Gunshots rang insipidly, all three gunners ran as they shot, trying their best to keep away the bats why dwindling their numbers, Mia was also running while slicing, kicking and punching whichever bat that came too close, sadly she was the weakest here and the bats were larger than your average bat, thus she hardly killed a single one of them

The only one holding her ground was Ellis who was slicing bats left and right, but they seemed endless, no matter how many she cut there was another to replace it

"I'm out of bullets damn it!"

John cursed, he wished he hadn't randomly shot at the rats or emptied a clip at the rat's body, now he would have to face a tragic end to these fluttery beasts

A sudden weight could be felt on his back and he thought it was the end, but when he looked he saw a belt of clips was flung at him, only a few clips remained but that meant a new hope for life

Turning around he was about to ask whom it belonged to but saw Clark was shooting while wearing the belt, only Sofia, was nowhere to be seen

'Where is she? Did she run away and gave me this?'

He didn't know, he only knew she wasn't dead since he didn't see her body or a clump of bats like Zachery whos body was now being sucked dry by tens of bats

"Dammit, I want to run away too!"

Sadly he couldn't, the bats wouldn't give him the chance

Thus the battle continued, blood splashing every second

....

"Haah, haah, that damn shit!"

Harry was cursing as he panted heavily, he couldn't understand for the life of him why all these beasts decided to come out one after the other

"Fucking great, now I have to build up a new team from scratch, what a pain"

His face was twisted in anger as he thought about all the effort he put into convincing these people to follow him

"If only that shitty kid makes her leave intervene none of this would have happened!"

"Blaming me for your aggression? Well, I do admit I was the one who caused the slaughter indeed"

Harry turned around in surprise, behind him YuJu was standing with a smirk

"You! You piece of shit! It's all your fault!"

He lunged at him with his sword but YuJu only sidestepped, tripping Harry into falling face-first onto the ground

"Fuck!"

Harry got up wanting to attack again but instead of YuJu he saw a hound baring her fangs at him

"Ahh!"

He retreated in fear, but when he saw YuJu smirking at his actions he suddenly got up and charged at the hound

'The hounds earlier were bigger than this one I can take care of it easily"

He swung his sword at the hound horizontally, but when he thought it would jump back the hound stuck itself to the ground instead, barely avoiding the sword before using its front paws to spin and launch its back legs at him, sending him into the alley, his sword out of hand

"Cough, what the hell are you?!"

He asked YuJu who was followed by the hound, he had never seen a beast being tame to a human, even though it has barely been half a day into the apocalypse, but that was precisely the reason he was surprised that the young man that he hated the most right now had such a powerful pet

'If only I can get my hand on the way to tame the beasts'

Suddenly he thought of a great idea and smirked

"Hey, young man, how about I propose you a deal?"

YuJu didn't answer and kept walking

"You must feel sad about losing your friend right? She was a great swordsman and I'm sure a good bodyguard, I can tell that she was following you because she knew you were stronger, how about I replace her now that she is dead? I am a swordsman as well, I am sure I can do just as good, if not even better than her!"

'Hehe, You will soon fall for my words like everyone else, I just need to keep talking'

"Still keeping up the pretence of a swordsman?"

"H-Huh?"

Hearing YuJu's question Harry was surprised

"Where did you learn how to use the sword? Your strikes are more inclined toward restraining than killing, you must have learned it at a kendo club"

Harry grew restless the more YuJu talked

"W-what are you saying, It is because I have the swordsman class"

"Oh come on you think I cant tell?"

YuJu narrowed his eyes at Harry

"Your voice reeks of persuasion mister Merchant"

"!!!"

"You must have reached high beginner rank in it"

"You! How did you know?!"

"Oh come on, I can tell just by looking that you're going the path of a scammer"

"Scammer?"

"Sigh, Your no fun anymore, Anput finish him"

Anput lunged at the horror-filled Harry but didn't snap his neck, instead she mauled him so that he would feel enough pain before being sent into the afterlife

YuJu turned and walked out the alley and into another, thinking about his ethics as he walked

He wouldn't want to watch the man get mauled, even though he would definitely kill the man no matter what that didn't mean he enjoyed killing humans, in fact, he wouldn't go out of his way just to ruin someone's life

In this cruel world that humans were shoved into like lambs up for slaughter one couldn't survive on his own, but he was no hero, he left the task of uniting the human race to those dreamy-eyed goodie two shoes, still, he knew his actions should also contribute toward a better future as if one wanted to unite the human race one would need to weed out opportunistic bastards like Harry or the system would just eat itself from within

In fact, a clue of his humanity laid before him right now, in the form of a dazed woman

The woman was wearing a white shirt that now had a few blood stains on it, along with black long pants a rather cold face and cascading long brown hair that gave her an independent feeling that would avoid interacting too much with people

The only thing that brought too much attention to her body would be her shirt tightening around her bust making it look like it would burst at any moment, Her breasts were like two bulging hills and the remaining button was clinging onto dear life, its partner had probably flown off sometime during the battle

"...Why do big boobed women always choose ranged classes? Do you not know how dynamics work?"

The woman woke up from her daze hearing his words, looking at his face she guessed he was probably the one that knocked her out during battle, still, that also meant he saved her

"As I thought you had a thief class"

Sofia said as she gazed at him with certain eyes, to that he smiled playfully, he just looked at her for a while and just when she seemed to be fed up with his gaze his eyes suddenly turned serious, even though his smile remained the same

Sofia chocked on the sudden pressure, she didn't feel like she was conversing with a fellow human anymore, the being in front of her was now unfathomable and scary to the point of her pissing herself on the spot

"Theif? Well, maybe in the long past, but that would be too low of a title for me"

His tone was gentle but it didn't bring Sofia any comfort, only shivers ran down her spine as he spoke

"Your quite the sharp one though, nothing I would expect nothing less from someone who holds the Marksmen Class this early, it doesn't come with just luck"

Sofia was surprised at his words, but couldn't utter any words of shock

"You were probably level four at the time in the office right? But since the accuracy increase for the marksman class is lower than weapon specialized classes you pretended to be of the lower level so as to not decrease your value"

YuJu then gently smiled as his pressure receded allowing Sofia a breather

"But you are mistaken, the marksman class has the most potential among the general ranger classes, after all, Gunner's, Archer's, Knife JuggJugglers all ranged weapon specif classes are limited by their own weapons"

"....How do you know?"

"That you need not know, you only need to listen to my words carefully, for I won't repeat myself twice, by the time I am finished you will have enough knowledge to protect that refuge on your own, in exchange, you will offer me your loyalty, understood?"

Sofia didn't nod nor refuse, she just quietly looked at YuJu, she suspected refusal might be her end, while acceptance would give her a chance at life, but under his rule

Suddenly she saw Anput come through the alley with Harry's horror-stricken head in her mouth

"B-b-behind you!"

YuJu didn't turn around though as Anput inched closer and closer, with her came a feeling of pressure, it would have been large but when compared to YuJu's pressure it seemed slightly bearable but scary nonetheless

Once Anput was by his side she dropped Harry's head and looked up at YuJu for praise

"Good job Anput, but stop scaring our little friend here"

He pet her head gently ash she retracted her pressure delighted by his touch

"Now, where were we? Oh yes, will you swear your loyalty?"

He asked again with kindness in his eyes, but Sofia didn't mistake that kindness for mercy, one look at Harry's face and she knew her fate was sealed

"I swear to be loyal to you forever, I will do whatever you ask of me!"

She replied with made up vigour

"Good, I hope you hold true to your promise"

Then YuJu explained to Sofia what steps she should follow in the future, events she had to watch out for and places she must come across, the whole explanation took about five minutes even though it was very rushed

"I hope you remembered everything, I would tell you more but I need to keep an eye on that girl"

She knew he meant Ellis and nodded, then she got up and excused herself and started to leave

"One more thing"

He called out to her with a smile

"If you ever have thoughts of betraying me come ask me for a reminder why you swore loyalty, I will be sure to show you your worth once again"

Sofia was startled by his words and gulped

"I will never betray your trust!"

She turned around as she said so pumping her chest in resolution, her button though seemed to have had enough of this torture and exploded, allowing two bountiful peaks to breath out for the first time today

"..."

"..."

YuJu gazed at the white bra and decided to not comment, he just sighed and headed toward the battlefield leaving the awkward Sofia alone with the curious Anput who was supposed to lead her to the bank and come back

"Do all strong women have exhibition tendencies?"

He muttered to himself in wonder