Ep. 2 — Chapter 9: First World (4)

I stared at the woman ahead from me, standing in a stance that I was pretty familiar with. Anyone in the world would know who that is.

"Is she trying to be Bruce Lee…?" Lia asked in astonishment. "Maybe she's actually crazy."

I frowned and stepped back a bit. "It's her Skill. Probably. Or an Ability."

"What's the difference."

"I'll tell you later. Right now—!"

"Die!" The woman jumped forward, spinning around the two sticks and slammed the ground below me. Had I not moved in time, my legs would've been crushed.

I started running back, sliding over the hood of the car. Lia took the Minimi and started running away as well.

Golden rays of light started to emit from the woman's body and she glared at us, letting out noises that a stereotypical Chinese martial artists would do.

Even without chains or anything to connect the two weapons together, she used the two sticks like they were a pair of nunchucks.

"Lia, take the kid and try to find a way to take her down!"

Lia nodded and ran around the car. The Minimi hopped to the empty flagpole and spun around, readying himself to launch at the old lady that was approaching the car. Lia went up to her as well.

"Don't get so close!"

"Ah, I got it, I got it!" Lia leapt forward, but just as the woman was about to hit her with both sticks, she slid across the ground and grabbed both of her legs at the same time, slamming her to the ground. She quickly wrapped her legs around her and placed the woman in a bodylock. "Stay still!"

I ran ahead as well, the dagger with me. The Minimi followed my lead and shot across the air after launching himself from the pole.

"She's moving too—urggh!"

Before Lia could finish her sentence, the woman struck her stomach with the sticks, forcing her to let go. Lia tried to catch her breath until she saw the two sticks descending down upon her.

She helplessly raised her hands.

(Let…go!)

The Minimi dug its claws into the woman's back, receiving a screech from the old lady.

To the others, he must've been growling incomprehensible words. But I was able to somewhat understand the Minimi. The woman struck the boy a few times with the stuck and Lia used that to her advantage to put the woman in a chokehold.

I opened up my inventory for anything that I could find.

[Accessing Inventory…]

"Wahhh!!"

My eyes darted back to them. Lia was blown away and the Minimi was biting the earlier guy's leg.

Shit. I was sure that bastard was out cold already.

I quickly ran towards them, using 'Lightweight' to jump ahead and attacking the man from earlier. "You…go to sleep, will you?"

I slammed my knee onto the back of his head and he started stumbling. His eyes were white. Even then, he grabbed hold of my feet and gritted his teeth as if to fight the pain.

"Crazy bastard…" I couldn't help but be amazed.

The guy threw me back but I quickly got back to my feet. Lia was leaning against the car, bracing her stomach and panting hard. Even the Minimi was not in great conditions.

I bit my lips in frustration. If Lia continued to fight any more, she would most likely die. And as for the Minimi, I wasn't sure how durable he is right now.

(Run…)

His voice suddenly came to my head. I slowly turned around to look at him.

(Papa run…)

I stared at the Minimi for a while. Although it wasn't a really human face, I could clearly see the expression it had now. The look of intense determination. His eyes were practically glistening, overjoyed that he was able to fight for me.

From what I've seen, this Minimi had long evolved from a Mindless. And he is definitely able to put up a fight against the two of them—long enough for us to escape, at least.

But he would die, eventually.

"You'd do that for me?" I asked the Minimi. Without a moment of hesitation, the boy nodded. The fire in his eyes hasn't been extinguished yet. "Can you do it?"

(Don't know…)

"But you're still willing to do it, is that it?"

He nodded.

I crouched down and placed my hand on his head, rubbing if slightly. "Don't worry. Even if you went to fight now, you wouldn't be able to fend them off long enough for me to escape anyway."

(Heok…?)

'Don't worry. I won't leave you behind.' Was what I wanted to say. But perhaps, I was still not ready to show vulnerability just yet.

But there was no need for me to put my thoughts my to words…

[Your Attribute, 'Lives More Precious that the Rest' is taking effect…]

…Because no matter what I did, my character would speak on my behalf. What my true intentions are, all of it.

"I still have to come up with your name."

I stepped forward, the brown coat fluttering around from the intense pressure emitting from the old woman.

I didn't want to do this yet, but I had to spare some if we wanted to survive here.

The moment we entered into this game reality, the only thing that mattered was survival. Survive, by any means necessary. So, spending some points here shouldn't matter. Although, I might regret it later.

"But you guys must have some Points yourself, don't you?!" I cried out.

[Your Agilitiy has increased exponentially!]

[Your Strength has explosively increased!]

[Your Durability has increased!]

[All Skills has increased in level due to the change in physicality!]

[Your Mental State has imroved. 'Focus' can be activated now. 'Focus' duration: 1 minute.]

I could feel the sudden waves of energy surging throughout my entire body. My body felt lighter and much less fatigue than before. I also realised the change in my constitution now.

[You have spent a total of: 2,000P! Current Points remaining: 100P.]

And then, a screen popped up in front of me. Even the old lady and the guy also got the screen.

—

Main Quest: [Safezone]

Difficulty: ★

Requirements: Head to designated safezones before the timer runs out.

Time Limit: 5 Minutes

Compensation: Safety

Upon Failure: Fight for survival against the waves of monsters that will ravage the city after the time.

—

I looked up, realising that we had spent too much time in this place, fighting against the two. The cube displayed the timer, 5 minutes.

But it doesn't matter now. Even if I manage to defeat them in the next second, we'd be too late to reach the nearest safe zone. At least, I should quickly find a place to hide and recover our strength.

I turned to the Minimi and he met eyes with me. I glanced at Lia and nodded at the Minimi. "Take her somewhere safe. I'll catch up with you later."

(But Papa…)

"Use her phone to send me your location."

The Minimi stood still, but I didn't bother to convince him further. "I'm counting on you."

The two opponents rushed towards me after reading the screen, realising their situation now. Unlike before, their attacks were even more rushed, trying to finish me off as early as possible and heading to the safe zone.

But if I remembered correctly…

"Sorry, but you won't make it to a safe zone even if you kill me here." I said, ducking down and delivering a blow to the guy. I pulled him down and used his big figure to block the old woman's attacks.

"Urghh…!"

I grabbed his collar and spun the guy around. I quickly took off my coat and wrapped it around him and started to puppeteer his body to deflect the woman's sticks.

"This asshole…!"

I kicked the back of his knee, forcing him to kneel and watched the woman slammed both sticks into his face. The man who was already unconscious was really knocked out now.

The old lady moved back after seeing her defeated ally. I gave her a slight smirk and stood on his shoulders, using it to launch myself at the lady.

The golden rays enveloped her body again, but this time, I didn't bother to dodge her attacks. Instead, I closed the distance and fought her head on, deflecting the sticks while striking her in the process.

['Focus' is strongly activated! Due to your current state, the quality of 'Focus' will increase sharply.]

I could clearly see the movements of the sticks being shown to me as blue holographic images a few moments before the attack landed. It was most likely due to my Mental Ability, but I had almost no problem keeping up with the speediness of the moevements.

She lets out a few curses in Chinese, being pushed back. "No…!"

Her sticks were starting to break into pieces. The both of us traded blows after blows, withering down at her weapon.

The side of my fist grazed the stick, causing it to break in half from the impact. I felt some pieces going into my skin.

['Focus' has ended it's duration of 1 minute.]

I could no longer see the blue images and went in straigh for her neck. I wrapped my finger around the woman and slammed her to the ground.

Dust rose from all over. I pressed down and our breathings were heavy. My hair fell down the sides of my face and I saw the old woman's scowl. Everything else around us was silent.

"I'm sure you'd like to meet your sister now," I said, still breathing heavily. "Right?"

The woman remained silent. I looked around. Both Lia and the Minimi was gone. The guy from earlier was still unconcious. As for the other woman…

I turned back to the old lady under me and stared in her eyes.

For a moment, I had completely forgotten that she was an old lady. Surprisingly, for an elder woman, she adapted very quickly in this world. She even knew the use of Points and she was ready to kill by any means necessary. To an extent, the both of us were similar.

"Is he your son? Grandson?" I asked her.

But she remained silent and only looked away towards the other woman's body. I bit my lips and slowly got up, letting go of the woman.

I slowly walked over to where the guy was and unwrapped my coat from him, putting it over my shoulders. The car was gone, probably with the Minimi and Lia at this time.

My legs felt weak. The fatigue from earlier finally caught up to me and I stumbled to the ground. I didn't know how far I had walked from the location from before. But it had been a minute or so that I had been walking. The old women and the guy was still somewhat visible from the distance, still on the ground.

If they managed to survive, I wondered if we would meet again. And how soon would it be until then.

Purple smokes started to envelop around me, descending from the skies. I looked around, seeing every street being covered in the fumes as well. I had an idea of what this was now.

I looked up at the cube that was nearly completely blocked off by the purple smokes.

[1:06]

Soon enough, monsters would spawn. I doubt I could fight any more to protect myself if that happened. As for Lia and the kid…they should he fine, right?

[1:02]

I just laid down, completely overtaken by fatigue. I barely had any more Points to recover my stamina.

[1:00]

A loud blaring noise was heard as the countdown reached one minute. I listened intently to the sirens, acting as if they were lullabies that sang me to sleep.

Suddenly, I felt strong arms grabbing me and picking me up from the ground. I weakly turned my face to look at the person that was holding me up in his arms. I thought, maybe I knew him from somewhere.

"Are you alright?" It was a vaguely familiar voice that belonged to a muscular person.

My vision blurred, but I could still make out his medium-length blonde hair.

[Due to your situation, a new quest has been imposed!]

—

Main Quest: [Survival in the Wild]

Difficulty: ★★

Requirements: Survive in the city from the hordes of monsters until you reach a safezone.

Time Limit: —

Compensation: Safety, pending…

Upon Failure: Death

—