----> Slice of life

As Victor began to slowly approach them, both of them started to panic. Alex started to run away, but Adam was still frozen in fear.

"Idiot, run!" Alex screamed at Adam.

But before Adam could even blink properly, Victor was standing right in front of him. Using his arms, Victor pulled on the cord as the sound of the chainsaw echoed, Adam snapped back to reality and tried to run away.

Victor was quick, holding the chainsaw with one hand, he grabbed Adam's arm, crushing the bones. Adam screamed in pain, his vision blurring from the agony.

*Fuck, I can't run from this guy. I guess this is the end,* Adam thought, biting his bottom lip in pain.

"Adam, use the gun!" Alex screamed.

Adam tried to pull out the gun, but Victor was faster. He raised the chainsaw above his head and crashed it down on Adam's neck.

Seeing the giant chainsaw coming down on him, Adam quickly fired a shot that hit Victor right in the arm. But the bullet wound didn't even faze him.

Victor didn't even slow down, and kept pushing, as the chainsaw was about to connect, in a desperate attempt, Adam shot at Victor's balls. As the bullet made contact, Victor dropped the chainsaw and collapsed to the ground.

Adam quickly freed himself, and as Alex saw Victor collapsing, he hurried to Adam.

"Damn, you just took down the infamous player hunter! You're crazy, Adam," Alex said, slapping Adam's back.

Adam chuckled at Alex's compliment, but it was hard for him to speak because of the sheer pain from his crushed hand.

His hand was completely purple, and it was hard for Adam to even lift it. Still, they both were relieved to have survived.

But the happiness was short-lived as Victor got up and grabbed his chainsaw again

"What the fuck is this monster? He didn't even die from a shot right to his balls!" Alex exclaimed as Victor swept with the chainsaw. Both of them dodged it, but Adam was starting to slow down from his injuries.

Alex noticed this and tried grabbing Adam to run away, but before he could even move, he was met with a kick straight to his chest. He was launched quite a distance before collapsing into a tree, his few right ribs shattered from the kick.

Alex tried to get up, but the pain was just too much. He quickly removed his shirt to check for damage, as it was getting hard for him to breathe. He was hoping no internal organs had gotten punctured. He could feel his right side swelling up. *Fuck, that's bad, but I don't think any organs got punctured. I have to go, or Adam might die,* Alex thought, getting up.

Meanwhile, Adam was running on the roof of his house to escape from Victor, but using his chainsaw, Victor was hacking through the walls.

After a few seconds, the entire house collapsed. Adam came crashing down and covered his head to avoid any head injuries, but his left hand, which was already smashed, was stuck under the rubble.

As Victor made his way to him, Adam wanted to pull his hand out, but the pain was too much. Seeing Victor coming close, he fired multiple shots, all of them hitting their marks, but none of them slowed Victor down.

*What do I do? What do I do?* Adam thought desperately, but nothing came to his mind.

Victor finally stood right behind him. Adam tried to struggle one last time, shooting him right in the face, but that didn't work either.

Victor grabbed him by his smashed arm and pulled him out of the rubble. The force was so intense that Adam couldn't even feel that arm now.

"Time to go." Those were the few words Victor spoke before dragging Adam with him to his bike.

Victor couldn't find his bike, though he was certain he had parked it there. He looked around, trying to locate it, when suddenly Alex appeared from behind, riding the bike. Holding a knife, Alex sped toward Adam, quickly chopping off the arm that Victor was holding and with his other hand, Alex grabbed Adam.

By the time Victor turned around, all that remained was Adam's severed hand, while Alex and Adam were driving off into the distance.

Victor tried to follow, but the bike was fast enough for Alex and Adam to get away.

"You alright? Sorry I had to chop off your arm," Alex asked, but he got no response. So, he looked back and saw Adam passed out.

"Fuck, let's get you home quick," Alex said as he quickly drove to his home.

Alex was in pretty bad shape himself, but still, using whatever strength he had left, he held Adam and took him inside the house.

Ava was shocked after seeing him in such bad shape, but she didn't scream or get scared. She immediately started to treat their injuries, as she knew they could be fatal.

"Fix him up first. I can wait. I probably have more stats than him in recovery and endurance, so I don't think my injuries are life-threatening," Alex said, trying to hide his pain. Ava saw through it but still decided to operate on Adam first.

Adam's left arm was chopped off, and he had multiple fractures and minor cuts throughout his body. Ava quickly covered his severed arm, but as she was operating, she saw the minor cuts had already begun to heal. *Wow, his body is already healing itself,* Ava thought, backing off.

"Hey, Alex, do you think his arm would grow back if he puts more of whatever points you guys get for completing tasks?" Ava asked with hope in her eyes.

"Nope, it only increases the self-healing capabilities of your body. It can't heal something your body wouldn't naturally be able to heal," Alex said, avoiding eye contact as he was still disappointed in himself.

"He lost an arm because of me. I was the one who cut it off," Alex said with anger in his voice. He wasn't happy with himself.

"Nah, it wouldn't have healed even if you hadn't cut it off. It was completely gone, so stop blaming yourself. You were the one who saved me there," Adam said, getting up.

As Adam said this, Alex and Ava quickly looked at him. Alex rushed to hug him, but Ava stopped him, as he was in bad shape and moving around would make it worse.

"Also, Adam, you should rest too," Ava said, helping Adam get into the room and lie on the bed.

She then began operating on Alex. Alex's condition was much worse; his ribs were completely smashed, and blood was pooling in his lungs.

Even with higher stat points in self-recovery than Adam, his body wasn't able to recover fast enough.

Ava operated on him and stayed awake the whole night to monitor his condition, as there were no machinery in the house. Everything had to be done manually.

"You are gonna get sick if you keep this up the whole night," Adam said, gently touching her shoulder.

"Well, I have to monitor his condition," Ava said worriedly, looking at Alex.

"Don't worry. You don't know how strong your brother is. Go to sleep I'll monitor him. You don't have to worry. If I notice any changes in his breathing pattern, I'll wake you up immediately," Adam said, guiding her to her room.

"But you need to rest more than me," Ava said, trying to stop Adam.

"No, it's alright. If something happens to you, Alex would probably kill me anyways, so you need to take a rest," Adam said, laughing.

"Well, okay, but at least let me sleep on the couch. That way, you can wake me up quickly if something happens," Ava said, finally agreeing.

Adam let go of her, and Ava lay down on the couch in the living room. Adam stayed awake the whole night, keeping an eye on Alex.

Finally, the morning came. Ava was still asleep, and Adam was pretty tired too, but all his tiredness vanished as he saw Alex finally get up.

Adam quickly hugged him. Alex didn't even realize what happened, but he quickly hugged him back.

Both of them looked at each other and began to laugh.

"We actually survived that!" Adam said, laughing as tears began to roll down his cheeks.

"Yeah," Alex said, trying not to cry, but after seeing Adam, he also joined in.

Hearing all the commotion, Ava woke up. She worriedly looked at where Alex was resting, but her worries quickly melted into a smile when she saw both of them well.

Adam quickly got up to go into the kitchen to grab something to celebrate, but when he got up, he heard a pop-up noise.

Killing System

Alert: Only 16 hours left to complete Task 3.

Adam saw that but didn't pay much attention to it. But Alex realized something was off.

"Notification from the system?" Alex asked, getting up too.

"Nah, it's nothing," Adam said, smiling to avoid any suspicion.

"Nah, I can tell you were staring at the air. Definitely a notification from the system. Tell me how much time do we have?" Alex asked, pushing it.

"Like I said—" Adam was trying to avoid talking about it, but he was interrupted by Alex.

"Don't lie to me! I thought you trusted me," Alex said, coming in front of Adam as Adam looked away.

"Fine, you win. Sixteen hours left. But I think we should give up this time. Didn't you see what happened last time? The penalty isn't that harsh," Adam said, trying to convince Alex to back off.

"Nah, don't worry. Just leave it to me. I didn't want to go there, but since it's an emergency, we have to," Alex said suddenly getting serious.

"Huh? Where are we going?" Adam asked, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"Adam, you're a new player, so you wouldn't know. But get ready. We're going to Bloodcircle Arena," Alex said, as his face tensed up.