[Chapter:26][Gathering the group.]

*bang!*

The gunshot echoed as Echo blasted the head of the 'zombie', making the pink haired girl's screams stop as the rest stiffen.

"Idiots."

Echo's cold voice echoed in their ears as they all looked at the emotionless face of the shooter, who walked towards the pink haired girl…

…and right past her.

"Eh?"

Saya blinked, looking at the headless corpse that she had subconsciously thrown aside and the unknown man who walked right past her as if she didn't even exist, but then she watched him touch the corpse with his leg, and,

"It disappeared!?"

"!!!"

Other than the group of students that had been following Echo, who were slightly used to the supernatural phenomenon, the rest were shocked as their eyes widened in disbelief.

But Echo obviously didn't care, and instead kept walking, the image of the school map that he had seen in one of the corridors appearing in his mind thanks to 'Eidetic Memory' as he made his way towards the Staff Room.

As for why he was following the original plot?

The answer to that is a Quest he received after just now.

((A new Quest has been generated.))

. . . . . .

[Screw the Plot]

Type : Chain

Description : You already gave the plot your middle finger by killing the protagonist, poor guy. Now, you just need to follow the plot as it went, participating in each 'event', and mess it up! You don't like Fate right? Screw her, then.

[[Part 1 : Escape from the Dead]]

Objective : Escape the school on bus, but in a way completely unlike in the original

Reward : Skill [Driving(Lv-50)] | 1 Lottery Ticket

. . . . . .

Just as he was about to walk, however,

(([World Quest] updated. Please check.))

Pausing for a brief moment before continuing his 'work', heading to the Staff Room while killing any 'zombie' he sees, Echo glanced at the Quest window again.

. . . . . .

[[Chosen Ones]]

Objective : Meet up with the main cast

Reward : [Skill Specialisation Card]

((Report?))

[[Unchosen Ones]]

Objective : Save 5 people who would have otherwise died

Reward : All skills level +1 (not including max level skills)

((Report?))

[[Fated Ones]]

Objective : Change the fate of 10 people (not including those saved in previous quest)

Reward : Skill Book [Fate Breaker]

((Report?))

[[Saviour(I)]]

Objective : Gather 5 survivors together (not including the main cast)

Reward : [Skill Level Up Card]

((Report?))

[[Terminator(I)]]

Objective : Kill 1,000 'zombies'

Reward : [Skill Advancement Card]

((Report?))

. . . . . .

'The first wave of rewards is here.'

Glancing back, he looked at the sixteen people he had 'saved' from 'death' that were following him silently. Along with the main cast who were also following behind, albeit suspiciously.

'Yes.'

He reported the 'Fated Ones' Quest first, obtaining and using the skill book.

. . . . . .

[Fate Breaker(Lv-1)]

Type : Skill / Active

Description : Break the influence of Fate on any target. 100 day cool down.

Cost : -

. . . . . .

Raising his brow, Echo reported the 'Unchosen Ones' Quest, and watched as all his skills that weren't at Max level, including his new skill, went up by 1 level, which decreased the cool down by 1 day for 'Fate Breaker'.

((Skill [Mental Arithmetic] reached the Max level!))

((Skill [Breathing] reached the Max level!))

One of his thoughts was freed up, which he assigned to using 'Magic Barrier : Light' on the heads of his targets / 'zombies' to level it up.

Then, he looked reported the other Quests.

'One Skill Specialisation card, one Skill Level Up card, and one Skill Advancement card.'

Using the 'Skill Level Up Card' on his 'Basic Gunfighting' skill,

((Skill [Basic Gunfighting] reached the Max level!))

((Conditions met. Skill [Intermediate Gun Fighting] learned.))

Just then, three 'zombies' appeared in his vision. Raising Casull, three quick shots blew their heads as another prompt appeared in his view.

((Skill [Intermediate Gunfighting] levelled up!))

'Those three shots were equal to me using a gun to kill 405 zombies…'

Echo grinned. Luckily, those near to him were behind him at the moment, making them miss the frightening smile.

Looking at the 'Skill Specialisation Card', which he previously used to get his 'Summon : Bones' skill which was at level 72 already, he decided to use it on the skill he currently used the least.

((Use [Skill Specialisation Card] on skill [Mad Enhancement]?))

'Yes.'

((Skill [Mad Enhancement] updated.))

. . . . . .

[Mad Enhancement(Lv-7)]

Type : Skill / Active

Description : Clouds your rationality with unending anger while greatly boosting your stats. Immune to negative effects due to [Gamers' Mind].

Rage — Increase all stats by 7%

Cost : 1,000 MP per min

. . . . . .

'Well, guess that answers that.'

He had been wondering if 'Gamers' Mind' would let him maintain his sanity, but the last three times the skill activated when he saw some horny teen try to approach his little Rhi, he could barely stop himself from cast rating the guy, so he didn't know if it helped.

Now, however, the answer was given to him.

Although the percentage of increase decreased to merely a tenth, since he could keep it active 24/7 now…

'[Mad Enhancement]'

He felt anger bubble up from within him.

And then…nothing.

'Huh.'

Echo felt strangely disappointed. Then again, watching the skill level up rapidly, only slowing down a little after reaching level 24, and even then, level up every few seconds, increasing all his stats along the way, he couldn't help but grin again.

Then, he looked at the item he had been looking forward to the most.

((Use [Skill Advancement Card] on skill [Mental Arithmetic]?))

'Yes.'

There was a reason he chose that skill.

Because other than that, every other skill helped him or is useful to him. And compared to less useful ones like 'Cooking', 'Cleaning', etc…, the skill was also very easy to level up. After all, it took him less than a week to learn and max it out.

And that was before he even had the bonus EXP. Now, with his x135 EXP bonus? He wouldn't be surprised if he learned the skill and brought it up to level 100 in just a few hours.

((Skill [Mental Arithmetic] advanced!))

((Skill [Mental Arithmetic(II)] acquired.))

'Oh?'

. . . . . .

[Mental Arithmetic(Lv-1)]

Type : Active

Description : The mathematical division of number theory, including but not limited to, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, etc… . Increase speed, accuracy, and capacity of arithmetic operations by 10%.

Cost : -

Note : Each advancement takes twice as many cards.

. . . . . .

'I lost the max level 'Mental Arithmetic' skill…but got this instead?'

Echo finally realised what 'advancing' a skill is.

'It's like prestige in those games Rhi and Sis play. Resetting the level while increasing the effect.'

And surprisingly, the effect of the skill increased by a whole 10 times.

But looking at the note below, Echo nodded.

'I guess it makes sense. Or it'll be too OP.'

The guy had no idea he was already OP enough to make even the original [Gamer] complain to the GM.

'Well, that's that.'

Finally extricating himself from his thoughts, Echo found himself just a few feet away from the Staff Room door.

'Well, here we are, I guess.'

*bang!* *bang!*

And with two more shots, and two more bodies in his Inventory, Echo approached the door and tried to open it.

Tried.

'It's closed?'

Raising his brow, Echo lifted Jackal and pointed at the lock…

"Wait wait! I have the key here!"

"Ah! Se-sensei!"

The students were startled at their teacher suddenly approaching the scary man with guns, but Shizuka didn't mind as she skipped forward while taking out keys from her pocket.

"Here~!"

Echo looked at the bubbly nurse and felt confused for a moment.

'She's obviously scared, so why does she still act like this?'

His '2 Tomoe Sharingan', which was still active and nearing level 60 already, let him 'see' the fear everyone had towards him, except the purple haired sadist.

And the blonde bimbo before him wasn't an exception.

'Well, whatever.'

He decided not to think about it much. Grabbing the keys from her hand, he turned around as he opened the door.

"Thanks."

"?"

"You're welcome~!"

Shizuka's was rather surprised at Echo's gratitude, seemingly not expecting it, but replied naturally while the fear around her visibly (to Echo) diminished.

*click*

Opening the door, Echo paused as a metal rod moved towards his head.

"AHHH! DIE!"

"…"

Lifting his hand, Echo parried the rod with Casull, the metal rod not even scratching the gun, while Jackal whose barrel was still hot touched the assailant's head, and said assailant screamed as he backed away.

"G-gun! These things have guns!"

"…"

"Uh…I think that's human."

"Eh?"

"…"

Echo sighed as he walked inside, and glanced at the people in the room while those that had been following him walked in as well.

"This…who are you?"

"You're not a student? And wait! Why do you have guns with you?"

Those in the room! Seeing Echo's weapons, got defensive as they grabbed their 'weapons' as well.

"…"

Echo looked at them for a second before turning around to close the door, then walked to the refrigerator and took a DNA of coke for himself.

'I wish I had a pizza to go with it.'

Unbothered by the suspicious and even wary looks pointed towards him, he walked to a seat and sat down before drinking his coke, minding his own business.

"…"

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

"N-no way…"

Rei Miyamoto, an orange haired young woman who uses the shaft of a wooden broom as a spear, muttered in disbelief as she watches the screen before her.

"What happened?"

Saya looked at her rival and frowned. Speaking of rival, her heart lurched at the fact that they hadn't found Takashi, and she wished he would be ok.

Rei didn't respond. Instead, she raised the sound of the tv.

[…as you can see, the police have the riots under control here in this part of Tokonosu City. However, there have been confirmed casualties among the protesters. It is uncertain if….]

The purple haired reporter was interrupted as several black body bags behind her suddenly started shaking.

[Wh-what!? What's happ-!?]

The bags shook even more before they actually stood up! Then, they began jumping towards the other people who were already running around in a panic…

*bang!* *bang!*

[A-as you can see, shots have been fired. The police ha-ahhh! N-no! G-get away!]

The channel suddenly fell silent, as did the room.

Everyone who had been attracted to the screen didn't know what to say.

Rei, with trembling hands, switched to other news channels, but each and every single one of them, from those in Tokonosu, to those in other cities in Japan, to foreign news channels…

"No way…"

"It's…it's happening all over the world…?"

"Why…why would they say it's just a riot…"

"My-my family…my dad isn't lifting his phone…"

"I-I have to call my dad!"

"M-mom…please lift the phone…mom…please, I beg you…"

"…"

The students inside broke down. The thought of dying or worse, turning into one of 'them', kept their nerves taut, yet now that they had the time to breathe, all the images and sounds of their friends, their classmates dying right in front of them, their screams, it all came rushing back.

"…"

Meanwhile, Echo looked at his two skills that were still levelling up quickly, and soon enough,

((Skill [Summon : Bones] levelled up!))

((Skill [Summon : Bones] reached the max level!))

((Conditions met. Skill [Summon : Bones] advanced!))

((Skill [Summon : Bones(II)] acquired.))

((Skill [Summon Skeleton] levelled up!))

((Skill [Summon Skeleton] reached the max level!))

'Finally.'

Despite saying so, it had actually been less than a few hours since he first used the skill. But with a x135 EXP and with billions of targets to slaughter, both his skills levelled up at an extremely fast rate.

. . . . . .

[Summon : Bones(II)(Lv-1)]

Type : Skill / Active / Summon

Description : Sumon the skeleton Magician 'Bones'.

Cost : 1,000 MP

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

Name : Bones

Race : Skeleton

Level : 100 (00.00%)

Job : [None(+)]

HP : 2,000/2,000 (200 per min)

MP : 5,000/5,000 (500 per min)

Strength : 200

Endurance : 200

Vitality : 200

Agility : 300

Intelligence : 500

Wisdom : 500

Senses : 300

Charm : 100

[[Skills]]

[Magic Meditation(Lv-Max)]

[Magic Shield(Lv-Max)]

[Magic Sphere(Lv-Max)]

[Mana Manipulation(Lv-Max)]

. . . . . .

Tapping the '(+)' in Bones' status, his Job list appeared.

. . . . . .

Job : None

Available : [Adept Skeleton Magician]

History : [Skeleton Magician]

. . . . . . . .

Echo blinked.

'Bones killed its first few targets with fists since it didn't have enough MP to use its skills, but guess only skills matter when selecting Jobs.'

Thinking so, Echo chose the only available option…