Inside the House.

Thud!

Liam knelt in agony. His body was filled with visible injuries, and fresh blood continuously poured down from it. Some part of his sweater was ripped and it was dyed into crimson-red because of the blood.

Urk!

A sharp and pointed steel bar just pierced through his shoulder and he never felt something like it. The agonizing pain made him want to disappear in this instance. Before the pain registered onto his brain, it was a cold and tingling sensation that turned into a burning sensation that spread throughout his entire body. He couldn't think properly and he almost wanted to throw up.

"Hng..."

The longer time passes, the worse his suffering. To Liam, it was a hellish feeling that even a part of his consciousness started to whisper dark and negative thoughts.

'You will feel no more pain if you just end your life, right now.'

But he didn't give in to those thoughts.

The majority of the people in the entire world never realized that their will is always tested when they encounter a dire situation. Liam is the type of person who when he finds a chance, he'd go with a sheer force of will and turn the situation in his way... but he does not realize this effect yet.

Tap, tap.

"You're good at throwing things, kid. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you trained for years, but..."

A deep, threatening voice came from under the clown-mask as the guy leaned forward to look down on the kid kneeling on the ground.

"But it's not enough to take someone like me down. I don't know how you beat my man here, but what I know is... You're gonna die by my hands today for getting our task delayed."

The guy pulled his dagger out from his vest.

"...so prepare yourself."

Liam heard it all. The man's threatening message. It just made him feel even more hopeless in this situation. He noticed the dagger aimed at him as he also realized his death isn't that far from becoming true.

When's the last time he felt something like this?

'I feel powerless.'

Sigh.

'Moments like this just make me want to...'

Fight even more.

Pshlk!

Liam moved his head upwards as he blocked the flying dagger with his left hand.

"!"

"You ask how I did it?"

Blood trickled down from his hand as he started speaking.

'This kid...'

"I've beaten your guy with skills... just like how I will do, to take you down, starting right now!" Furiously, he exclaimed.

The masked man was taken aback.

He was slightly displeased by the kid's arrogance in his words, but that was not important, right now.

The kid in front of him stopped the dagger from hitting him in the head with his bare hand.

"That takes a massive amount of guts. Does he not fear losing one of his hands?" The man questioned inwardly.

The man was filled with awe, never in his life had he thought that a person, to be more precise, a random kid, could do something like this.

And his eyes. They were different. Those angry, fiery eyes looks like it was hungry for a fight.

In their organization filled with 'fighters', he was one of the best. It's not too far to call himself in the top 100 as he is also known as a member of the infamous group, 'slashers'. All those years yet he hadn't seen someone like the kid.

It was fascinating yet kind of scary.

Ding!

On the other hand, while the man was deep in thought, Liam took the chance and had already opened his system. He decided to use his stat points hoping he could at least have a little advantage by doing so.

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

Stat Window

Name: Liam Keene

Level: 10

Job: none

HP: 51

MP: 7/20

Stamina: 59%

[Stats]

Strength: 9→12

Dexterity: 14→17

Intelligence: 9

Endurance: 11

Perception: 15

﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏ ﹏

He invested three points in Dexterity and the rest in Strength.

But while the system is opened he also noticed another window appeared beside the stat window but smaller. There, it showed the quantity of how much HP he was losing.

-2 HP

-1 HP

Each time a second passes, he loses a bit of his HP mainly due to blood loss.

Liam was dormant as he sees this but his mind was in chaos.

He could die here. So what was the bullshit he said just now?

No.

"I should not be panicking."

However, he was forced to abandon the conflicting thoughts as he tried to think of what to do next.

'I'll die in this situation unknowingly if I didn't have the system unlike how I have it now... and anything can happen.'

As he calmed down, he realized he still had a skill left to be used... if met with a certain environment, it was a skill that you could confidently say a cheat.

"Keuk!"

Liam uttered in pain when his shoulder suddenly twitched. He got rid of the steel bar in his shoulder so the pain was mortifying.

'This is fucking painful as hell-!'

-5 HP

『 The skill [Firmness] has been activated. 』

'Just now...'

A massive amount of vitality unexpectedly brimmed throughout his entire body at the same time a notification from the system showed up.

Realizing that this could be an opportunity, Liam took the risk as he dashed forward towards the man standing in one place.

"What...?"

Pshlk!

"Guh- Argh!"

The masked man muttered as he felt agony from his lower body. The kid removed the steel bar from his shoulder and pierced one of his legs.

'Shit. I shouldn't have treated him as a normal kid and let my guard down after he blocked my dagger.'

He removed the steel bar in his leg and took a step forward as he decided to attack.

"I'll kill you."

But before he could take another step, the kid made another sudden move.

Liam removed the dagger from his hand and threw it towards the light switch after activating Accurate Throw.

Flick.

"Stealth."

The living room was now completely dark.

"That kid, he..." The clown-masked guy twitched.

He muttered while he aimlessly turned his head around to somehow locate the kid he was trying to kill.

"Something changed."

Chink.

A sound of a metal object hitting the ground can be heard from behind the man so he turned around to look but saw nothing but darkness.

'A distraction?'

Swish.

He turned around again as he heard a ripple in the wind behind him, he saw a fist suddenly approaching his face. He dodged it by a hair's breadth and threw a roundhouse kick in the direction of where the fist came from, but he only hit the air.

Tuk!

Instead, he was the one who was hit.

Liam kicked his abdomen after coming from behind. He then swiftly took a side step after seeing the guy coming for him with his fist.

Swish.

Ack.

The guy failed to land a hit and was once again hit by the kid with a punch in his face.

"Annoying."

'I could barely predict his movements in this darkness, but somehow he seemed to be able to clearly see in here... He can dodge my attacks and even strike me easily.'

What happened to the kid who was on the verge of death moments ago?

Tap. Pant.

Liam stopped for a moment and took a breather.

The skill 'Stealth' he had have was truly overpowered—even more than what he expected.

Like what he had read in the skill's description, Liam being in a dark environment, was able to make himself move like a shadow.

"...in this shadow-like form, the sound of the user's movements would dramatically be suppressed the longer the distance they made from another person's ear."

He recalled the words written in the skill's description.

[The second effect of the skill increases the user's swiftness and stealthiness giving them more range and flexibility as they attack their target.]

Lastly, although not as great as two of his with similar effects, it gives him slight accuracy and night vision.

When he first learned this, he couldn't believe it. He never realized how awful his situation could be if the thief earlier used this to fight him. His judgment was right and he was lucky enough to receive a godly skill like this.

Going back to the present, Liam began to make his move.

"With the skill's effect, the best way to attack is by a surprise. So I'll have to attack him from behind"

As soon as he thought of this, he went away from his position and started to invoke his next attack.

Swish!

Puk!

Swish!

Ack!

Swish!

Urk!

Swish!

Swish!

For a few moments, Liam did a series of hit and run.

The masked man finally showed a hint of being damaged as he coughed a mouthful of blood, but he still didn't let his guard down since the kid, who he was about to kill earlier, is now toying him like a child.

'A punch from the side!?'

He turned to his side and raised his arms to block the incoming attack, but while he succeeded, he was faced with another strike on his abdomen.

Ku-!

'I don't understand! He became faster and slippery unlike earlier.'

Ugh-!

"Even if he had an unbelievable amount of fighting spirit in him, he shouldn't be able to receive a power-up like this... What the fuck is this?!" The man exclaimed inwardly

The man started losing his patience. This strange occurrence puzzles him. The kid had injuries—a very serious one. With a hole in his hand and his shoulder, he should've lost all his energy from blood loss and agony since earlier, and yet he still managed to move this easily and land continuous strikes at him.

He had built his reputation by his close-combat capabilities and yet why does it feel like he was being beaten by his own expertise?

Tap.

Once more, Liam stopped to breathe. At this point, he was only waiting for the guy to be exhausted so he could deal enough damage to knock him down unconscious. He'd have to wait for the police to arrive and ask what their group wants to do with his friend. The only problem was, he's also become more tired compared to when he was just filled with energy. His muscles were screaming for a rest and the pain from the injuries he received not too long ago began to snap back again.

But there's another reason he's eager to defeat the man.

Liam silently smirked and thought, 'If I beat him, I'll be able to take one of his skills...'

He's already addicted to using his [Skill Absorption] skill despite only using it once. The idea of him getting a strong skill from the guy he was currently fighting turned his stern attitude into excitement... and that was not a very good thing to do.

"I just need to find the best chance and I'll take this guy down."

Tap.

The masked man was more pissed than earlier and he still can't swallow the fact that he was being played around by a random kid and also wasting his time. He was piqued, but not several seconds later, he decided to put his emotions aside and instead tried to think of a way to get out of his ugly situation.

'I see...'

The man looked around his surroundings and realized that his eyes were slowly started to adapt to the darkness as he was also getting a glimpse of his target's movements.

'He's been doing the same method of attacking since earlier, huh.'

He smirked.

"Then..."

Huff.

Liam moved towards the man and got behind his back. The man didn't react to him getting close making him think that he is already tired.

'This is it... A chance!'

Liam stopped as he positioned himself to strike his target in the head with his fist, planning to punch with all he got so Liam could finally knock the man out.

He eventually swung his arm.

But then-

"You see, kid. The problem here is that,"

The man turned his head around as he looked at Liam.

"You lack experience."

He twisted his torso to the side, barely avoiding getting hit in the head, before he turned around, stepped forward, and stomped his foot into Liam's.

Ack!

Liam tried to get away but before he could do so his cloth was grabbed and was pulled towards the man and another was hit in the abdomen.

Puk!

"Ugh!"

He immediately removed the grabbing hand in his clothes and tried to get away as far as possible.

'Shit! The firmness skill could only do so much... My body is screaming in agony!'

The truth about the Firmness skill was that it does lower the decrease of HP when taking damage, but it does not reduce the damage and pain taken on the user's physical body, making the user still feels the pain.

That explains the pain Liam felt on his stomach, and that was also why he could barely use his left arm to attack the guy because it was more or less crippled due to the massive hole in his shoulder. Still, he hadn't thought of giving up.

While his life is currently on the line, so will be his friend's life if he failed to defeat his enemy.

Pwut!

The guy threw another punch in the darkness but he only hit the empty air. He lost the kid once again.

"Fuck! Damned brat. I'm tired of playing hide and seek! Just fucking get over and give that kid up to our organization!" The man frustratingly cried out as he was not able to grasp the kid longer and kill him afterwards.

On the other side, Liam noticed something.

"Huh."

He stopped moving for a while as soon as the masked man finished his words.

'Their organization...?'

Huff.

"What if–"

That moment, he thought of something risky.

『 Less than 1 minute before the skill [Stealth] would be deactivated. 』

After planning on the spot, he sneakily went towards where the light switch is located.

Flick!

The lights were turned on.

The masked man was surprised by this and not soon after, he glanced at the light switch thinking that the kid was there, but what met him was countless flying objects. He took a few steps back and dodged the objects that fell on him. Some managed to land on his body but those were not important right now as he just realized that that thing just now was merely a distraction. So he turned around and his hunch was right, Liam was there, holding the dagger he had thrown earlier at the light switch.

Seeing that it was too late to dodge, the man instinctively crossed his arms to block the knife to cover his face from being stabbed.

'Huh?'

But what he didn't expect was-

Tap.

'No way, this kid! is he going for my neck?!'

Pwut!

The sound of air splitting was heard.

"No, I can't believe this!" He muttered as he closed his eyes.

Pwook.

The guy opened his eyes after a while.

Huh?

"I'm not scraped..."

He slowly reverted his arms downwards. He had no injuries, but another thing he noticed was that the hoodie of his black sweatshirt, was cut and ripped from its side.

'Did the kid miss? No, he couldn't possibly do that when the distance is not long... Then, why?'

As he questioned this, the man's hoodie had eventually broke away from the cloth under and his neck was revealed.

Liam immediately glanced at the man's neck and saw a tattoo.

Ba-dump.

"A..Ah..."

Liam's heartbeat got faster and heavier after looking at the familiar tattoo. He lost all his strength from his arms and dropped the dagger on the floor.

He recognized it from someone long ago.

''D... DS. I-it's the same as the guys'..." Liam's lips were trembling as he mumbled.

Ba-dump.

"...Five years ago..."

That moment, he recalled the exact same tattoo of the two men who murdered his parents.

"D-dark society."

"Ho? Ho...Hahaha...."

The man grasped his mask with his palm as he started to laugh in an eerie tone.

"So you know something about our organization, huh."

He moved his hand towards the kid, who was frozen still a meter away from him, and patted his shoulder.

"How surprising. Although we've had cases like this before..."

The guy said as he slowly took off his mask. The corner of his lip arched upward and his eyes squinted while looking at Liam. At this point, he completely forgot about his objective by coming here as he immersed himself into playing with the kid as revenge for what he did to him earlier.

"So which case are you? Did you lose a friend? No. Given how young you are..."

A creepy expression formed on his face.

"Are you one of the people who lost their whole family?"

Looking at the kid's now pale complexion, it seemed like the man was right. And that made him feel better.

Ba-dump.

Liam's vision darkened. His chest felt tighter. He couldn't get any more of this.

"Not that it matters, since you won't be able to live longer than today."

But the man continued to talk.

"I feel like I have to tell you this before you die so you can't get any sleep even in death."

"Starting today until the day you die, we'll be coming for you and kill you with our own hands, even if you try and hide anywhere in this world..."

Ba-dump.

"If you're still alive that is."

The man laughed once more. Conveniently for him, the kid still hadn't moved. He turned around and walked to get the steel bar lying on the floor.

BADUMP.

Liam shivered greatly.

'Why?'

In a mere blink of an eye, he recalled the memories of the men killing his family over and over again. He recollected how they did it in every little detail mostly due to the Hyperthymesia skill. He remembered his father's lifeless body on the floor and his mother's tears flowing down from her eyes.

Ba-dump, ba-dump.

Liam breathed more heavily.

He was filled with many emotions that he couldn't explain.

Regret. Revenge. Pain. Rage. Sorrow.

His mind was full of many thoughts that he couldn't think properly.

'Why?'

He wanted to do something but couldn't do anything.

A man from the organization he vowed to destroy was in front of him, but he couldn't move from his spot.

Powerlessness. Pierce his shoulder or stab his hand, being powerless and not having to do anything is more painful.

Tap.

The man stopped in front of Liam with a distance of over 2 feet. He was holding the steel bar that he once used to attack the kid earlier.

"I wonder how much hell you would feel if I riddled a hole in your stomach like a straw piercing a container."

He moved his hips slightly to the side and stretched his arm with the pointed steel bar backward. He prepared to stab Liam's body with a full swing.

"Let's test that out and tell me how you feel, okay?"

Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump.

Swoosh!

The steel bar left the man's grasp as it moved fast swiftly towards Liam's chest. There were only a few inches of distance away, and approximately 1 second, before it could pierce through his chest.

Until suddenly...

DING!

『The last bonus skill has been activated automatically.』

『The host is filled with rage and sorrow but his feeling of powerless is more overwhelming making his body paralyzed. The host needs more time to think.』

『Granting you a skill that is needed for your current situation.』

『The skill [Dull Time] has been granted to the player.』

『The skill [Dull Time] has been automatically activated. Time will be slowed for 20 seconds.』

Ba-dump.

Liam came back to his senses.