Ch 73:- Vermins Executed

(My MC is not murder hobo below is a death count of how many he killed.

Human: 26

Non-Human: 650k

Eldritch Lesser God: 1

Infant Great One: 3

In this chapter no one is killed. Sorry for writing this but I was having nightmares.)

Now continue with the story.

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Suddenly, Quinn felt an excruciating pain rush through his head and stomach, prompting Rayne to rush to his side. It almost looked as if Rayne had teleported, supporting Quinn from falling to the ground. Rayne could sense that Quinn was in pain and hungry, so he promptly took out a white bottle from his pocket and retrieved a pill, handing it to Quinn and instructing him to swallow it without questioning. Knowing that Rayne wouldn't give him anything harmful, Quinn took the pill and swallowed it with the help of some water that Rayne provided. Within moments, he felt his hunger and pain starting to disappear.

"Hey, are you okay?" Sam asked. "You don't look too good."

"Yeah, I'm good, just have some medical issue," Quinn replied, handing over his money card to Vorden to complete the purchase at the desk. He still felt a little weak but had fully recovered by the time Vorden returned with the item.

"Well, I hope you start feeling better," said Sam. "I'll see you guys at the tournament. Maybe we can meet up and watch it together?" Sam didn't have many friends at his own military base, being quite a low level himself as a second year.

"Sure, why not? That sounds good," Quinn said with a smile.

With Nate participating in the fighting tournament, Sam was pretty much on his own. So he thought it would be nice to enjoy the event with others who wouldn't be quick to judge, being low levels themselves.

The five of them left the shop together, and as they took a few steps away, they felt a strange sensation on their necks, as if their hairs were standing on end.

"We're being followed," Fex whispered.

"I know, a group of five," Vorden replied.

"And they seem to have malicious intent. It looks like they want to steal the equipment that Quinn recently bought," Rayne whispered, and everyone heard his words.

Not only the four boys noticed this, but when Sam turned around to check on them, he could also see a group strangely following them from behind.

'What are they planning?' Sam couldn't help but get involved. He knew if Nate were here, he would have tried to stop whatever was about to happen.

As expected, the group of students suddenly appeared, blocking the path of the four boys. The boy at the front had the sides of his hair cut short and a purple streak running down the middle. He quickly glanced at their watches before deciding to approach them. After confirming that all of their ability levels were lower than his, a smile appeared on his face.

"Well, what do we have here?" the student said as he got closer.

"Um, well, we're a little short on money, you see, and we were kind of hoping to buy something from one of these shops. I had my eye on that chest piece for a while, and when I saw someone else buy it, it just rubbed me the wrong way." The student then got right up into Quinn's face as he said his next words. "Especially when I see a weak level one like you getting something like this. It would be useless in your hands."

As a group, they seemed quite strong. After seeing that Fex and Quinn were only level ones, even with Vorden being with them, they didn't think they had a chance of losing. Vorden had a random ability of a level four user that he had touched, so his wristwatch was displaying that number.

Zac and his group had even more confidence, thinking the group in front of them posed no threat.

Using his right hand, Zac placed it on top of the metallic case in Quinn's hand and tried to pull it away with all his strength. When he tugged, there was no movement, and his hand slipped off the metal case. The smile on his face dropped.

Zac grabbed onto the case again and tried to pull it out of Quinn's hand, this time getting a more firm grip, but when he tried to pull away, he felt a tight grip on his hand holding the case.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Quinn said slowly. "This... is mine."

Zac's group of friends behind him had no clue what was going on and were still smirking at the thought of the helpless level ones having their expensive gear taken away.

'Why does this person make me feel sick when I look him in the eye?' Zac thought.

Inside the shop, Zac had carefully watched Quinn and his friends enter. Even before they purchased the equipment, he had taken note of their levels. It came as a big surprise to him that a Level one user could buy intermediate gear. Then a thought hit him: perhaps Quinn was from a prestigious or at least a wealthy family. They must have been cursed with a son who could only produce a low amount of MC cells, never being able to get past level one. In that case, the only thing one could do was purchase beast gear to help them on their journey through life.

Having made this prediction, Zac never expected a reaction like this from Quinn.

"Hey, five against four is a bit unfair, don't you think? Maybe we should even up the sides a little," Sam said as he walked over.

Sam, too, had thought the same thing as Zac when he saw Quinn. The only difference was, Sam thought he could somewhat relate to Quinn because he was also unable to advance further, having hit his MC cell limit.

Seeing Sam approaching, Zac's group of friends behind him started to get more aggressive, preparing for a face-off.

As tension rose in the air, it felt like either side was going to strike first. But then Rayne came in between Quinn and Zac.

"Whoa, bro, would you back off a little bit?" Rayne said, intercepting between them.

Zac glanced at his watch, seeing it display level 1, and became furious. However, when he looked into Rayne's eyes, which were now glowing crimson red, a primal fear took hold of him. Zac couldn't understand why he was feeling so fearful, and he visibly shook from it. Rayne moved forward, wrapping his arm around Zac's neck as if they were friends, and whispered something in his ear. Zac's face became stoic, as if his brain wasn't thinking at all. He handed Rayne the crystal he had before turning around to his followers.

"Let's go, there isn't anything interesting here," Zac said, leaving with his confused minions.

"Bye," Rayne said, waving his hand.

All of them were stunned by what had just happened.

"What was that?" Sam asked after seeing the whole interaction.

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe I talked about uploading some of his private videos online. Don't know," Rayne said mysteriously, lying through his teeth with ease.

"Oh! Okay," Sam said, understanding what he was trying to imply.

Then an awkward silence fell upon them, which was broken when Fex said, "Hey, would you like to hang out with us for a little while?"

Sam, hearing it, said, "Let me check," before looking at his watch and then saying, "I guess I can hang out with you all a little bit longer."

With that, the group continued to chat for a while as they visited several other stores. Rayne ultimately bought some kind of rock from one of the stalls, showcasing his exceptional haggling skills by reducing the price significantly.

He also bought other raw materials needed for forging purposes.

They continued on before stopping at a game stop, where they all engaged in a game called 'Block Block.' It was a simple game where they had to block oncoming attacks. Rayne and Quinn, being the most competitive, continued playing even when they reached level 5. They were still going strong, but on Quinn's turn at level 6, the machine malfunctioned, causing it to crack and disconnect from the game, sending it flying. Vorden, Fex, and Rayne had moved away from the trajectory, but Sam, fascinated by Quinn's performance, didn't react in time.

From where Quinn was, he wouldn't reach Sam in time, so he had only one option—Flash Step, a movement technique similar to the Art of Quickening.

In an instant, Sam saw Quinn's feet move in a strange style, almost as if he had teleported from one place to another. Quinn, still a little far away, swung out from his hip and performed a roundhouse kick, knocking the flying object away from Sam's direction. It hit the wall and smashed into tiny pieces, away from everyone. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

"Thank you," Sam said, grateful for Quinn's quick action.

In that brief moment, Sam realized something. Both of the moves Quinn had displayed felt familiar. The kick was a normal earth martial arts move, but it was performed with such speed and precision. However, what shocked him the most was the Flash Step. He had only seen one person perform it before—Bloodevolver.

'It couldn't be him, could it?' Sam thought, his mind racing.

After snapping out of his thoughts, Sam replied to Fex, who had asked if he was alright. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just shocked, as you said. That's all."

"But where is Rayne?" Sam asked, realizing that Rayne was no longer there. Only Vorden and Sam could hear Rayne's whisper.

However, they saw Rayne enter the admin room of the game store, cleaning his hands with a red-stained handkerchief. Vorden and Sam couldn't see it, but Quinn and Fex could tell it was blood at a glance. Moments later, Rayne exited the room, having paid the bill for both the damage and using the booth, but not with his money. Instead, he had found Zac within those few seconds, beaten all of his group in an instant, equipped his armor while still in the form of a school uniform, cast a healing magic, took all of their credits and Zac's card, leaving them penniless, before heading to the admin room and paying the price.

The five boys were back out on the platform, with the night sky fully revealed. Stairs led up above them, offering a beautiful view. Most of the students who had been on the platform before had already gone back to their hotels to get some sleep. Although there was no curfew, students were expected to watch the matches starting early in the morning.

The group continued walking in a circle on the platform until they reached Sam's hotel. Before parting ways, Sam wanted to get as much information out of Quinn as possible.

"You were really skillful back there. I can't believe what you did," Sam said, laughing.

"Don't worry about it," Quinn replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you do that with the machine earlier? How can you move so fast? Is it something to do with your ability?" Sam asked.

Quinn thought for a moment about what to say, knowing he couldn't take too long or Sam would become suspicious. He didn't see Sam as a bad person, but he couldn't tell him the truth either.

"I don't have an ability, that's why it shows I'm a level one. Because of this, my parents trained me in martial arts since I was young. I focused solely on using martial arts. I thought that if I got good enough and had some decent beast gear, then maybe I could still make it in this world," Quinn explained.

'Can't he think of a better excuse than just "look at me"?' Rayne thought, sagely.

"And thank you all. I was able to have so much fun today," Sam said, smiling at everyone.

With that, the group continued to talk for a bit before parting ways. Sam headed back to his hotel room, while the others continued to their own hotel.

Back in the gaming area, the admin who had let Rayne and his group go after they had paid was in the camera room. He had finished cleaning up the debris and closed off the booth for public use.

Inside the room, he watched the videos of both Rayne and Quinn fighting against the Level 5 machine, repeatedly mesmerized by their performances. He edited and cut together their matches, showcasing their progress as they reached level four. Then, satisfied with the video file, the admin uploaded it to one of the students' internal video sharing platforms.

The upload progress bar filled up, reaching 100 percent.

"This video doesn't deserve to be seen only by me. Everyone shall know pain," the admin said with a giddy expression.

***

[Mind Trick: As its name suggests, this ability allows it's users to subtly influence the thoughts and actions of others. This simple form of mental persuasion can be used to reach a peaceful solution and avoid confrontation, causing foes to turn a blind eye or momentarily go against their instincts. This ability works particularly well on the weak-minded people. Unlike the Influence skill no direct eye contact or verbal command is needed usual way of execution is through a mental command.

Requirements: Qi and a strong mental and spiritual strength.]

[Influence: Depending on the user's charm points and the mental strength of the opponent. The user is able to influence the person or creature to do their bidding. This includes things such as, memory loss, information extraction and so on. This skill require direct eye contact with the target.

Requirements: Vampire physiology and charm stats.]