the chance to."

Chase narrowed his eyes.

"So you want us to take a gamble on it being valuable in exchange for accepting you as a teammate."

Tori grit her teeth.

"It's not a gamble! The damn thing is definitely valuable, but I just don't know for what."

Kairos sighed.

"So... you will lead us to it in exchange for teaming up? Why do you even want to team up so badly?"

Tori swallowed.

"There... There are some really powerful people."

Kairos furrowed his brows.

"What do you mean?"

Even Nicole ended up settling down, wanting to hear this.

Tori took a few shaky deep breaths in.

"I saw... something tossing cars around."

Kairos' eyes widened considerably.

Although he believed that he was quite strong right now, he was definitely nowhere near strong enough to lift a car.

Chase sucked in a cold breath.

"...That sounds dangerous."

Kairos turned to look at Harold and Sydney, who also seemed to be quite scared. He then turned back to Tori.

"I guess that is a good reason to team up. Especially if there is an enemy that is stronger by so much."

Tori took a deep breath.

"So you agree?"

Kairos looked at the others. Most of them had slightly displeased expressions but seemed to think it was better to team up.

He sighed.

"Sure, why not?"

Tori slowly let go of Nicole, who scampered away once she had the chance. Tori then coughed.

"Can I have my katana back?"

Kairos thought about it for a moment. Then nodded. With his recent stat increase, he was confident in being able to take her out even if she did, thus gave back the katana.

Tori hastily accepted it and began stroking it like it was her child.

Kairos coughed.

"Anyways, get your supplies and then lead us to that place. Time will not wait for us."

Tori nodded.

"Ah, alright."

She ran into the grocery store and as she passed by, Kairos snuck a look at her bloody wrists.

They looked like they had healed already.

As Tori and Nicole were getting a few things in the grocery store, Sydney began talking to the mother and her children.

"Do you want to join us? I'm sure it will be easier if we are all together."

The woman seemed rather hesitant.

Overhearing this, Kairos walked over. He did not want to take the woman.

"Of course, if you don't want to, you can also just stay in the grocery store. There should be plenty of food left over after we leave."

The mother flinched and looked over to Sydney and Harold.

"Um... is it possible for me to join only you two?"

Harold furrowed his brows.

"Uh, sorry, but no. I am not abandoning my daughter."

The woman nodded hastily.

"Ah, I see, I see."

She looked towards her children.

"Then... I will just stay here at the store then."

Sydney opened her mouth, but eventually closed it. She seemed to realize what would happen if the mother was left alone at the place, but decided not to say anything about it.

The rest of the group got ready. And as such, with Tori leading the way, they left.

As they walked past the side of the grocery store, they came across nearly twenty monsters all lying against the wall like soldiers in wait. The moment the group appeared, they all scampered away, running to behind another wall.

Chase raised an eyebrow.

"They are acting just like vermin."

Kairos furrowed his brows.

"Those monsters were waiting for us. They knew we were fighting with each other and wanted to take advantage of the victor after they were weak and tired."

Nicole's eyes widened.

"What? They can't be that smart, right?"

Tori let out a soft gasp.

"That is what they were doing?..."

Kairos shook his head.

"Whatever. Let's just go to the place."

Tori nodded.

"O-Ok."

She led the group to a series of houses. Just some random place within the neighborhood that didn't seem special.

Tori looked back and forth between the various houses.

"Um... Not this one. Er... Not this one either.

Eventually, she came across a house with the front door bashed in, now laying on the ground.

"Ah, it's here!"

Kairos furrowed his brows, clearly distrusting this woman.

"And what exactly is so special about this place?"

Tori pointed at the house.

"The basement... leads to an underground cave. There was this strange red thing when I was last there, but I was too afraid to fight the monsters guarding it at the time."

Kairos let out a soft hum.

"Alright. Lead the way."

Tori nodded. She went into the house and led the group into the house and straight towards the door to the basement.

After opening the door, Tori gasped.

"...It's a little redder than I remembered."