Chapter 15: This Is Just The Beginning

"By the way, other than this [Gu Master]. Is there anyone else that I may need to take notice of?" Venture asks Gat since just this [Gu Master] alone will make things difficult for Venture already with him having to be very wary of anything popping out of nowhere from spots he least expect.

"Not really, since out of the [Gu Master]. The others are [Normal Skill] holders, but don't lower your guards around them. Since some of them have powerful [Titles]." Gat spoke her thoughts, of course, to her. These people won't be much a challenge for her, but for others like Venture. It might, so she did her best to warn this new addition to her faction. Gat can't have a newcomer join and end up dead not even a month in yet.

"Okay, then. Should I go down to help Cope again or stay here?" Venture roughly got an idea of what he should do now.

"Normally, I would say you should go down to help Cope out, but I think she will be fine. But, now that I found out the [Gu Master] is involved." Gat frown at the thought of facing a fellow [Unique Skill] holder and how much trouble it will become when two [Unique Skill] holders face each other. "You'll stay here along with Edify, to help Bout protect the child."

"Alright." Venture thinks about it for a moment before handing Gat the remote control to his traps he set up on the third floor. Then begin explaining where and what traps he set down.

"Sweet!" Gat grin that she got something to help out with this current wave of enemies from the [Poison Fang Faction]. "Thanks, Venture. Cope should make good use of this. Time for me to go, good luck, and stay alive~!" Gat head to the ground floor first to hand the remote control to Cope before heading to the roof afterward.

"Well..." Venture didn't know what to do now, that Gat left. "Now, what?" Venture looks at Edify and Bout for guidance. But something caught his attention. Without even thinking about it for even a second. Venture flicks his right wrist, hurling a throwing knife right at Bout, who was shocked by this and wasn't expecting such a thing and was about to defend himself.

Yet, Bout noticed the throwing knife wasn't actually aiming to hit him and allow the throwing knife to continue flying towards him. Bout wasn't disappointed, to see the throwing knife miss him by a couple of inches, close to almost touching his skin and with the sound of the throwing knife stabbed directly into the wall behind him.

Edify and Bout looks at the wall, where Venture's throwing knife is stuck on the wall, but neither of them pays attention to the knife itself, but what is being stabbed by the knife. As to what it is; well, both Edify and Bout can see a purple centipede from a distance, no matter how small it is. But, for them. It's clear as a day and big enough to see.

The centipede is madly twitching, trying its best to struggle to escape being pinned into the wall by the throwing knife. Spilling some purple fluids on the wall and onto the ground. Where everyone can hear the soft sound of something hissing coming from the wall itself and the ground. Not even a few seconds later, the throwing knife falls from the wall, where everyone can see the tip been melted and the purple centipede itself falls to the ground as well and began to crawl towards the child if it wasn't shot dead by Venture.

"Well, I guess this is why the leader made me stay here to help you guys out." Venture said with a hint of wariness, because he did not expect the [Gu Master] to strike early on and it looks like maybe Venture has to be the one to detect the area for poisonous creatures. Because it seems like neither Edify or Bout are specialized in detecting or their detection range is shorter than Venture's.

"Yeah..." Bout pales a little, once again, finding himself hating how with all the training he put himself through. Bout still couldn't detect something dangerous, even when it's in small size. Then again, Bout has many other things to deal with.

"Hey, Venture." Edify suddenly realized that she nor Bout would do much against the [Gu Master] if they can't detect these poisonous creatures from attacking them out their range of detection. It is worse for Edify as she may not have enough materials to make antidotes against the [Gu Master]'s poisons. "You may want to keep your guns out, because there might be more poisonous creatures heading in our way. Make sure to protect the child and me at all costs. Don't worry about Bout. He will be immune to the poison." Edify calculates the pros and cons right away and knew what to do next before it's too late.

Bout nod in agreement with Edify, but of course, he wanted to say, that even if he is technically immune to poison as long he uses his [Skill]; however, that doesn't mean he is 100% immune since there are certain types of potent poisons, where it could outright kill him if not treated soon. Not to mention, that Bout requires to have his [Skill] activated to have that 100% immunity.

Venture's instinct alone saves himself from getting poisoned as he rolls forward, where a bunch of insects falls from the ceiling. But, he made sure to leave a present behind for the insects. It's a grenade, with the pin already pulled.

Bout saw this, grab the child and jump behind the only intact couch in the area, with Venture the one bringing Edify to safety right next to Bout and the child behind the couch. As the grenade went off and exploded, killing all the insects that aimed to attack Venture from above but failed.

"And suddenly, I find myself wondering if I'm even enough to help you guys out." Venture thought out loud, but secretly checking if his [Unique Skill: Solitary of Silent] is activated or not, and seeing how he is able to speak. This means no. It isn't active at the moment.

"Just do the best you can and limit yourself by taking care of the bigger threats. Leave the one that easiest for Bout to take care of." Edify advice Venture while pulling the child closer to her, allowing to risk her own body to protect the child.

"Got it." Venture pulls out a second handgun, then frowns as he felt something concerning. Going with his reliable gut feeling belongs to his [Unique Skill: Solitary of Silent] and toss Edify one of his handguns before jumping over the couch and ran towards the door while unloading all the bullets from his handgun until it's empty. Leading to Venture did a quick reload that just took two seconds before the handgun is fully loaded again, but was emptied right after just being reloaded.

As to why Venture shooting at the door. He felt a dangerous presence coming from it and Venture should really be moving away from it instead of heading towards it. If it wasn't for this gut feeling Venture is having, that if he doesn't. Then, things will get even harder for Venture to survive this whole thing.g

Still sensing a dangerous presence, even after firing two fully loaded bullets at whoever is behind the door. Venture grit his teeth, then reload once more, but this time. He's going to use his [Unique Skill: Everything Is A Gamble] together with the [Solitary of Silent].

Instant Kill: Able to kill whatever is behind the door on the sixth floor with a single bullet the moment it makes contact with the target.

Survival Battle: Upon missing hitting the target behind the door on the sixth floor with a single bullet would lead to bullets being less effective and better to use something else to fight with.

Condition: A hit or miss. Hit: Instant Kill | Miss: Survival Battle.

As for the price of using this gamble. Venture picked the last bullet in the handgun he is currently using.

Venture fired, then the dangerous presence behind the door disappeared instantly, much to Venture's relief at this.

However, this didn't cause Venture to lower his guard. But, he did take caution before opening the door to check whatever or whoever was behind the door. By doing another gamble to check if there any other danger behind the door or not.

More Enemy: Opening the door will lead to finding more enemies after killing one, but enough bullets to kill all of them per bullet.

No Enemy: Opening the door to find no enemy after killing the one behind the door.

Condition: Fight or Not. Fight: More Enemy | Not: No Enemy.

But, of course, Venture uses [Temporal Perception Manipulation] to give him enough time to locate the enemy's positions before shooting them in the head.

Yet, it didn't matter to Venture the moment he opens the door because there aren't any more enemies. But, there is a dead body on the ground, leaking blood and all that. No clue if this is the [Gu Master] though, but just to be on the safe side.

"You guys know what this [Gu Master] looks like?" Venture asks both Edify and Bout. Where both of them are still behind the couch. Of course, Venture kind of know what the [Gu Master] look like by what Gat told him before, but wouldn't hurt to double-check.

"Does the person have long hair?" Edify asks back.

Venture check the corpse's head, where the dead person has short hair, not long hair. "Nope. So I guess this isn't the [Gu Master]."

"The [Gu Master] never cut their hair no matter what." Edify happily informs this.

"Are there any enemies coming up the stairs?" Bout asks Venture while checking the surrounding, for any threats, after using the [Empowered State] to boost his sense of visions, hearing, and touch.

Venture lean on the rail, to check below, and there is nothing. But, Venture could easily hear the sound of fighting going on below. Of course, this includes the sound of Gat's shooting above the sixth floor aka the rooftop.

"We're in the clear for the time being." Venture reply to Bout's question as he closes the door behind him and walks over to check on Edify and the child, but mostly Edify since she the only one here that could treat any injuries and anything else that needs treatment. "By the way, I don't know if you have your own weapon or not. But, I feel like you should at least have something for ranged combat." Venture didn't bother to take the handgun back since right now he got many firearms and other things on his person. Once again, Venture loves the [Hidden Arsenal] and knew how much of a pain he would have to deal with in the future if he has to deal with potential thieves of his things if they were visible and in large size.

"It's fine. Honestly, I sometimes forget that I may not always have someone there to protect me." Edify smiled at Venture while shaking her head. "In fact, even though my combat ability is shallow compared to everyone else. It doesn't mean I don't have my way to fight back. It's just that I didn't have enough time to prepare everything. Nonetheless, thank you for the handgun, Venture." Edify wasn't going to reject the kind gift from Venture since she knew that he would need everything to fight with due to being an assassin. Something Edify and many other, that being an assassin take lots of resources to be one and staying alive as one.

"No problem." Venture shrugs his shoulders. "Well, I think it's time for me to set up some traps. Something I should have done early on." Venture start thinking, that maybe he should switch some of the things on his mental list of priorities. "Shouldn't take me too long to cover the weak points of the area." Venture begins looking around the place, for any gaps for insects or any small creatures to use as an entry into the sixth floor. As well as picking out the best spots to use to take down multiple enemies while limiting the enemy side of the angle they could attack Venture.

"Don't let me stop you." Edify give Venture a smile, but secretly, she making a few mental notes on how well Venture is at in making traps, because then, she could share this info with the others. Especially with her older sister since if there are too many gaps in the building's defense. This would make it worse for Cope and this is something Edify rather not allow to happen if she could help it.

"Oh yeah, Bout. Do you need a weapon or two, or you're good?" Venture asks Bout, where he noticed that Bout doesn't have any weapons at all.

"Nah, it's fine. Thanks to my [Title]. I mostly don't even need weapons and with my body alone is my weapon. Not to mention, I can just steal the enemy's weapons to use it against them. Worked for me many times, to be honest." Bout smile at the memory of where he stole many enemy's main weapons and use it either on the enemy or someone near the enemy. Good time.

"Alright." Venture didn't push Bout to take a weapon and resume his search for any good spots to set up the traps and among other things before the enemies arrive.

-LIABG-

"Okay, it took some time, but I think we're good for the time being." Venture said to everyone after he finished placing down the last trap, which is near the door. Along with the other traps near the door as well. "These traps should stop the enemy from coming too close to us or give us the edge we need to lower the numbers on the enemy's side to reduce the rate of increasing either or both physical fatigue and mental fatigue." Venture walk over to Edify, as he realized, that leaving behind the doctor defenseless, even if Edify has a handgun, would be a stupid move on their end. Not to mention, this should lessen the load on Bout since he has his duty to protect the child, who seems to be too afraid at the moment to even speak a single word. Not that Venture could blame the kid.

"Wow, it took you 20 minutes to place down so many traps." Bout said in disbelief, because even he saw people with [Trap-Type Skills] would take a bit longer to set up traps.

"Well, he is an assassin after all. Setting up traps should be in his job description." Edify said calmly, not that surprised at how fast and precise on setting up so many traps in such a little time. "If anything, I think Venture could practice in trap making a bit more and should be even better than as he is."

"You're only saying that because your sister has the ability to set up traps even faster than those people who mastered their [Trapping Skills]." Bout said dryly, because he could guess why Edify wasn't surprised. "Either way, since Miss Cope is busy at the moment of taking on 80% of the enemies. Having Venture here is a great bonus for us, with just these traps alone." Bout can see the benefits of having Venture in the [Dark Star Faction].

"Soo... Now what?" Venture asks both Edify and Bout on what to do now. Since the only thing they need to do is wait for the enemy to come, which is kind of hard to do with both Gat and Cope killing them off before they could even reach the sixth floor. While the insects and the dead person that still outside the sixth floor is just among the many things neither Gat or Cope could stop while at the same time dealing with other enemies.

"Well, other than waiting for either the enemy to show up or both Gat and Edify to show up instead. I guess we could talk about something to pass the time instead of just stressing ourselves out by worrying every single second to see if an enemy shows up or not." Bout said to Venture, then glance at Edify before at the child standing in between him and Edify.

"What's there to talk about?" Edify didn't outright reject the idea of talking about something to pass the time. Because currently, she got nothing to do other than watch over the child and making sure nothing bad happens to him. Of course, Edify could use her own [Skill] to make something to add into the stock of medicines, but Edify isn't feeling it at the moment. Also, there plenty of medicines already. Making any more would be a waste of her time.

"You guys could help me fill up my gaps of things that are commonly known by everyone in the city." Venture offers up something to talk about, but mostly because Venture desperately needs to cover his lack of common sense of this world. This alone puts a major disadvantage onto Venture and may end up costing his life just because of one little fact, that everyone should know but him.

"Maybe something else. But, if you still need help with this subject. I don't mind clearing up some of my schedules to give me enough free time to tutor you, Venture." Edify said to Venture, where she is willing to help others out.

"Sweet, that's nice of you, Edify. And I'll be delighted to accept your kind offer of helping me out." Venture secretly sighs in relief, that Edify is willing to help him out. Though, Venture kind of wanted to hear it from Bout since he has experiences of going out of the City N. However, Edify might know about the things Bout know as well, so not much of a loss for Venture really. A bonus to this, Edify is a girl, a pretty one too, so that is something good to Venture after thinking about the upsides of having Edify tutoring him.

"Great." Edify nods her head, to see Venture accepted her help.